The Other Side of Curriculum: Lessons from Learners

What exactly should students “know and be able to do” and how do we help them to know and do it? The Other Side of Curriculum answers these questions with a powerful model of curriculum developmentone that fosters experiential and personal growth. Lois Brown Easton provides ideas and practical tools for creating an effective learning community, based on her experience at Eagle Rock School, where learners are central and the curriculum responsive to their needs. Her curricular concepts are common to all; Easton carefully considers how they can be customized and applied to almost any school or district. Each of her chapters begins with a story of learning that illustrates a concept of curriculum. She then describes that concept and offers questions that will help you translate the concept to your own setting. Learn about curriculum in relation to culture, instruction-assessment, learner-centered education, competency-based systems, self-directed learning, personal growth, and much more. Then explore your own storyconsider how these concepts relate to your own context with the end-of-chapter questions you can ask yourself or use with colleagues. If you’re a practicing teacher, administrator, staff developer, or teacher educator, The Other Side of Curriculum will inspire you to make the changes needed in your own environment, enable you to embark on those changes, and convince you with the theoretical background and concrete examples that will help you be successful in shaping a curriculum for all learners.