Consider why you organize and sequence your content the way you do. Your assumptions about your students’ prior knowledge, cultural backgrounds, and motivations are likely to shape your choices. Your own past learning experiences and common practices among your colleagues or in your discipline are also likely to affect your strategies for organizing and sequencing content. 6
Organization and choice of content
51 Exercises
There are assumptions that underlie your choices of content. Complete these sentences for each topic, content area, or reading material you assign: 1. I believe that it is important to include this content because…
2. My department or faculty would argue that it is important (or not important) to include
because…
3. My discipline or profession would argue that it is important (or not important) to include
because...
4. My social and cultural background, identity and values influence my selection of this content
because…
By being open and explicit with your students about your choices and why you have selected the content you are including, you are modeling global citizenship. Consider sharing with them what you learned from exercise #1, above: •
How your choices relate to your own values
•
How your choices relate to the values and norms in your department and your discipline
•
How your choices relate to cultural norms—both your own, and (if different), the mainstream
dominant culture
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2
Road to Global Citizenship: An Educator’s Toolbook
52 What are three strategies I could use to be open and explicit with students about why I have
selected particular content?
1.
2.
3.