THE IMPORTANCE OF OPEN ATTITUDE  IN UPDATED CURRICULUM

Key words: updated curriculum, open attitude, modernization, technological revolution, effective teaching, learning environment, feedback.
Having open attitude for the future is requirement in the global world and our president emphasizes its three main aspects. First of all, understanding what’s going on in the world, around your country and in the part of the planet where you live.

Secondly, it means being open to the changes that the technological revolution brings. In ten years it will transform many areas of our lives –our work, our leisure, our houses and ways of communication. We must be ready for it.

Thirdly, the ability to adopt and learn from the experience of other people and countries. The two great Asian nations of Japan and China are the best examples of this approach. Do you really think that 400 million citizens of the European Union do not respect their own German, French, Spanish, Italian or other languages? Do you really think that millions of Chinese, Indonesian and Malayan people learn English simply because of a thirst for knowledge? [1]

Being open to the best practices is the key to success and one of characteristics of an open attitude. I remember how, as a new teacher, I would attend a professional development and feel inundated with new strategies. (I wanted to get back to the classroom and try them all!) After the magic of that day wore off, I reflected on the many strategies and would often think, «Lots of great stuff, but I’m not sure it’s worth the time it would take to implement it all.»

Good teachers create learning tasks appropriate to the student’s level of understanding. They also recognize the uniqueness of individual learners and avoid the temptation to impose “mass production” standards that treat all learners as if they were exactly the same. “It is worth stressing that we know that students who experience teaching of the kind that permits control by the learner not only learn better, but that they enjoy learning more.  Effective teaching refuses to take its effect on students for granted. It sees the relation between teaching and learning as problematic, uncertain and relative. Good teaching is open to change: it involves constantly trying to find out what the effects of instruction are on learning, and modifying the instruction in the light of the evidence collected” [2].

We teachers are always looking to innovate, so, yes, it’s essential that we try new things to add to our pedagogical bag of tricks. But it’s important to focus on purpose and intentionality — and not on quantity. So what really matters more than «always trying something new» is the reason behind why we do what we do.

When a teacher begins a new unit of study or project with students, she clarifies the purpose and learning goals, and provides explicit criteria on how students can be successful. It’s ideal to also present models or examples to students so they can see what the end product looks like.

Teachers need to frequently step offstage and facilitate entire class discussion. This allows students to learn from each other. It’s also a great opportunity for teachers to formatively assess (through observation) how well students are grasping new content and concepts.

How do learners know they are moving forward without steady, consistent feedback? They often won’t. Along with individual feedback (written or verbal), teachers need to provide whole-group feedback on patterns they see in the collective class’ growth and areas of need. Students also need to be given opportunities to provide feedback to the teacher so that she can adjust the learning process, materials, and instruction accordingly.

In order to provide students with effective and accurate feedback, teachers need to assess frequently and routinely where students are in relation to the unit of study’s learning goals or end product (summative assessment). Hattie recommends that teachers spend the same amount of time on formative evaluation as they do on summative assessment.

The salaries of teachers, who switch to teaching within the framework of the updated curricula, will increase by between 30 and 50 percent, depending on the conferred qualification [3].

Students are given opportunities to plan and organize, monitor their own work, direct their own learning, and to self-reflect along the way. When we provide students with time and space to be aware of their own knowledge and their own thinking, student ownership increases. Our teachers must not be afraid of updated curriculum as it comprises best practices that are really useful. Besides, Patriotic Act “Mangilik Yel” is created in order to develop patriotic feelings of students and promote national ideas along with respect to all other nations, and aims in upbringing a global citizen.

The uncontrolled information flow, in our opinion, can significantly adjust behavioral and ideological stereotypes. Sometimes it could course serious problems as cyber bulling and fear of missing out or FOMO. Therefore, we can only predict the consequences of these changes. And in this sense, the modernization of public consciousness, proposed by the Head of State, we think, is a unique solution to the age-old philosophical dispute about the primacy of consciousness or matter. It is at this stage in the development of technologies and the further globalization that it seems to humanity that it is worth considering that it is more sensible, more responsible to use technical innovations and inventions.

Discuss each one in the context of your unique learning environment: who your students are, what they need, what they already know. Teachers that do not share are not supposed to be successful in the 21^st century schools, collaboration is one of the top skills that is included in the list of the most important ones. Great teachers are lifelong learners. Spend some time with a colleagues and talk about what each of these research-based, best classroom practices looks like in the classroom.

References:

1. http://www.akorda.kz/en/events/akorda_news/press_conferences/course-towards-the-future-modernization-of-kazakhstans-identity
2. Ramsden, P. (1992). Learning to Teach in Higher Education. New York: Routledge, p.102.
3. http://www.akorda.kz/en/events/akorda_news/press_conferences/the-head-of-states-statement-on-the-address-to-kazakhstans-nation

Yeleussiz Aigul
The branch of JSC NCPD “Orleu”,
Institute for professional development of Zhambyl region,
senior teacher.
Yerzhanova G.B.
№26 secondary school village Zhambyl, Kordai region, Zhambyl oblast,
teacher of English.