The Teacher - The Curriculum - The Student - The Impact

My own planning practice begins by looking at curricular requirements. I consult with colleagues on how content was delivered, what resources were used, and the feedback received from those involved. The questions I tend to ask are:

• What went well?, 
• What needs to be changed?, and or
• How can we do this differently?

Integral to the planning process, is to consider your audience - your students. Having a background in learning support and EAL - I consider it vital to create an environment which is not silencing to any of my students. Each individual has a role and a voice in my classroom, which I hold onto dearly. After all what is a class without the voice of its students? 

I like to honour these stories through sharing and respecting each perspective. I see each perspective a window into a topic at hand, which adds depth to the material delivered. According to Greene (1993), educators create situations that foster ‘webs of relationships’. It is through these relationships that I use to complement the curriculum, and further try to implement the 6 C’s (collaboration, character, citizenship, critical thinking, creativity, and communication). (Fullan, 2013) I also like to look at how the community could be involved or different forms of technology - to encourage activities involving the 6 C’s.

In an ideal world, all of this would be possible, but realistically there are obstacles such as time and resources. However, I see great value in team planning whether face-to-face or virtual. The strength in a team in my opinion encourages innovative planning. I think planning curriculum is like a democratic process. We have choices on how to deliver content, and we can empower each other through the choices we make together. As Greene (1993) puts it - in a democracy we’re a community always in the making forever incomplete, and founded in possibility. As educators we shouldn’t take what is possible as a light matter. We need to facilitate a caring environment to encourage what is possible. As Noddings (1995) discussed, a caring environment encourages students to make wise choices. Just as we make choices, so do our students. What may seem impossible can be possible by trying new approaches to things, which could leave an impact on our students, our community and to society. However, reflective practice is important individually and collectively to innovative change, in order to recognize how to further improve our practices.

Source: 
Fullan, M. (2013). Great to excellent: Launching the next stage of Ontario’s education agenda.
Greene, M. (1993). Diversity and inclusion: Toward a curriculum for human beings. Teachers College Record, 95, 211-221.
Noddings, N. (1995). Teaching Themes of Care.Phi Delta Kappan, 76(9), 675—679.