Personal Curriculum Influence
Personal Curriculum Influence
Keith A. Butcher, MA
Marshall University
College of Education and Human Services
Paper submitted to Dr. Calvin Meyer of the
Marshall University Graduate College
in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for completion of
Curriculum and Instruction 702
Curriculum Theories
Huntington, West Virginia 2008
Keywords: Autobiographical, Curriculum, Phenomenological, Traditional,
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Personal Curriculum Influence
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Introduction: Definition of Personal Theory
My purpose for this writing is to define my own personal curriculum influences.
Rather than select those curriculum influences that I believe to be of most merit or
popular in literature, I have selected to first answer some basic questions and then match
curriculum influences to the answers. My questions will be familiar to those connected to
this course of study: What do I think about the individual, society, school, and teaching
and learning?
I believe that every individual is an active learner and that all effective learning
considers the lived experience of the individual. Individuals are continually in the process
of self-forming and I acknowledge that this process is not always in a continuous,
positive direction. Through education, the individual’s moral character should be
developed such that the individual is capable of ethical action. While I realize that there
are many experiences where students are educated in groups, I believe that the focus of
the curriculum should be the educational experience of the individual.
The purpose of education is two fold. Education should guide the development of
individuals to lead successful independent lives and education must prepare individuals
for participation in society as well as to be active participants in improving society.
Education must prepare students to become part of a caring community that demonstrates
respect for human difference and personality.
Schooling must present for the student a basic study of knowledge acquired such
that the students can make logical and ethical decisions. But, I caution that schooling
cannot just be a set of learned facts, but must lead the students toward independent ways
of learning and knowing. The school curriculum should not be taught in isolated units or
Personal Curriculum Influence
3
columns of knowledge but should be presented in the cross curricular style that represents
the student’s own lived experience. The school should be part of the family and
community that guides the development of the students until the student decision making
and moral judgment can stand on its own.
Teaching and learning experiences should assimilate new ideas with foundational
knowledge that the student has acquired and in a manner that is relevant to the student.
The curriculum should include activities that help students develop moral character and
sound judgment. I believe that the strongest learning consists of personal inquiry as the
student learns new skills and knowledge in the process of self-forming. This process
requires autobiographical reflection both on the part of the teachers and on the part of the
students. Lessons should orientate students toward individual being or becoming and
should not seek to create like-minded robots of the same ideology.
In considering these personal beliefs about individuals and society, the purpose of
schooling, and the manner of teaching and learning, I defined myself as an Auto-TradPhenomenologist. That is to say, the three strongest curriculum influences which align
with my personal curriculum theory are autobiographical, traditional, and
phenomenological.
Part 1: Foundational Theorists and Curriculum Influences
Traditional: First, when I identify myself as a traditionalist, it is necessary for me
to refine that assertion. I do not connect with the classical traditionalists, nor do I see any
value in faculty psychology theory. As I stated in my classical traditional influences
critique review, “Pinar et al. (2002) draw the correlation between working out with
Personal Curriculum Influence
4
weights to build muscle mass and providing the student with more and more difficult
curricular material in order to build mental muscle.” I reject this notion of building
mental muscle and believe that rote memorization and recitation have little or no value
for me in the curriculum. The traditional theorists that influence me the most are
Spencer, Herbart, Pestalozzi, Dewey, and Kilpatrick.
Herbert Spencer’s (Pinar et al., 2002) essay, “What Knowledge is of Most
Worth ?” insisted that the only purpose of education was to prepare for complete living. I
agree; education is more than a set of facts and skills. Its purpose should prepare for
complete living. Spencer also speaks to me when he argues that children should be “told
as little as possible and induced to discover as much as possible” (Pinar, et al., 2002, p
73). Herbart’s writing on connecting to that which was already learned and Pestalozzi’s
view of the active learner also speak to my traditional side. Johan Friedrich Herbart
believed that the individual linked or assimilated new ideas with ideas already learned
(Pinar et al., 2002). He believed that the mind understands new knowledge based upon
knowledge that had already been acquired. This concept agreed with the writing of Johan
Heinrich Pestalozzi which held that mere rote learning was ineffective. Pestalozzi
viewed the individual mind as active and asserted that children engaged the world
through perception, analysis and generalization. I also agree with Herbart’s belief that
one purpose of educational teaching was to strengthen moral character (Hilgenheger,
1993). The Hebartian understanding of the relationships across and between school
subjects is a curricular concept which remains today (Pinar et al., 2002). I would argue
that teaching courses of study in isolation from each other makes little sense to learners
as they attempt to understand the world.
Personal Curriculum Influence
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The Progressive theorists, John Dewey and William Kilpatrick contribute to the
traditional portions of my curriculum theory. John Dewey insisted that the child’s
experience must form the basis of the curriculum, still guided by the pedagogical
experience of the teacher (Pinar et al., 2002). Dewey saw the individual as an active
learner and that the primary aim of education was to prepare each individual for
participation in social change. Dewey saw education as a truly personal experience
