One idea in Aoki’s writing that resonates with my experience teaching is his insight on the space between curriculum-as-plan and the lived curriculum. I am thinking specifically about how Aoki explains that things can grow in this space. When reading the description, my mind immediately thought of a space called the boundary layer where mosses live, which is where air and land meet. In the case of moss, the boundary layer is a critical space that traps heat, water vapor, and other gases. Aoki uses many words starting with the prefix “hum” to remind us that we are “communally ecologic, that the rhythmic measures of living on Earth come forth polyphonically in humour and human and humus and humility,” (Aoki, p. 300, 1993) and I would like to add humidity, the element of water vapor influencing all living things from small to large, to the list. When I think about the space between curriculum-as-plan and the lived curriculum, I realize that I spend most of my time as a teacher at an online school navigating this space. I agree that the middle space is a “fertile place,” (Aoki, p. 299, 1993), as Aoki describes, and I am lucky to work in a school that allows for a lot of movement in here. I see now that the curriculum-as-plan and the lived curriculum are pressed up tightly in some instances for teachers in online settings though. There is no limit on the student-to-teacher ratio in online schools in B.C., and Aoki’s description of the space between curriculum-as-plan and the lived curriculum helps me see in a new way why teaching in these settings can be extra challenging.
Aoki’s insights on the space between curriculum-as-plan and the lived curriculum help expand where I am, and where I could be. The space between curriculum-as-plan and the lived curriculum, like the boundary layer, exists, but can be overlooked. In my teaching setting at an online school, the curriculum is bought, and there is little time to make changes based on the workload put on teachers. I find myself using a patchwork approach to fill in the space between curriculum-as-plan and the lived curriculum for each student. Aoki notes that “curriculum developers are often placed such that they are in a sense “condemned” to design for faceless teachers and students” (Aoki, p. 299, 1993). Given the critical teaching shortage in the Province, I can understand why the Ministry of Education would allow for such curriculum to be used on a wide scale. About 10% of all students in B.C. are taught at an online school, likely using the same curriculum described, and many teachers in these settings have enormous numbers of students. In my practice as a teacher, I continue to move towards spending as much time as I can building relationships with each student. I have designed a few pilot projects to reach out better to students who only attend asynchronously that I will continue to implement. I want to continue moving towards having a better picture of each student so that I can help draw lines and fill in the space between the curriculum-as-plan and the lived curriculum.
What exists in your teaching practice growing in the middle between the curriculum-as-plan and the lived curriculum?
Why is it important that this space is seen as open with room between this and that?
Curriculum in a New Key | The Collected Works of Ted T. Aoki | Ted T. (n.d.).
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