This was an interesting past two weeks for me because I have taken on a Biology 11 class and I’ve had a much different strategy in choosing what to prepare for lessons in that class compared to Science 10. Science 10 is all about preparing for the provincial exam. I don’t feel like I have a lot of freedom to explore related and interesting topics because I need to make sure that I hit everything in the textbook. Lest something I didn’t cover make its way onto the exam. Biology 11 is totally different and refreshing. Of course I still have to make sure that I adhere to the IRP, but within that there is so much more room for creativity and exploration. I can choose to cover or not cover specific details depending on how valuable they are academically and how interesting I think they are to learn. Wonderful!
At UBC there has been a lot of talk about the new curriculum being skills, not content focused and I am hoping that is the case. It is certainly more difficult to prepare lessons for Biology 11 because there isn’t a go-to resource like the Science 10 textbook that has everything I need to prepare in it. But it is much more rewarding personally because the lesson content that I choose to prepare is more meaningful to me, and I also therefore think I can teach it more passionately. I was given the chance to cover the microbiology section… my major in university! So I had a lot of experience I could draw upon for lessons, activities, and labs. It’s a great feeling to be able to use my use my passion to help students learn in the classroom, and I need to develop strategies to work that into courses like Science 10 where the content is more restricted. I think it would be difficult, but not impossible, and certainly rewarding.
An interesting entry and series of observations. For years, teachers in examinable courses have often felt the pressure to teach to the exam, often to an extreme, taking a lot of creativity and opportunity for enriching learning total place. I often wonder if it really makes that much of a difference! I wonder if we were mindful of the content but still taught class as we think they should with an emphasis on thinking and developing skills vs simply memorizing or covering content at the expense of what we believe to be important would really make a difference. I know that when Grade 11 Exams are brought in a very creative Physics teacher I worked with continued to teach as he always had and his student did as well, if not better than the norm for them province on the Physics 11 exam.
I know, as you say that the new curriculum is supposed to be skills vs content focussed and this give me some hope for a change. however, as long as a lot of teachers feel the need to teach to the exam and are focussed (hung up) themselves on what the results say and how their students compare to the district or provincial norm, will it make any difference, will the transition to the new curriculum expectations be liberating for teachers or will this perceived pressure win the day? Not to be cynical but it’s only Science 11 and it won’t make or break a student’s future. As well, the Science 12 exams are optional so why are we entrenched in this culture of teaching to the exam in grade 11?
So I have to get off of my soap box and start being more positive. I’m glad that you are enjoying the freedom you feel with Biology 11. It should be good for you and should play into your strengths as a teacher.