Abstract
This essay leads readers through a reflective process for curriculum planning, which differs from traditional planning in the kinds of questions raised. Instead of asking what students should know and be able to do or whether they are learning, much more difficult queries are posed: What do I believe in, and why? Am I living what I believe? Are these values embodied in the curriculum I teach? What kind of world am I creating/supporting in the decisions I have made? Whose interests are being served in this world—who gains and who loses?
The reflective essay uses examples from a graduate course in planning dance curriculum, ultimately identifying two emergent themes. “Towards wide-awakeness” has to do with becoming conscious of one’s values, recognizing what is being given up and what is being gained with one’s curricular choices. “Moving towards possibility” has to do with going beyond the curriculum as it is and imagining what might be. Throughout, the author models the process through rigorous critique of her own values and assumptions.
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Stinson, S.W. (2016). Choreographing a Life: Reflections on Curriculum Design, Consciousness, and Possibility (2001). In: Embodied Curriculum Theory and Research in Arts Education. Landscapes: the Arts, Aesthetics, and Education, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20786-5_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20786-5_5
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