(Russo, 1999). To Dewey, the ideal model of the school was as an embryonic democratic
society where students search for shared interests, goals, activities, and communication.
Participation and inquiry were important traits for Dewey’s ideal school. William
Kilpatrick believed the curriculum was a series of guided experiences in which the child
makes his own formulations (Pinar et al., 2002).
Phenomenological: The phenomenological theorists that most align with my
curricular beliefs are Grumet, Husserl, Langeveld, Smith, van Manen, and Aoki.
Phenomenologists speak of understanding one’s self and the human condition as central
to preparing students for success in the world. Their interest in rooting educational
experiences in the lived experience of the students and the role of disciplined self
reflection agrees with my beliefs about the importance of assisting students in gaining
knowledge of self. Madeleine Grumet argues that “knowledge of self becomes
knowledge of the self as knower of the world” (Pinar et al., 2002, p 414). Edmund
Husserl (Pinar et al., 2002) insisted that phenomenology was a science of consciousness
rather than of empirical things. He argued that consciousness should not focus on objects
and the outside world, but should rather focus on personal inquiry. The curriculum
Personal Curriculum Influence
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method of currere provides the opportunity to study the individual’s lived experience and
impact of society upon that experience (Pinar et al., 2002).
Grumet (2007) believes that society has imposed an environment of compliance
and has thus taken personal inquiry and surprise out of learning. Grumet first believes
that there is a me and there is a you. We understand our role in society through
autobiographical study and personal inquiry.
Currere seeks to free the individual from the molding of society and rather returns
to the educational experience of the individual. Currere, by focusing on autobiographical
personal experience of the learner, seeks to prepare a fully aware individual to
successfully participate as an individual in society as opposed to curriculum theories
which seek to create like minded citizens to perpetuate established society. One should
always remember that in the lived experience, one’s understanding is always changing. In
discussing Tetsuo Aoki’s work in this area, Pratt (2006, p 92) stated, “Understanding, for
Aoki, is never static, fixed, or rigid; rather, understanding is always changing, in flux,
continually being renewed.” Aoki argues that teaching is a mode of being. He describes
this as the act of being in between the curriculum and the curriculum as a lived
experience. While other curriculum orientations reduce students to objects or categories,
phenomenology restores the individual relationship between the teacher and the student
in the lived experience.
Langeveld (1967) uses the term velfvorming to describe the process the
individual undergoes in moving from that of existing in the secret place of the child to the
adult place in society, indicating that the individual is a participant in their own self-
Personal Curriculum Influence
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growth and understanding. Langeveld argued that the school environment should be one
where the child is guided toward their own zelfvorming or “self- forming.”
The individual is seen as continually moving toward a new self-understanding
(Pinar et al., 2002). As individuals come in contact with new learning, they bring their
prior understanding, reflect on the personal meaning of the new, and then move toward a
new understanding of self and their role in the world. David G. Smith describes this as
the individual questioning human meaning and how they might make sense of their
individual lives so that they can move forward into the world.
Max van Manen discusses the connection between phenomenological pedagogy
and society (Pinar et al., 2002). As students gain self-understanding through the
phenomenological classroom lived experience, they gain the moral fiber to stand up for
political views in which they believe. Through the process of self-understanding, students
understand how they relate to the world and how the world relates to them.
Autobiographical: The autobiographical theorists that most align with my
curriculum beliefs are Grumet, Pinar, Noddings, and Miller. Through the lens of
currere, Grumet examines education as it is experienced in the past, present and future
of one biography, a method grounded in context and self-report (Grumet , 1975). Currere
is centered on the experience of the individual. William Pinar, as quoted in Pinar et al.
(2002, p 519), argued for a true method focus on the individual:
It is not that the public world - curriculum, instruction, objectives – become
unimportant; it is that to further comprehend their roles in the educational process
we must take our eyes off them for a time, and begin a lengthy, systematic search
of our inner experience.
Personal Curriculum Influence
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Currere is more than focusing on the individual, for many curriculum methods claim to
focus on individual needs, currere works from “within” the individual (Pinar et al.,
2002). P
Nel Noddings, as discussed in Pinar et al. (2002), viewed currere as a social
environment where all participants formed a caring community. Noddings writes, “We
approach our goal by living with those whom we teach in a caring community, through
modeling, dialogue, practice, and confirmation” (Noddings as quoted in Pinar et al.,
2002, p 523). Janet Miller describes the school experience as living in an interpretative
community in which the lived experience can be discovered (Pinar et al., 2002).
Grumet (Pinar et al., 2002) asserted that autobiographical voice is the expression
of society, culture and politics. Education is not the voice of society, nor the suppression
of society upon the individual, but rather the voice of autobiographical text and dialogue
is the manifestation of how the individual develops self-understanding and experiences
growth and transformation. By its very nature, allowing students to reflect and express
meaning, utilizing autobiographical text, allows students to understand individual life,
personal integrity, community and social dimension.
Part 2. Conceptual Framework
1-2. Curriculum Vision and Mission
Curriculum guides students toward successful, ethical and active participation in
education, work, community, and society.
Core Beliefs:
Personal Curriculum Influence

