27AP.

Curriculum Inquiry
January 2008 - Vol. 38 Issue 1 Page 1-118
=====================
Section: 2

Title: Local Heroes, Narrative Worlds and the Imagination: The Making of a Moral Curriculum
Through Experiential Narratives

Source: Curriculum Inquiry, Volume 38 Issue 1, Page 7-37, January 2008.

Authors:
Carola Conle (Canada)
Michelle Boone

Keywords:
Canada
Narrative worlds
Imagination
Moral curriculum
Experiential narratives
Curricular experience

‫תמצית‬

Concern about the impact of narrative worlds and their heroes offered by the media prompted
research on encounters with moral models in experiential, narrative curricula. Researchers
tracked the extension of a mandated Language Arts curriculum on "heroes" through the
experiential narratives of four local heroes chosen collaboratively by teacher, students and
researcher. They also elicited and analyzed responses from students to these narrative
presentations in order to explore how students understood the narrative worlds presented to
them.

‫מאמר‬

Source: Curriculum Inquiry, Volume 38 Issue 1, Page 7-37, January 2008.

Concern about the impact of narrative worlds and their heroes offered by the media prompted
research on encounters with moral models in experiential, narrative curricula. Researchers
tracked the extension of a mandated Language Arts curriculum on "heroes" through the
experiential narratives of four local heroes chosen collaboratively by teacher, students and
researcher.

They also elicited and analyzed responses from students to these narrative presentations in
order to explore how students understood the narrative worlds presented to them. Instead of
focusing on the personalities of the speakers, the researchers considered the experiential
stories, and the moments of narrative encounter they offered, as the sources of immediate
moral impact.

However, this impact, it is suggested, did not adhere to a particular narrative in an

undifferentiated manner. Instead, effects varied according to what a particular student brought
to the encounter and how he or she was able to experience it.

Material from two students' responses illustrates how they brought their own personal and
socio-cultural contexts to the encounter, activating existing dispositions and reinforcing
inclinations to behave in certain ways. There was some evidence that the students
reconstructed the meaning of events in their lives, were able to interpret their environment in
new ways, and constructed visions of possible futures based on this curricular experience.

----------------------------------
Section: 2
Title: Moral Education Between Hope and Hopelessness: The Legacy

Source: Curriculum Inquiry ,Volume 38 Issue 1, Page 39-62, January 2008

Author:
Sara Efrat Efron

Keywords:
Moral education
Morality
Hope
Hopelessness
Moral climate
Individual autonomy

‫תמצית‬

This article describes the principles and the actualization of Korczak's moral education and
explores how Korczak reconciled the differences between the ethical world he created in his
institutions and the surrounding immoral society. The example set by Korczak's educational
praxis serves as an inspiring model of school life across the boundaries of time and place and
touches our need to believe in education's responsibility to strive and struggle for a better
world, even when it seems an unattainable goal.

‫מאמר‬

Source: Curriculum Inquiry ,Volume 38 Issue 1, Page 39-62, January 2008.

The responsibility for addressing morality and moral education in the current moral climate is
a daunting task for conscientious educators. What educational response can extricate us from
the debilitating feelings of hopelessness and helplessness as we are confronted by horrific
terrorist actions, controversial use of military might, displays of corruption and greed and a
growing general tension and anxiety?

At this demoralizing juncture of uncertainty and doubt, the figure of Janusz Korczak (1878–
1942), a Jewish-Polish educator, looms large. For more than 30 years, Korczak devoted his
life to educating orphaned Jewish and non-Jewish children. He stayed with the Jewish
children to the end as they all perished in a concentration camp.

At a time when the surrounding society surrendered to fascism, anti-Semitism, and self-
destruction, Korczak encouraged individual autonomy and caring relationships within the
context of a community where a vision of justice and trust was an integral part of life. The
orphanages he directed were democratic, self-ruled communities, where the children had
their own parliament, court, and newspaper.

This article describes the principles and the actualization of Korczak's moral education and
explores how Korczak reconciled the differences between the ethical world he created in his
institutions and the surrounding immoral society. The example set by Korczak's educational
praxis serves as an inspiring model of school life across the boundaries of time and place and
touches our need to believe in education's responsibility to strive and struggle for a better
world, even when it seems an unattainable goal.

And the hour shall come when a man will know himself, respect, and love. And the hour shall
come in history's clock when man shall know the place of good, the place of evil, the place of
pleasure, and the place of pain. (Korczak, 1978, p. 237).
----------------------------------------------------
Section: 12
Title: Unreached and Unreasonable: Curriculum Standards and Children's Understanding of
Ethnic Diversity in Canada

Source: Curriculum Inquiry, Volume 38 Issue 1, Page 63-92, January 2008

Authors:
Carla Lee Peck
Alan Sears
Shanell Donaldson (Canada(

Keywords:
Canada
Curriculum standards
Ethnic diversity
Children's understanding
Diversity policy
Curriculum development

‫תמצית‬

This article traces the development of contemporary curriculum standards with regard to
diversity and examines those standards in the context of a study of grade 7 students'
understanding of diversity in New Brunswick. It presents evidence to suggest students are
falling far short of expectations outlined in standards documents. While the sparse and
fragmentary nature of student understanding should be of concern, this article also identifies
key areas of concern about the development and implementation of the standards
themselves. We argue that expecting teachers to teach toward, and students to attain, the
standards might be unreasonable in light of these concerns.

‫מאמר‬

Source: Curriculum Inquiry, Volume 38 Issue 1, Page 63-92, January 2008.

In recent years, Canadian schools have developed new policies and practices in their
approaches to both diversity policy and curriculum development. Public schools once
intended to homogenize a diverse population have been transformed to institutions designed
to foster tolerance and respect for diversity. Curricula previously organized around subject
content are now framed as standards for student achievement.

This article traces the development of contemporary curriculum standards with regard to
diversity and examines those standards in the context of a study of grade 7 students'
understanding of diversity in New Brunswick. It presents evidence to suggest students are
falling far short of expectations outlined in standards documents.

While the sparse and fragmentary nature of student understanding should be of concern, this
article also identifies key areas of concern about the development and implementation of the
standards themselves. We argue that expecting teachers to teach toward, and students to
attain, the standards might be unreasonable in light of these concerns.

===========================