Group Curriculum Conference Summary

As preservice teachers, the experiences that we have encountered have led us to consider
or examine the practices of todays classrooms. We have witnessed classrooms that focus on
using whole group instruction with multiple worksheets and standardized test prep. With the
realization of how classrooms are functioning and organized today, there is a deficit of enriched
multimodal learning and motivation of the students. The form of instruction that we have
observed has created a negative effect on students performance. Each of us conducted research
on our various concerns that we have seen from our field placements in the current curriculum of
schools. The concerns include the lack of creativity, play, intervention for struggling readers,
and support for English Language Learners (ELLs). After discussing our various concerns,
together we found that schools are lacking in individuality among students.
Differentiation through creative play and instruction is a necessary component in early
childhood education today. Research shows children gain essential experiences and enrichment
through play and social interactions. This need can be met through restructuring the norm of the
common classroom to create more of a community-learning environment. Our philosophy for
this curriculum is a combination of progressivism and existentialism. It is progressive in the
sense that it builds off student interest, social conditions and different student needs. Our
philosophy is existentialism in the sense that it focuses on student interest and every student has
his or her own personal path to individualized education (Poetter, 2014, pp. 159-160).
Our goal for this curriculum is to cater to the individual student through differentiation
in self-exploration, as well as differentiation of academic instruction. Our curriculum contains
three main objectives. The first objective is to incorporate small-group instruction and activities
that cater to a diverse group of students. The second objective is to provide a comfortable and

safe environment that fosters differentiation and individualized instruction. Our third objective is
to create opportunities that allow students to explore as groups and as individuals building skills
such as collaboration and creativity.
Our concerns of differentiation for students, such as struggling readers and ELLs, have
been addressed through the use of individualized instruction, which includes creativity and play.
We hope that teachers are able to take these accommodations into account and stray from the
norm of whole-group instruction and teaching to the test. Instead, our desire is for teachers to
differentiate through creative play and instruction. This will encourage individuality among the
students and lead to personal growth. Our curriculum has a positive effect on students
performance in the classroom not only academically, but also socially.

References
Poetter, Thomas S. (2014) Teacher Leadership for the Twenty First Century (2nd ed.),
Curriculum Perspectives (pp. 159-160). Cincinnati, OH. Van-Griner Publishing.