9
The school is a caring community of scholars comprised of participating
educators and students.

All educators and students are actively and continuously engaged in the
process of self-forming.

Integrated curriculum experiences including language arts, mathematics,
science, social studies and the arts provide all students with a basic level
of knowledge and skills in order to be successful in future educational
experiences, work, and participation in community and society.

The school curriculum develops the creative, physical, emotional, and
intellectual abilities of students.

Curriculum experiences are centered on the relevant, lived experience of
the educators and students.

Curriculum experiences should include a strong basis in personal inquiry
and provide individuals with multiple ways of learning and knowing.

Balanced assessment practices (formative, summative, portfolio, and
reflective self) are used by both the educators and students to measure and
determine progress.
3. Philosophical Orientation, Purposes, Dispositions, and Outcomes.
As stated in the introduction, I believe that every individual is an active learner
and that all effective learning considers the lived experience of the individual. All
individuals are continually in the process of self-forming. Through education, the
individual’s moral character should be developed such that the individual is capable of
ethical action. While I realize that there are many experiences where students are
Personal Curriculum Influence 10
educated in groups, I believe that the focus of the curriculum should be the educational
experience if the individual.
The purpose of education is two fold. Education should guide the development of
individuals to lead successful independent lives and education must prepare individuals
for participation in society as well as to be active participants in improving society.
Education must prepare students to become part of a caring community that demonstrates
respect for human difference and personality.
Schooling must present for the student a basic study of knowledge and skills to be
acquired and include such activities so the students can make logical and ethical
decisions. Schooling cannot just be a set of learned facts but must be must lead the
students toward independent ways of learning and knowing. The school curriculum
should not be taught in isolated units or columns of knowledge and skills but should be
presented in the cross curricular style that represents the student’s own lived experience.
The school should be part of the family and community that guides the development of
the students until the student decision making and moral judgment can stand on its own.
Teaching and learning experiences should assimilate new ideas with foundational
knowledge that the student has acquired and in a manner that is relevant to the student.
The curriculum should include activities that help students develop moral character and
sound judgment. I believe that the strongest learning consists of personal inquiry as the
student learns new skills and knowledge in the process of self-forming. This process
requires autobiographical reflection both on the part of the teachers and on the part of the
students. Lessons should orientate students toward individual being or becoming and
should include opportunities for students to develop moral character and sound judgment.
Personal Curriculum Influence 11
Student Dispositions and Outcomes:
In broad terms, upon completion of a Pre-k through twelve education, student
dispositions are defined as follows. Students will;
A.
successfully continue their education or training through post
secondary education opportunities including career/technical training or
advanced degree completion, or
B.
transition successfully enter the world of work, and
C.
be a contributing member of community and society.
The following student dispositions are defined by my curriculum influence
(adapted from Johnson & Newman, 1996):
1. Demonstrate a basic level of content knowledge and skills. A committee of
practitioners will select the appropriate content standards based on generally
accepted national and international standards (see section C, Local, State and
National Law and Policies).
2. The ability to evaluate their own learning and growth.
3. Appreciate diversity in their community and society.
4. Effectively communicate through oral and written language.
5. Be environmentally, morally, and ethically responsible members of the
community and society.
6. Demonstrate multiple ways of independently learning and knowing.
7. Demonstrate independence through being responsible for self and property.
8. Use appropriate social and cooperative skills to work with others to complete
tasks.
Personal Curriculum Influence 12
9. Demonstrate leadership skills to both lead or be an active team member in the
completion of tasks.
10. Effectively use a variety of resources and technology to complete task for self
and others.
4. Knowledge Bases: Theories, Research, Practice, Policies and Standards
A. Curriculum Theory Base
The following curriculum theorists have most influenced my curriculum theory
determinations. Listed with each theorist is a list of influencing concepts and practices.
Herbert Spencer (from Pinar et al. 2002, p 73-74)

The purpose of education is to prepare students from complete living.

