Across the nation, charters, freed from the
constraints of the traditional curriculum, have been viewed as laboratories for innovation in public schools, reaching students who have struggled in traditional schools.
The emergence of these technologies has required us to reassess the
value of traditional curricula, and devise new pedagogical strategies that retain important lessons in the face of technological change.
I'm very excited by this collaboration with my colleague as it represents an authentic, relatable challenge grounded in a lesson that demonstrates how design (and our makerspace) can be used authentically as
part of traditional curriculum.
Rather than teaching state writing expectations
outside of traditional curriculum, Olinghouse suggests providing writing activities within the curriculum that mimic the state testing circumstances in timeframe, genre, and type of prompt.
Ideally, this type of learning lends a deeper understanding to the larger themes, such as U.S. history and world history,
of traditional curricula.