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Listening to Dr. Diane M. DeBacker on the process to develop curriculum make me realize how complicated and time consuming it is to develop a new one. I was shocked when she mentioned the process for writing/revising assessed standards could take up to 18 months. Putting this into mind, no wonder it is mentioned in the textbook that usually curriculum changes are not anticipated by teachers. I can say the process is very tedious and meticulous. From the initial meeting where members have to select the chair, establishing meeting dates, reviewing the formats, making assignments and etc. However, I think this is normal to any changes in curriculum development.

She defines curriculum as anything that is done to achieve the education mission and in fact when she mentions that, I am happy because Kansas Board of Education Mission is simple mission and it is very hard to argue. It shows that she understands that the elements of flexibility and dynamic when it comes to achieve the goals that comes after the mission. She gets my vote when she mentions kids are different so we need to redesign the delivery system to meet our student’s changing needs. This is so John Dewey.
When she specifically mentions about the uniqueness of our students, she mentions as well that teacher is the numbers 1 that influence students. This is great as firstly, it puts into my mind how powerful the roles teacher has towards students. In fact from the textbook, it mentions that teacher in fact can turn curriculum and fits into what she/he thinks right to the students. Unluckily, not so many teachers realize about the power that she/he has. Like what I said in my previous epiphany, teacher empowerment is not likely favored by school administration because it can lead to teacher has overt control over authority especially in school settings. This unlikeness from school authority to assert empowerment among teachers due to my assumption that most of the school authority nowadays still in manager mode instead of instructional leader mode of action though always they claim/favor to be /to have instructional leadership in their school settings.

Someway I feel frustrated when she mentions and explains on instructional leadership. It is not her definition that I disagree with because it is good. She believes instructional leadership practitioner is someone who understands curriculum and apply it. I find it so irony when she said that she will go to schools across the state (Kansas) and do some observation on the implementation of curriculum and the evaluation is based on common measurement. She said that the measurement is standardized because it has general and specific elements. It is baloney. This is not what instructional leadership that I know off. Instructional leadership is student centered school environment where teachers/principals will take care of students learning. He/she will has focus on direction that really works for students and spread it to school community. Not just students will benefit from his/her direction but teachers as well. There will be a learning growth. I think by going and checking how much schools abide by the “test taking policy and rules” and avoiding AYP does not portray what instructional leadership is, rather it is just a lip service, that can be a reflection that we are tied by a system that we must follow through no matter how hard we believe it is not right.

There is no evidence of any correlation between reading speed and intelligence, age, education or anything else. Many highly intelligent people for example are very slow readers, especially if they have large amounts of books to study with. Nor is there much evidence of recall and any of these factors.

The main problem for readers is that they love to regress. They do this out of confidence, they need to check the information they are getting /should be getting. Rarely, we ask speaker to regress back his/her sentences but we do that always in reading. Secondly, having an inner speech/vocalizing, mean you can listen the author speaks to you/ you read to yourself. It always happens if you are reading materials from someone that you know, for example, your love letter. Also, reading without a fixation time tends to make us a slower reader because we don’t have any aim. Need not to explain this as it is true.

Why Reading Faster Though You are a Genius:
Reading faster can be trained; it is well associated with active reading, as it goes together with skimming and scanning. You search for meanings. What I mean by meanings is that you have aims and objectives. This will improve your focus and concentration. Furthermore, you can be flexible reader instead of being slow reader; full of stress especially when you are against time. Faster reader tends to be a good recaller as they make fast connection between information within text, whereas the information will façade before slow readers can make connections. It is called lack of information retention ability.

Magnum You Should Have:
I can’t deny you need to have vocabulary and good background knowledge as it will improve your understanding. These are the two things you need in order to be a faster reader/efficient reader.

Observation:
This is interesting: “Concept oriented reading instruction (CORI) is a research based lesson planning framework for increasing motivation (Guthrie et al., 2004; Swan, 2004). The approach was developed in elementary, middle and high schools with low-achieving students. Rather than assuming that motivation comes from tricks or gimmicks, this approach assumes that motivation can be developed through student curiosity, social interaction and engagement. This approach can be integrating as a whole or in parts to many different kinds of lessons and units. It starts through real world observation, during which students document their experiences and pose questions. The intent of this work, early in a lesson, is to arouse curiosity and personalize learning. Internet explorations, hands on demonstrations, experiments, readings, audiotapes and video clips of both the familiar and the strange can all be used to pull students into a lesson, engaging their interest and attention.”(Pg 209) The ideas inside the approach are related so much with what I read from the textbook and lead me to search more about it. This is what I found, “CORI is an approach to reading instruction that helps children learn about scientific subjects while exploring non-fiction books. Read about the steps involved in using this approach to instruction.
Based on research in motivation, cognition, and instruction in reading, as well as our experience in teaching, we expected that an instructional framework that enhanced students’ long-term literacy activity would have to address student needs for the following:
• Observing and personalizing “real-world” problems as a basis for intrinsic motivations for reading
• Learning a variety of cognitive strategies for exploring these problems
• Interacting socially to construct conceptual knowledge
• Communicating their understanding to genuine audiences