Students should be induced to discover.

The social progress of society can be promoted.
Johan Friedrich Herbart (from Pinar et al., 2002, p 78-79)

Students are active learners.

New ideas are linked to previous learning.

Memorizing isolated facts has little or no educational value.

One point of education is the development of character.

At the core of learning is the correlation of all subjects.
Heinrich Pestalozzi (from Pinar et al., 2002, p 78)

Students are actively engaged in perception, analysis, and generalization.
John Dewey (from Pinar et al., 2002 p 105-107)

The child’s experience must form the basis of the curriculum.

Schooling must be linked to society.
Personal Curriculum Influence 13

The school is an active community of learners.

School develops social awareness and democratic vision.

Freedom of expression is necessary for individual growth.
William Heard Kilpatrick (from Pinar eat al., 2002, p 114-116)

Project method is a valued curriculum activity, but does not represent a
complete curriculum theory.

Learning should be relevant to the student’s social activity.

Curriculum is a series of guided experiences in which the child makes his
own formulations.
Edmund Husserl (from Pinar eat al., 2002, p 414-416)

Disciplined reflection produces knowledge grounded in the lived
experience of the individual.

Reciprocity exists between subjectivity and objectivity in the development
of experience and meaning.

Phenomenology is a science of consciousness rather than of empirical
things.

Consciousness focus on personal inquiry
Tetsuo Aoki (from Pinar eat al., 2002, p 427-429)

Teaching is an orientation toward being.

Teaching is an engagement in self-reflection.

One’s way of knowing, thinking, and doing, emanate from who one is.

Through teaching, individuals are on their way toward becoming authentic
persons.
Personal Curriculum Influence 14

Understanding is always changing, in flux, continually being renewed,
(from Pratt, 2006, p 92)
Langeveld (from Langeveld, 1967)

Individuals are engaged in the continuous process of self-forming.

Children are not formed wholly from the public world, nor by the school
world, but are drawn by their own world.

The individual is a participant in their own self-growth and understanding
Max van Manen (from Pinar eat al., 2002, p 406-407)

Phenomenological research investigates the lived experience and
represents the essence of experiences.

Phenomenology does not create knowledge for knowledge sake, but rather
creates knowledge to determine what it means to the human experience.

Pedagogy operates in between process and content.

As students gain self-understanding through the phenomenological
classroom lived experience, they gain the moral fiber to stand up for
political views in which they believe.
David G. Smith (from Pinar eat al., 2002, p 420-422)

Curriculum research must provide social critique as well as illuminate the
character of life as it is both experienced and lived by those in the
classroom.

Most institutional objectives have little to do with the lived experience of
students.
Personal Curriculum Influence 15

By learning to live together in the classroom (experiencing life), students
experience society.
William Pinar (from Pinar et al., 2002, p 533)

Student autobiographical writing about place is a pedagogical means of
developing the individual within.

Writing is a learning experience which can open the individual self to
revision
Madeleine Grumet (from Pinar et al., 2002, p 414-416)

Currere focuses on the educational experience of the student as reported
by the student.

Currere constitutes a heightened engagement with the world.

Currere is grounded in context.

Individuals understand their role in society through autobiographical study
and personal inquiry
Nel Noddings (from Pinar et al., 2002, p 547-548)

Currere as a social environment where all participants formed a caring
community
Janet Miller (from Pinar et al., 2002, p 402-404)

The school is the experience of living in an interpretative community in
which the lived experience can be discovered.
B. Learning Theory Base
Personal Curriculum Influence 16
The following learning theories and theorists have most influenced my curriculum
theory determinations. Listed with each theory/theorist is a list of influencing concepts
and practices.
Anchored Instruction (from Bransford, 1998)

Learning and teaching activities should be designed around an "anchor"
which is based on a contextualized case study or problem situation.

Curriculum materials should allow exploration by the learner to allow
active manipulation, questioning, and involvement in the situation.
Aptitude-Treatment Interaction (from Cronbach & Snow, nd)

Some instructional strategies (treatments) are more or less effective for
particular individuals depending upon their specific abilities.

Highly structured educational environments tend to be most successful
with students of lower ability, while low structure environments may
result in better learning for high ability students.

“Anxious or conforming students tend to learn better in highly structured
instructional environments; non-anxious or independent students tend to
prefer low structure” (Cronbach & Snow, nd, p 1).
Child Development Theory (from Piaget & Inhelder, 1969)

Children provide different explanations of reality according to the stage of
cognitive development.

Cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or situations
that engage learners and require adaptation (i.e., assimilation and
accommodation).
Personal Curriculum Influence 17

Learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of
motor or mental operations for a child of given age.

Teaching methods should actively involve students and present
challenges.
Cognitive Dissonance (from Festinger, 1957)

Dissonance results when an individual must choose between attitudes and
behaviors that are contradictory.

Dissonance can be eliminated by reducing the importance of the
conflicting beliefs, acquiring new beliefs that change the balance, or
removing the conflicting attitude or behavior.
Constructivism (from Hoover, 1996)

Learners build new knowledge upon the foundation of previous learning.

Learning is active rather than passive.
Situated Learning (from Lave and Wagner, 1990)

Knowledge should be presented in an authentic context, settings and
applications that would normally involve that knowledge.

Learning requires social interaction and collaboration.
Social Judgment Theory (from Krebs, 1999)

Individuals have categories of judgment by which they evaluate
persuasive positions.

Individuals tend to distort incoming information to fit their categories of
judgment.
Personal Curriculum Influence 18

Small to moderate discrepancies between anchor positions and the one
advocated will cause individuals to change positions; large discrepancies
will not.
C. Local, State and National Law and Policies
Schools with an Auto-Trad-Phenomenological focus would logistically be
possible in my home state of West Virginia. I am unaware of any local or State law
(Sections 18 and 18A) that would inhibit schooling with an Auto-Trad-Phenomenological
focus. I do see problems with Federal law and policy as well as West Virginia State
Board of Education (WVBE) policy. Most differences between the traditional West
Virginia classroom and an Auto-Trad-Phenomenological would involve changes in
classroom practice. These changes will be addressed in Part 3, Instructional Design
Characteristics.
WVBE State curriculum policy, Policy 2510, offers some curriculum organization
challenges. First, I believe that the Auto-Trad-Phenomenological approach would provide
students with a basic skills and knowledge base that permits the students to choose
additional education or work experience and still be successful individuals, capable of
contributing to their communities and society. The challenge is in the organization of
courses and the order of standards required graduation courses. A curriculum that
espouses to be based on the lived experience of students must offer choices for both how
and in what order students progress through the curriculum. One option to this dilemma
would be to work with a committee of practitioners to select a list of standards that
represent the base knowledge and skills that students should acquire in order to be both
ethical and successful. Rather than align these standards to specific courses. The possible
Personal Curriculum Influence 19
sources of these standards will be discussed in Section D, Local, State, National and
International Standards. These standards could be organized in a variety of ways in order
to meet students’ choices for the organization of learning. Individual students might then
select a wide variety of different paths in order to demonstrate competency in basic
knowledge and skills. Demonstrating proficiency will be addressed in Section 5,
Alignment of Student Proficiencies with the Expectations in State, and Institutional
Standards within the curriculum.
I believe the major area of concern within State and federal law and policy is
accountability. Within WVBE Policies 2510 and 2320 and the federal No Child Left
Behind Act of 2001, accountability for schools and districts is based on a single annual
summative test score. This emphasis on mastery learning of identified power standards
currently drives school and classroom educational practice. In my opinion, this
accountability pressure would need to be changed before teachers and students could be
free to develop classrooms based on the lived experience of the participants.
D. Local, State, National and International Standards
In terms of alignment of state, national, and international standards with defined
student dispositions and outcomes, academic and technology standards for and AutoTrad-Phenomenological focus should be selected from a broad review of state, national
and international standards. For schools with an Auto-Trad-Phenomenological
curriculum focus, I would propose that a committee of practitioners, made up of students,
parents, educators, business and community leaders, review state, national and
international academic and technology standards in order to identify a limited number of
Personal Curriculum Influence 20
power standards for which students might be required to demonstrate proficiency. There
must be freedom for educators to structure the sequence and organization of teaching
these standards without the requirement of minutes of instruction or “seat time.” Freedom
must also exist for local practitioners, working with students, to add to these standards, so
long as proficiency of the base standards was demonstrated.
Some suggested academic and technology standards to be considered for review
by the committees of practitioners might include but not be limited to:

Program for International Student Assessment Framework (PISA),
http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/

International Standards for Technology Education (ISTE),
http://www.iste.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=NETS

National Assessment for Educational Progress Framework (NAEP),
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/frameworks.asp

ACT Assessment Framework, http://www.act.org/aap/

SAT Assessment Framework,
http://www.ets.org/portal/site/ets/menuitem.c988ba0e5dd572bada20bc47c
3921509/?vgnextoid=178daf5e44df4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD
&vgnextchannel=e809197a484f4010VgnVCM10000022f95190RCRD

