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Kaitlin Griswold
Kiran Purohit
Designing Curriculum and Instruction
February 23, 2015
Curriculum Vision
Curriculum as a construct is still a difficult subject for me to understand. My
experience with curricula, both as a teacher and as a learner, has been generally receptive
I have had very little impact on deciding or changing either what I am taught or what I
teach myself. However, I believe that it is important for teachers and learners especially
to take on a more productive role when it comes to designing curriculum. Knowledge, in
my opinion, cannot be truly grasped or passed to another person when there is little to no
interaction between the learner, the teacher, and the material being taught. Following the
tenants of aesthetic education, I see curriculum as a means of providing learners an
opportunity to use the unique realities that they live through, along with the knowledge
they are exposed to, to create their own lasting understanding of the material (Greene,
1993). As Greene (1993) so aptly writes, Again, it is not a matter of having predefined
stages in mind. Rather, it would be a question of releasing potential learners to order their
lived experiences in divergent ways, to give them narrative form, to give them voice (p.
219). It is the teachers responsibility to guide the students on their journey of education.
The teacher understands how to present and what to present to his or her students and
should still maintain a level of authority in the classroom. However, the teacher needs to
be receptive to the needs of the students, tailoring the curriculum for each class as each
class is made up different, complex individuals.
As a learner, I spent most of my education relying on my teachers and the
administration of my schools as the purveyors of knowledge. There was no reason for me

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to question their authority or think otherwise since they were in positions of authority in
my educational process. I see the need for it, without a doubt. I took in the information
they gave me, and I regurgitated the answers they were looking for in assignments and on
tests I did not internalize or really learn the material presented because I did not have
a connection to much of the material that I studied. I believe that this approach to
education bypasses the importance of learning for the sake of learning. Students become
fixated on the end goals of education: getting into a good college, getting into a good
graduate school, and getting a good job. This takes away the sense of discovery and
wonder of acquiring new knowledge that the process of learning can provide. The process
of learning should be an enlightening, eye-opening experience full of Aha! moments
where students truly understand the information they are given and can personalize that
information and give it meaning for their own lives and experiences.
Also, this process of learning, steeped in the tradition of aesthetic education,
brings about a higher motivation to learn and to continue on with the journey of
education. The students are not asked to simply take in information and repeat it, but they
are encouraged to explore the material, focusing not on what is right or wrong in terms of
preparing for an assessment, but on how to interact with and internalize the this
information. On the journey of education, students come to realize that how and what
they learn is more important than a grade they receive on an assignment or a test. In my
own experience as a learner, I often crammed for tests and wrote papers an hour before
they were due and still got good grades on them. Clearly I did not learn the material, and
I lost confidence in myself because it seemed that I was unable to really learn since I
could not access the material later on. As an adult, I came to realize that I was not really

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learning because I was not engaged with, or even attempting to interact with, the
material. I was not focused on the process of learning I was fixated on passing my
classes. By incorporating some of the principles of aesthetic education into curriculum
design, the students will (hopefully) discover that acquiring knowledge is the end goal,
not getting a passing grade. The students will know that they have acquired the
knowledge and are not only confident in what they know, but in how they learn, and they
are encouraged to pursue further education, whether through an institution or on their
own.
As a teacher, ideally I want to develop the curriculum for the courses I will teach
for each specific class of students that I teach. However, I understand that I need to have
at least a skeleton of a curriculum for these classes because I want to be able to
manipulate them and tailor them to my students better as the class progresses. Also, since
I teach adults, I believe that it is extremely important to take into consideration their goals
and needs since they are at a point in their lives, and in their cognitive and social
development, to understand what they need to know they do not need to rely solely on
what I say they need to know. For my field of teaching specifically, adult English
language learners at least have some sort of idea of how much English they need or want
to learn. It is unreasonable and slightly tyrannical for me not to take their suggestions into
account because I am their guide to learning English, not an authority dictating what they
will and will not learn.
In terms of the students and the context that I have taught and plan to teach in the
future, the tenants of emancipatory education are particularly relevant. My students often
come from oppressed societies and cultures. Additionally, my students are often

