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Curriculum Conversations:
Developing a Child-Honoring Pedagogy with Pre-Service Teachers
Michele Tanaka
It is increasingly clear that curriculum must be seen as … a fluid
and changing conversation between teachers, learners, and
community members, based in a critical/theoretical dialogue (Pinar,
2004) that reflects a relational, integrative, and global
ecological awareness.
Individual teachers play a crucial role in the implementation of curriculum that
is relational and alive (Aoki, 2005; van Manen, 1986). But how do
teachers develop their ability to think critically about
curriculum in an ecologically literate way? In his book on language
learning, Curriculum as Conversation, Arthur
Applebee (1996) discusses the importance of
dialogue within the curriculum:
...curricula can be
thought about as culturally significant domains for conversation, and
teaching and learning as the processes through which students
become participants in those conversations. Such participation
is a necessary step in transforming knowledge-out-of-context into
knowledge-in-action. Through
such conversations, students will learn not only the content
that is important within each domain, but also the ways of thinking
and doing that give the content life and vitality. They will learn
to do science, for example, not just learn about its history and
accomplishments; they will learn to solve problems and take action on
their own. (p.
126-127, italics added).
The university-level course described in this paper is an example of a
"domain for conversation" that encourages pre-service
teachers who are studying to become qualified educators, to
participate in dialogue with each other, their instructors, and
the community about ecological literacy and its place in school
curriculum.
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Curriculum Conversations: Developing a Child-Honoring Pedagogy with Pre-Service Teachers