Comite Curiculó

So some of you may know that in addition to teaching I am a part of the curriculum committee at my school.  This opportunity was one of the reasons I chose the job over others when looking to move to Bogotá.  The committee is made up of only 5 people:  the director of the school, the director of academics, the director of bilingual education, and the director of technology.  How I ended up on this committee among all the head honchos of the school, I'm not sure but it is the most interesting part of my week.

The committee was advertised to me as a committee working on reforming the school's curricula to include 21st century skills.   I love discussing curricula, developing curricula, modifying curricula, etc. and have yet to see a school that is doing an excellent job of teaching 21st century skills in a systematic way that ensures students are really learning.  So this seemed like a challenge that I would enjoy taking on.

As I said, it really is the most interesting part of my week.  It makes my brain hurt - which I like - but it can also be frustrating.  The meetings are completely in Spanish - except when we're reading texts that are in English.  Also, we don't have agendas or take minutes, so sometimes it is unclear what we are trying to accomplish.  In addition to this curriculum reform, we also plan Rondas or observational rounds in which the committee, along with all the heads of departments, spend a morning observing classrooms in 15-minutes bouts and the afternoon discussing trends that we are noticing.  So sometimes in these weekly meetings we are discussing curriculum and other times we are discussing pedagogy.   I realize these things go hand-in-hand but I still find myself lost at times.

Despite this though we have really interesting conversations about what countries are having success with their students, what measures of success are important, how to we get teacher buy-in if we want to effect change, and what does it look like to incorporate 21st century skills into a curriculum.  We read articles and books and research standards from a variety of locations, 21st century skills, and various assessments including PISA and Colombia's SABER, developed by ICFES.  This weekend I am reading the PISA standards for each grade level and the book Who's Teaching Your Children? by Katherine Boles (a Harvard professor) and Vivian Troen.  So fun.  I bust my butt all week at school with the goal of not having to do planning work over the weekend so I can enjoy this research.

The only frustration is that I am about action.  I am ready to plan, create, do...but we are still discussing.  I want to develop teacher support programs and a teacher career track.  I want to get others involved.  I want to transform my curriculum in order to better incorporate 21st century skills.  Baby steps though.  First?  I should probably keeping working on my Spanish so I can be more vocal in these meetings.  Oof.   :)