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oppressed in the English-speaking world since they are not native or fluent speakers of
English. I see English language education as a way for these students to improve their
lives, not only because they need the language to thrive in the English-speaking world,
but it is almost a requirement to actively participate and lead in the global community, as
English is the lingua franca of the world. Although this may appear to be further
establishing or supporting the dichotomy of the oppressors versus the oppressed, as those
who speak English are privileged compared to those who do not, it gives those from the
oppressed community an opportunity to escape their disadvantaged situation in order to
enact change in that community. Like the critics of emancipatory education, in particular
those skeptical of Freires Pedagogy of the Oppressed, I realize that the reality of
implementation [of liberatory education] in any context means that oppressive forces are
also at play in the battle over ideologies (Au, 2009, p. 228). I see this as meaning that in
order to actually implement educational practices that work to liberate the oppressed,
those with access to or who identify with the oppressors and have influence must be
the first to do so. Those with connection to the community of the oppressed with the
power of the oppressors will enact the most change in this regard. I believe that my
students will have a better opportunity at making change in their communities and in the
global community at large as the acquire a working knowledge and fluency in English.
Additionally, I foresee my classroom as a place for the students and myself to
teach one another about our respective cultures. This limits the influence of Western
ideologies and other oppressive ideologies in the classroom, as students who are
members of oppressed cultures are giving a platform to share their community with the
class and are treated as equals. I, the teacher, desire to learn from my students because

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they have different opinions and knowledge based on their experiences in life. In this
sense, we all become the Subjects of learning and teaching, as we teach one another
about our cultures and the opinions and thoughts that we have due to our individual
experiences in the world (subjective human experience in objective reality) that are
required for emancipatory education to exist and succeed (Au, 2009).
I also believe that in order to create classrooms based on liberatory education,
these classrooms need to focus on not only discussing important issues but also preparing
the students to become engaged citizens dedicated to improving society through action.
Critical pedagogy highlights the importance of politicizing students in order to encourage
the development of individuals who are not only concerned with understanding social
injustices but are equipped to act against these social injustices (Anyon, 2009). I want my
classroom to be a forum that encourages discussion about injustices but also provides the
students with the resources necessary to fight against them. I want to encourage my
students to fight against injustices and for issues that they support, and as members of the
immigrant community, there are many causes that they already support and want to
discuss. I want my students to share their points of view on issues, and it is my role as the
teacher to create a classroom atmosphere that supports these discussions, whether or not
they are directly affected by social injustices.
Additionally, I want my classroom and the material I use in my course to not
support the domination of the heteronormative norm over the Other, or the LGBTQ
community specifically. Anti-oppressive education is critical for the full education of
students, regardless of whether or not they identify with this Other. I have seen a lot of
homophobia with the students I have taught as the rights and opinions regarding the

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LGBTQ community vary across the world, with most societies rejecting and
marginalizing members of this community. Many of my students have negative views on
the Other, and I want to create curricula that fight against these views and hopefully
expose them to more accepting points of view by exposing to the works of members the
LGBTQ community as well as its history. Kumashiro (2000) discusses the need for
teachers to expose their students to the Other through education, without explicit
differentiation between the norm and the Other, believing that strengthens this
dichotomy and continues the us vs. them way of thinking. Although I believe that this
is true, in the context of ESL adult learners, I believe that it could be beneficial to directly
discuss this societal issue and the fact that this othering is a product of society and not
an objective reality. Also, I personally believe that othering cannot be eliminated
without the initial discussion of what it is and why it is wrong. This way we start
changing the students and societys opinion on the LGBTQ community, which is going
to be a long process, much like the other fights for human and equal rights have been.
All in all, my overarching curriculum vision is focused on adult learners learning
English and all of the problems and all of the issues that arise from this context. I believe
that by following the tenants of Aesthetic, Emancipatory, and Anti-oppressive Education,
as well as implementing the principles of Critical Pedagogy, that I can create curricula
that are relevant to my students and to their individual realities. I also hope to create a
classroom that equips my students to engage with the material and to continue seeking
more knowledge and understanding once the class is over, but one that equips them to
handle whatever struggles or problems they may face in their lives.

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Resources
Anyon, J. (2009). Critical pedagogy is not enough: Social justice education, political
participation and the politicization of students. The Routledge International
Handbook of Critical Education, M. W. Apple, W. Au, & L. Armando Gandlin
(Eds.), New York, NY: Taylor and Francis.
Au, W. (2009). Fighting with the text: Contextualizing and recontextualizing Freires
critical pedagogy. The Routledge International Handbook of Critical Education,
M. W. Apple, W. Au, & L. Armando Gandlin (Eds.), New York, NY: Taylor and
Francis.
Greene, M. (1993). Diversity and inclusion: Toward a curriculum for human beings. TC
Press, 95(2), 211-221.
Kumashiro, K. (2000). Toward a theory of anti-oppressive education. Review of
Educational Research, 70(1), 25-53