History Advance Placement Curriculum Essay

Introduction

What is curriculum? There are various definitions of curriculum. First, Ornstein and Hunkins (2013) defined curriculum as “a plan for achieving goals,” followed by a definition that incorporates dealing with the learner’s experiences. A less popular definition asserts that curriculum is a system for dealing with people (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2013). Curriculum can also be defined by the state standards and elements that student are required to learn in order to show mastery of concepts for that given subject. The debate on what curriculum means is an on-going topic for educators. Numerous educationalists look at curriculum as the subject that they teach and others associate curriculum with the learning objectives, goals, and organization

I define my personal philosophy as pragmatic. This is supported by the fact that my teaching style focuses on utilizing critical thinking skills and exploration. I currently teach in secondary education. The students in my U.S. History Advance Placement course are constantly engaged in performance task that require exploration into who, what, when, where, how, and why. Advance Placement curriculum focuses on engaging discussions, advancing and unraveling problems, challenging analytical reasoning skills, fostering new educational skill sets, and learning to write on a university level. A growing number of States recognize that Advance Placement is a successful, growing curriculum program which improves the educational system and offers gifted and talented students the accelerated rigor they greatly need to challenge them intellectually. If a classroom and the curriculum can offer and aid diverse styles of learning, it is likely that more students will learn more successfully and proficiently (Campbell & Campbell, 1999). Students need to be exposed to challenging curriculum that provides connections with advanced content and concepts, as well as to increase their awareness of and reflection upon their own thinking (Van Tassel-Baska & Little, 2011). My perception of curriculum is that it is a framework for critical thinking, exploration, and knowledge