Feeling:
• Happy
• Relief
• Confident

Thoughts:
I feel happy after reading these articles about reading approach because I find it suits with many reading comprehension strategies that I read from the textbook. I feel relief thinking that reading approaches are many and not just limited to analytical reading approach or phonic reading approach only. I feel confident to teach readings as I can move on to the approaches that I comfortable with.

Learnings:
Step One: I had assumption that there is only one best approach to teach reading which is bottom up approach. I had assumption that my students will learn best using this approach. I had assumption that I should teach using an approach that I am comfortable with.

Step Two: I was wrong in all of my assumptions. After reading textbooks and articles related to reading approaches now I realize, I was wrong. There are many interesting approaches beside bottom up approach. Reading about prism model and how it relates to students uniqueness put me into realization that again my second assumption is incorrect too. I realize after reading and knowing other types of reading approaches, they are interesting and comprehensive too and should be tried out.

Step Three: For a long time, I believe bottom up approach is the best because I am not familiar with other approaches. It was due to my preferences over any other approaches as it was the first approach that I learnt when I was doing my undergraduate. Before this, I never really care to look into various personalities of my students instead of it, my lessons were very teacher centered. My students consist of various personalities and different types of intelligences, so it is wrong to depend solely on one approach. Before taking this course, I did not really understand how reading process develop in one’s brain, but as I take it this semester, I start to understand the complex process of literacy and reading and that gear my interest to reading and try out the new approaches.

Applications:
Step One: Reading these two articles on CORI help me improve my understanding on reading approaches and how it relates to students biography. I would love to practice it though I am thinking not all elements of Literacy can be related directly to CORI, however I would love to practice CORI to improve and see my students’ motivation on reading as I know motivation is important to increase understanding when students interested to know further about their reading material. The relationship that I can bridge between CORI and my reading from our literacy textbook is that motivation can be increased by taking into consideration CLD Student Biography and making sociocultural connection from it. Not just that, I will focus as well my students academic dimension so that I can pick up suitable material for them.

Step Two: I plan to develop a lesson plan based on CORI, which highly focus on a topic that relates to student focus/ area of interest. I can see the purpose behind it as to develop motivation. It means teacher need to know their students very well as literacy itself is biographical. I can say that if teacher choose reading material that is rooted in their sociocultural background, it will assist process of learning and reading. In order to achieve this, I plan to group them according to their cultural group and have their own freedom to choose their reading materials.

CORI has the elements of Comprehending and Integrating, Communicating to Others and Peer-peer Interaction. I notice that in Chapter 6 of our textbook, it is related to developing students acquisition of metacognitive,cognitive and social affective strategies. The best thing about it is the elements of CORI is related mostly to reading comprehension strategies. For example, I can use CLD Questioning for Clarification or Story Retelling Matrix in CORI elements.

Now I realize how regret sharing of your in depth soul to those who will manipulate it back to you. Can sometimes story worth not to be told?

The answer is most of the times, story must not be told at all. It is just a waste of your time. Let us make a big show when a big screen is in front of everybody so at that moment, we can put all the justice and judgment in front of Allah.

Zip your mouth now.

Talking about myself, not so many people can understand, and I don’t expect people to understand as I now realize, it is very deep. The past is deep. At first, I do expect someone can understand that but after reflecting again and again, I can’t put my hope again on something that you think it is genuine. Then it is not genuine. It is just manipulation, toward a fear, not a love. The source of fear can be varied, a shame, jealousy, hatred, or anything else that I can’t think off.
Problematic? Yeah, I can sense that. That’s why from beginning, she told the weaknesses of me to her closefriend, reflecting how insecure she is with me, how troublesome of me can be at times. She wants a myself that is perfect as what she looks from Fox TV, a life that only can be accomplished at times when the weather is sunny 24/7. How unreal that kind of perception can lead life too.
Did I do that? No and never because I just understand, the reality behinds though today, only today everything starts to make sense of it.
Does it put me into anger? Yeah…
Do I regret? Yeah at first, but then, my life is just a gift from the He. Why is this be such a big mess for me.
What should I do? I don’t know. Put myself into sleep, still put an effort to not giving up, reading and understand Men from Mars, Women from Venus.

