Much focus has been given over the past several years to the 3 R’s - Rigor, Relevance and Relationships - created by William Daggett, but I was very unfamiliar with the 4 R’s. These ideas are very progressive and could serve as a great model. Tyler’s 4 principles has pre-set ideas goals and/or purpose, methods and then evaluation. While not a wrong model Doll Jr. saw how the revision of Tyler’s principles would fit a more post-modern model of education. The R that most grabbed my attention was the Richness. As I look back on the curriculum that I taught 5 years ago this is what was missing. I was teaching a curriculum with no depth. It was meaningless to students and allowed for very little dialogue that Doll Jr. says is needed in a rich curriculum. This is because there was too much on the “curriculum” plate so that the depth could not be there for fear we wouldn’t get it all covered. I love that Doll Jr. places significance on richness as the deep rich conversations that my students have about things like stem cells, cancer and brain research as far more important than memorizing the parts of the cell. So in preparing this blog post I googled “richness in curriculum” and actually found a university that has a Richness in Thought graduation requirement. This is how they described it, “Through this component you’ll develop keen insights and a deep understanding of literary works, mathematical models and artistic vision. It will enable you to debate definitions and articulate differences in thought or action. As a result you’ll have a better understanding of the diversities of human experiences”, Susquehanna University . I thought this was a great description of what exactly I am trying to do with my students when I try to make the curriculum richer. Recursive also really grabbed my attention as I see more and more blogging and electronic portfolios as summative assessments. I really like the idea of blogging and recently attended a conference where one school was having students start blogs at 2nd grade and keep the same blog through 12th grade. Research shows that student reflection is a great tool for assessment of learning and learners can see their own strengths and weaknesses. After students see their weaknesses they know what they need to improve on and can focus on that in their learning and relearning. In Daggetts model the relationship piece is about establishing relationships with students but Doll Jr. has a different perspective on relations as it pertains to curriculum. I see how Relations directly relates to Richness. As more connections are made between topics, the curriculum and conversations become deeper and richer. I believe that the Rigor comes from the Richness, but also that the Richness provides the Rigor. I think some teachers still define Rigor as how many difficult formulas or math problems they can make students do or memorize and it infuriates me. To me the Rigor comes from the deep conversations where students must make arguments, connections, reflections and solve problems. I was excited about the 4 R’s and instead of analyzing lessons by Daggett’s 3 R’s we need to have more lessons analyzed against the 4 R’s.
You explanation and connections to the R's of Doll's article brought a lot of clarity to this article for myself. When reading the article I saw a lot of connections between the Tyler article and the Doll article, but I think you say it much better when you give the idea that its just revamped for a modern day society. I quoted Tyler (1949) when he states: “An educational program is not effective if so much is attempted that little is accomplished.” (p. 33) I find this is a huge problem in my classes. I believe you tough on that when you discuss the R of richness. If we are able to teach less standards a year we would be able to include that depth that allows mastery and understanding so that the same topics are not repeated over and over until they are simply memorized (not always understood.) I also agree that when people think of the term rigor they really do think of strenuous situations such as difficulty and amount of work. However, a rigorous course really is one where you have that higher level thinking is achieved and expected no matter the format.
ReplyDeleteAlthough these are great aspects of the Doll Jr article I still found that a lot of the Tyler article was incredibly relevant to today's teaching. I found this fascinating since it was written in 1949.
Thanks,
Andrea
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for sharing your thoughts here. You do an impeccable job articulating some of Doll's argument in a way that is concise and clear. I also appreciate the way that you weave your own experiences in to build your own case for using Doll's 4 R's. Your suggestion that Richness sort of sits at the center of the model is compelling. I can certainly see how having a rich curriculum could breed Rigor, Recursiveness, and help to build relationships. I wonder, how did you end up developing a curriculum that had the Richness you now have? What inspired you to develop it? Do you think that most teachers have the tools necessary to develop a rich curriculum? What should their first step be?
Though you don't come right out and say so, I think there is an undercurrent in your post that nods towards the benefits of having connections across disciplinary boundaries. I wonder if you do any interdisciplinary work in your school? What might it look like to develop interdisciplinary curriculum? Who would be involved?
Best,
amanda