Lesson Plans #4 (Trust the Spiral...)

Posted by Greg Cruey Mar 23, 2006

Spiral curriculums are gaining influence in the world of education. And that's ESPECIALLY good news for children with special needs. Curriculum issues tend to be assumptions for most teachers. That is to say, they are sometimes not even aware of them - simply teaching what they've been given to teach. The most important aspect of this change has to do with expectation. In the past teachers expected that students would "get it" - right now, this time. If they didn't, that was failure. But the concept of readiness to learn has brought a lot of teachers to the point of understanding that many student won't get it this time, but may next time. And the idea the repetition is the heart of learning is gaining ground. It's not how hard we beat this or that into the kids this time; it's how many times the kids are exposed to it over the course of years. That's the heart of learning. In Lesson Plans #4 I talk in more detail about using spiral curriculums.