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Standards (NCTM),
http://standards.nctm.org/

National Council of Teachers of English Standards (NCTE),
http://www.ncte.org/standards/
Personal Curriculum Influence 21

Center for Science, Mathematics and Engineering Education Standards
(CSMEE), http://www7.nationalacademies.org/cfe/

National Science Foundation Standards,
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/manuals/gpm05_131/gpm5.jsp
5. Alignment of Student Proficiencies with the Expectations in State, and
Institutional Standards within the Curriculum
As previously stated, a committee of practitioners would select a set of power
standards for which students must demonstrate proficiency. These standards can be
organized in different ways to meet the needs and interests of students. For example,
science inquiry standards might be completed in a wide variety of designed science
experiences. A series of technology standards might be demonstrated as the high school
students designs a website for a local nonprofit organization. A set of writing and editing
standards could be completed as students write and edit a newsletter for the local nursing
home. In this manner, a set of selected standards can be completed while teaching
students reflective biographical/autobiographical skills through learning experiences that
bring lived experience of the participants into the classroom and the classroom into the
lived experience of the community and society. Completion of the standards can be
tracked utilizing a technology database which would include a listing of required
standards and documentation of completion. The student could demonstrate proficiency
through submission of a portfolio of work including actual work products, completed
service projects, student reflective journals, student observations, publications, or even
appropriate assessment results.
Personal Curriculum Influence 22
One might ask why a curriculum influenced heavily from the autobiographical
and phenomenological bases would require an alignment with state, national and/or
international academic and technology standards to any degree. I personally believe that
students must have a basic understanding of content and technology to function
successfully in society, either as a continuing student, or as a successful worker. These
basic or power academic and technology standards must be representative of state,
national and international standards in the areas of language, science, math, and
technology and should represent the major academic assessments such that students can
successfully achieve passing scores to gain entrance to further educational opportunities.
In this view I consider the student’s environment to be the world. Can students,
regardless of where they travel for further educational opportunities or where they choose
to work be successful? Students will be required to demonstrate proficiency on a limited
number of academic and technology standards. The emphases on acquiring skills of selflearning and knowing as well as reflecting on their own experience to improve personal
experience will prove to me necessary for the success of students in the 21st century.
Part 3. Instructional Design Characteristics.
The Auto-Trad-Phenomenological classroom provides educational experiences
based on selected standards in a manner which brings the lived experiences of the
participants into the classroom and the classroom into the lived experience of society
utilizing opportunities for students to reflect biographically and autobiographically. As
Grumet (1990) teaches us, the classroom should be a place where the teacher and pupil
interact through experience and dialogue. This personal inquiry process becomes the
Personal Curriculum Influence 23
bridge between the student and the educational experience. One example of a teaching
and learning process is journal writing.
William M. Reynolds (Pinar et al., 2002) also provides an example of how
the student interacts with text in a lived experience to gain personal understanding. When
a student reads a text, they bring their prior prejudicial understanding to the reading. The
next step in the classroom experience would then be to move from a naïve reading to
understanding, listening to the text to determine what is new. Finally, after reflection and
meditation, the student completes a process of appropriation and self-understanding, such
that who they are becomes clarified. Aoki concludes that the text reflection is not merely
to understand what the author intended, but rather focus on the implications for the
learner themselves, so that the student gains new consciousness and critical knowing
(Pinar et al., 2002). The classroom should therefore be a place where students and
educators engage in the lived experience toward self-understanding.
Using Mauritz Johnson’s Schema for Curriculum (Johnson, 1967), I will outline
how the Auto-Trad-Phenomenological curriculum influence guides the instructional
design of the classroom. Section 4 of Johnson’s schema addresses how curriculum guides
instruction and is subdivided into three sections: 4.1) the instructional interaction of the
teacher and students, 4.2) the engagement of the learners through instruction, and 4.3) the
instructional episodes or activities.
First and foremost, according to Johnson (1967), instruction is the interaction
between the teaching agent (actual teacher, computer terminal, etc.) and one or more
learning individuals. Within the Auto-Trad-Phenomenological influence, the standards to
be taught are selected from approved set of basic standards in order to meet the leaning
Personal Curriculum Influence 24
needs of one or more students. The order of the standards, although influenced by Child
Development Theory, is determined by the level, needs and interests of the student(s). As
Johnson explains, instruction engages the intended learners with selected content which
he calls “cultural content.” While the approved standards form the basis of the
instruction, additional content is introduced to facilitate the learning of the selected
standards. The important part here is to remember that the cultural content is presented
