NL Curriculum Resources

Last week, I was provided the opportunity to peruse the Newfoundland & Labrador mathematics curriculum resources; this experience was rather unique considering this had only been my second interaction with the the provided subject-specific curriculum supports as our program seems to have a particular focus on the curriculum guide itself. 

In my rotation through the seven tables displaying the kindergarten to grade six resources I was taken back by not only the amount but also quality of the materials which teachers in my province are provided with. All texts, at a glance, seemed to be quite comprehensive and provided ample student practice. Furthermore, there was a wonderful selection of mathematical children's literature provided for students in kindergarten through to grade two. 

After completing this session, I do however have a couple of questions that I forgot to ask my instructor. Firstly, stemming from my last point, I would really like to know why students in grades 3 to 6 were deprived of children's literature dealing with mathematics; I feel that students in these grades would benefit tremendously from their interactions with literature of this sort, as it would foster an appreciation for both mathematics and literacy. In addition, considering teacher's are provided with such great "paper" supports, are teacher's provided with the manipulatives that are being advertised in them? 

To extend this experience further, I think it would be eye opening to have the opportunity to review supports provided to teachers in other provinces or even states. As I do commend my own province now, I think an experience such as the one listed above may persuade me to believe otherwise!

Connecting this experience to the ideas presented in Chapter four of our text, I like to believe that these resources are useful to both students and teachers. Through my exploration of the grade three mathematics curriculum document in the class prior, I discovered that the document has been appropriately re-vamped to include more inquiry based practices. Under this assumption, I feel that the individuals who select these classroom supports have done a great job in choosing resources that will foster this particular type of learning, especially in the new resources available for students in kindergarten through grade two. Furthermore, another critical topic explored in chapter four was the notion of the distinction between drill and practice; as I explored these resources I was pleased to discover that even the old texts avoided "drill" and seemed to provide students with diverse problems to exercise their learning.