Observation:
This is from textbook: “Portfolios in various forms have been in use for some time. However, early versions often amounted to undifferentiated compilations of students work, sometimes judged merely by overall heftiness or mass. Although portfolios were appreciated as indicators of student (and teacher) effort, many parents felt that this abundance of academic memorabilia provided little information about the actual progress of their children in school. Over time, portfolios have become more organized, purposeful and indicative of student learning. Although there are many ways to use them, portfolios generally include: sample of student work, some indication of how the student rated himself or herself on the processes and products included, evidence of how these products met established criteria. The criteria for judging portfolio pieces should describe outcomes that align with curricular standards. In many cases, school districts align these standards with relevant state and/or national benchmarks. A student portfolio might also include such things as writing samples, drawings, reading logs, student self evaluation or progress notes and audio or videotapes, to name a few. The most common forms of portfolios contain either highlighted or showcased examples of a student’s best work or work samples that depict learning in progress.”(pg 29-30)

Feelings:
• Nervous
• Curious
• Confident

Thoughts:
Though I feel happy to implement portfolio as authentic assessment as I can develop meaningful activities for my students at the same time I feel curious to convince parents to change their views on my method of assessing students and wondering what makes them feel so. I feel nervous as well thinking how school and society will accept the change that I try to implement later. Will they accept the change positively or revolt on something they are not familiarized with?

Learning:
Step One: Prior taking this course, I heard about portfolio many times in reading but never bother to really look at it in depth. Most of the development course that I attended focusing on creating good examination questions based on Bloom’s taxonomies, so basically portfolios or any others assessments are not needed. The first assumption leads to second assumption that if it is widely used and implemented in Malaysia, it is good and perfect. I assume it was good because there is no complaint about it before that I have taken into my personal readings or observation.

Step Two: Taking this course, put me into realizations that I was wrong about my assumptions. I realize assessment is not about creating challenging questions and get percentage of failure and success in the examination but it is more than that. It must be related on understanding upon students’ biographies, their learning preferences, biopsychosocial elements and how to put these elements into practices. My second assumption was wrong also, realizing my first premise was baseless. Furthermore, something that is widely use and implement is not necessarily good, for example, a communist system on Russians. Also, I can’t assume the nonexistent of complaints from society is a good sign but it can be either Malaysians are fully satisfied with the system, or they just cannot see the other side of the box that has better offers. None of these can be attributed to perfectness.

Step Three: I truly believe that my assumptions came from my Positivism belief on my own worldviews. There must be black or white, yes or no. Reflecting back to my prior education system that mainly centralized to statistical numerical results rather putting on qualitative aspects, I do believe someway and somehow it mould into creating ways of how I perceive things. Though in some ways it gives me stand on my faith, anyway I realize I can’t use this hollow monocular point of view especially when it comes to assessing my students.

Application:
Step One: After reading few topics on portfolios, I realize, portfolio is another alternative that I could provide to my future students/teachers that I am going to teach beside focusing/depending only on standardized examination. It does not mean that I abhor completely standardized examination because in a way, it can be useful sometimes. However, according to Murphy (1999) it can’t be tolerated when it does not allow flexibilities. It does so when students and teachers can’t exercise control over choices to best demonstrate the dimensions of performance. When I reflect her notion and compared to stated paragraph, taken from my textbook, I realize portfolio can provide what the standardized examination cannot give.
Step Two: I will try to implement portfolio as one of assessment methods to my students later.

Implementing portfolio needs me to know students interests and suggesting them on how to pursue with it so that it will be meaningful to them. On my side, I will negotiate the elements that I am going to grade (which will be according to curriculum) and on their side, they have to demonstrate the learning and thinking that they master throughout the course. By this, it is not just my students will construct their own learning but at the same time, I have solid arguments and evidence for their parents as well.

References:
Murphy, S(1999) Assessing Portfolios in Evaluating Writing: The Role of Teachers’ Knowledge about Text,Learning and Culture. National Council of Teachers of English,Illinois.

Marsh C.J& Willis G(2007) Curriculum Evaluation and Student Assessment in Curriculum Alternative Approaches,Ongoing Issues. Pearson, New Jersey (4th Ed)