and examined through the lived experience lenses of the participants in the classroom.
Key to engaging students in the curriculum is selecting learning activities that are
meaningful and relevant to the students. The role of the teacher should be thought of as
facilitator or guide, listening to the students and molding the curriculum to keep the
learning relevant to the needs and interests of the students. Personal inquiry should be a
primary mans of dissecting curriculum and classroom activities should lead students
toward multiple ways of learning and knowing.
The learning episodes or activities must be connected both to the curriculum
standards and to the relevant needs of the students. One key to doing this in the AutoTrad-Phenomenological model is to include ample opportunities for students to reflect on
both the subject being leaned and their experience with the curriculum. Students must be
involved in determining and evaluating lesson and student outcomes. Several
instructional episodes with multiple outcomes may be required for students to
demonstrate proficiency on the selected standards. It should always be remembered that
the students is an active learner and an active participant in designing and evaluating
student outcomes. Student participation in the instructional and evaluative process is
essential in developing student ownership in their learning. It should be remembered that
Personal Curriculum Influence 25
all participants in the educational experiences at in the continuous process of self-forming
and therefore must have a voice in decisions made during that journey.
As Johnson (1967) argues, the criterion for instructional evaluation must come
from the standards. However, within the evaluation framework, there are multiple
opportunities to bring the lived experience of the classroom participants in to the
evaluation cycle. Evaluation of the curriculum cycle is still important. One learning
opportunity may not ensure demonstrated proficiency of the standard and additional
opportunities, both for learning and demonstrated proficiency will need to be provided.
A sample Auto-Trad-Phenomenological lesson plan, based on existing West
Virginia instructional standards for eleventh grade students, is included as a sample of
how lived experience as expressed through literature and be analyzed for individual and
societal meaning by the classroom participants.
Personal Curriculum Influence 26
Sample Auto-Trad-Phenomenology Lesson Plan, Adapted from Harlem Renaissance by Nasia Butcher, West Virginia Department of
Education, Retrieved on November 28, 2008 from
http://wveis.k12.wv.us/Teach21/public/Iguide/Iguide.cfm?action=V1&tsele1=1&tsele2=111&tsele3i=280
Title
Harlem Renaissance
Suggested Quarter 4
Power Standard
Content Standards
and Objectives
21st Century Skills
Information and
Communication
Skills:
Literature from the African American culture has relevance in today’s world.
Objective ID
Learning Skills & Technology Tools
Objectives
Teaching Strategies Culminating Activity
21C.O.9-12.1.LS1 - Student
Peer review and peer editing.
recognizes information needed for
problem solving, can efficiently
browse, search and navigate online to
access relevant information, evaluates
information based on credibility,
social, economic, political and/or
ethical issues, and presents findings
clearly and persuasively using a range
of technology tools and media.
21C.O.9-12.1.TT1 - Student makes
informed choices among available
advanced technology systems,
resources and services (e.g., global
positioning software, graphing
calculators, personal digital assistants,
web casting, online collaboration
tools) for completing curriculum
assignments and projects and for
managing and communicating
personal/professional information.
Evidence of Success
Autobiographical essay
Development of website
Personal Curriculum Influence 27
21C.O.9-12.1.TT4 - Student uses
audio, video, pictures, clip art,
moviemaker programs, webpage
design software, electronic documents
and other files to collaborate for the
creation of electronic products that
inform multiple audiences both inside
and outside the school environment.
Thinking and
Reasoning Skills:
21C.O.9-12.2.LS1 - Student engages
in a critical thinking process that
supports synthesis and conducts
evaluation using complex criteria.
Students will compare and contrast literary
elements and the attitudes of death in of
Harlem Renaissance poetry.
E-mail
21C.O.9-12.2.TT2 - Student
collaborates with peers, experts and
others to contribute to a contentrelated knowledge base by using
technology to compile, synthesize,
produce, and disseminate information,
models, and other creative works.
Personal and
Workplace Skills:
21C.O.9-12.3.LS3 - Student
Students will work in groups of 2-3 to identify Whiteboard presentation
demonstrates ownership of his/her
five lines that exemplify the influence of
learning by setting goals, monitoring music on literature.
and adjusting performance, extending
learning, using what he/she has
learned to adapt to new situations, and
displaying perseverance and
commitment to continued learning.
21C.O.9-12.3.TT6 - Student evaluates
and applies technology tools for
research, information analysis,
problem solving, content learning,
decision making, and lifelong learning.
Personal Curriculum Influence 28
Performance
Objectives
(Know/Do)
Know: How has African American authors experiences influence their writings?
How music has influenced literature?
Do: Compare and contrast poetry.
Correspond through email properly.
Demonstrate working in small groups, cooperatively.
Use the white board for a presentation.
Big Idea
Effects of the historical, cultural, political, and biographical influences on a variety of genres
Enduring
Understandings
1. The historical, political, and cultural context of a piece of literature directly influences the work and how the author expresses
himself or herself.
2. Authors’ life experiences and beliefs are reflected in the literature they write.
Essential
Questions

What does the term “renaissance” mean? How do our understandings of the concept “renaissance” differ from its meaning during
20th Century America?

