Chapter 6 Reaction Paper

Course Planning and syllabus design

                The chapter states many important factors for course planning which includes developing a course rationale, describing entry and exit levels, choosing course content, sequencing course content, planning the course content, and preparing the scope and sequence plan (145). All these factors are important and required in order for an organization to successfully have a well-planned course of action. It is important to have a rationale to describe the course and why the program exists. Here on Guam, our rationale with our education system is to educate our students so that they can become productive citizens. At our school, we encourage and expect our students to know the goal of our school and the expectations of the students when present on campus. This is important because they understand why they are there and are given guidelines as to what they should do on their end to help contribute towards our rationale as part of our organization.

                The entry and exit levels are simple because it is already practiced in our organization. Understanding where the students are able to perform and seeing how far the difference in terms of the expectations we have of our students is a great way for teachers to reassess and plan their lessons to help minimize the gap. This also helps teachers choose their course content in terms of helping students achieve mastery of certain skills. Some schools have different schedules where a subject can be taught for either a semester or for a whole year. With the exception of high schools where they offer the core subjects to be taught all year round, the schools have the option of adding in classes that provide students a variety of options to choose from in terms of elective classes. With the course planning, the teachers will have to make decisions about the objectives, the outcomes and basically the nature of the course and how it will benefit the students.

                To determine the scope and sequence of the course is for the teacher to distribute time for the content throughout the course. The book defines scope and sequencing stating that, “Scope is concerned with the breadth and depth of coverage of items in the course and the sequencing of content involves deciding which content is needed early in the course and which provides a basis for things that will be learned later (149-150).” To determine the scope is important because as mentioned earlier, not all courses are offered with the same time frame, therefore it is up to the teacher to effectively plan the scope for her course content to ensure coverage of the most important skills as well as ensure mastery of those skills. This is a difficult task as students learn differently and at different paces. Assessment of these sequencing must be given with adequate time for learning the various lessons for the course. Planning the course structure ahead of time will allow the teacher to adequately appropriate time to prepare, coordinate and execute the lessons. At the end of the course, the teachers should reflect and add changes to ensure the course to be as efficient as possible to ensure learning is successful in their given environment.