The Saber-Tooth Curriculum

It can be argued that “The Saber-Tooth Curriculum” was written to mock the constant arguments that are had between educators and parents, and even between other educators. This story brings up many valid points, however to list all of them would become overwhelming. To keep it simple, I will discuss the introduction of a new curriculum when the current one is no longer effective, how change will always be resisted, and how children, and adults, are more eager to learn when what they are learning is purposeful.

Creating a curriculum is very important, for it gives educators a framework of what to teach. How the educator decides how to present the ideas is usually based on personal experiences. New-Fist observed two things that encouraged him to create his curriculum. First, that children spent their time playing just for fun, which was serving little purpose to the community and second, the adults were doing all of the work to allow the community to survive. The new curriculum was set up to teach the children the skills necessary to help themselves and their community.

Just as Bransford, Brown and Cocking (2000) stated that “learners of all ages are more motivated when they can see the usefulness of what they are learning and when they can use that information to do something that has an impact on others…,” (p. 61), New-Fist observed that the children had more fun engaging in purposeful activity than playing just for the fun of it. Motivation not only affects the amount of time people put into learning, but also affects the reasons why people learn; extrinsic and intrinsic factors, (Bransford, et al., 2000). When the rest of the community saw how well New-Fist’s curriculum was working, they too began to join the children in the new ways to gather food and skins.

Things, however, do not remain the same and must constantly be changed. The curriculum New-Fist created was no longer effective when the environment changed, and therefore the curriculum had to be updated to meet the needs of the new environment. Members of the tribe resisted the new curriculum because it was beyond their comfort zone. New-Fist continued to push the new curriculum and teach the new skills because the members of his tribe still had to survive. As members of the tribe became more frustrated with the lack of food and skins, they became more motivated to learn the new skills.

In my Administration I class we learned that no matter how good the change may be, people do not like to leave their comfort zone and will therefore resist the change. When a new administration took over my district they introduced the Everyday Math curriculum. They did this not just to be able to meet, but excel past the requirements set by the state due to No Child Left Behind. The teachers did nothing but complain about it for many reasons, however, a year later they have grown to like it so much they wish that curriculums for other subjects reflected the Everyday Math design.

New-Fist had many great ideas to teach the children and adults of his community the skills to survival. He was able to motivate his learners and was also able to update his teaching ideas when the change in the environment forced him to do so. No matter how much the new curriculum was resisted, he knew how important the change was to the tribe’s survival, and made the changes anyway.

This story parallels modern day education in many way. Educators teach students the necessary skills to pass the grade level they are in, the prospective grade levels, and to survive in the “real world”. Teachers hope to motivate their students to want to learn the necessary skills; however, this may not always be the case. There will always be resistance to change, but if the change is truly believed to be needed, teachers or administrators must continue to offer the change.