How did historical, political, and cultural events and climate shape and influence the Harlem Renaissance in the United States?

How did the experiences and beliefs of the African American authors shape and influence their writing?
Can reading literature from another culture in America make me more sensitive to cultural diversity? This unit uses the poetry of
Learning Plan &
Notes to Instructor Langston Hughes” as a basis for exploring the effect of the historical, cultural, political, and biographical influences on an author’s work.
Students analyze how an author’s life experiences and beliefs are reflected in the literature he or she writes. Other writers from the
Harlem Renaissance Era can be explored in conjunction with Hughes. Students learn about the beliefs, music, art, and dance African
American writers embedded in their works.
The teacher may use all three Academic Prompts or may opt to use a one or two Academic Prompts. The use of the Academic Prompts
is not an essential prerequisite to the Culminating Assessment; however, the prompts provide a basis of evaluating understanding of the
literature prior to engaging g in the Culminating Assessment.
Personal Curriculum Influence 29
Context/Background: Historical background of the Harlem Renaissance
Required Materials: Poetry by Hughes: “The Weary Blues”, “Harlem”, and “I, too, Sing America”. Other writers that can be studied
include Gwendolyn Brooks’ “of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery”, Zora Neale Hurston’s “ Dust Tracks on a Road”,
Countee Cullen’s “Tableau” and “Incident”, James Weldon Johnson’s “Go Down, Death”
Pre-requisite skills: knowledge of poetic devices
Suggestions for Differentiation: Scaffold if student is not reading on grade-level; cooperative grouping
Academic Prompts
Prompt 1: “Harlem” is a poem about the African American experience in the United States. Compare “Harlem” with Countee
Cullen’s “Tableau” and “Incident”, then compare and contrast the different ways in which each poem speaks out against
oppression. In your reflective journal, deconstruct your own meaning for the oppression and reflect on your own experience with
the word oppression.
Prompt 2: Students will analyze how Brooks’ “of De Witt Williams on his way to Lincoln Cemetery” and Johnson’s “Go Down,
Death” reflect the richness and the hardships of the African American experience in the first half of the 20 th century. Write an email to your teacher comparing and contrasting the attitudes toward death in the two poems and the literary devices used to
achieve this effect. The e-mail should also offer reasons why these poems can relate to you and to America’s culture today.
Prompt 3: Students demonstrate the influence of music and imagination on literature. Working in small groups, choose five lines
from a work of Harlem Renaissance literature that indicates the influence of music on that work. Write those lines on the
whiteboard and be prepared to explain and musically demonstrate how music is linked to literature.
Culminating
Assessment or
Product
Harlem in New York City is experiencing a resurgence of interest and growth. The Economic Development Council of Harlem wants to
bring Harlem’s rich cultural history back to life as it once was, increase tourism, and attract new businesses to the area.
Your group role is a website design agency hired to design a website highlighting the attractions of the “New Harlem Renaissnce.”.
Your goal is to incorporate music, art, literature, and dance in the era of Harlem Renaissance. Each member of your team is an expert in
design, music, art, literature, and dance. Your audience is the Economic Development Council of Harlem, and the situation is that you
must convince the members of the Council that your website is the one to be featured. Your website is the product and it must highlight
the music, literature, art and dance of the era. The standards by which your website will be evaluated will be set forth in a rubric and
should be graphically interesting, easy to navigate, supported with textual references, be backed up with research-based information, and
should be clear to a reader who is not familiar with Harlem Renaissance. In addition to your website, you will be responsible for making
a five to seven-minute presentation to the Council before they make a selection.
Personal Curriculum Influence 30
Links and Other
Resources
Related Rubric links:
Prompt 1
Prompt 2
Prompt 3
Culminating Assessment
Student Materials:
American literature anthology, computer, white board,
Related Websites:
http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/chap9/9intro.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/february98/harlem_2-20.html
http://afroamhistory.about.com/cs/harlemrenaissance/a/?once
www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/harlem/harlem.html
www.artcyclopedia.com/history/harlem-renaissance.html
Contact Author: Nasia Butcher apbutche@access.k12.wv.us
Personal Curriculum Influence 31
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