A New Curriculum...

It has been postulated -- by me -- that an entire K-12 curriculum could be based around the lyrics of Phish songs. Here goes:

Science: "Dirt," "Sample in a Jar," "Tube," and "Reba."
World Religions/Mythology: "The Squirming Coil," "Icculus"
Phys Ed: "Run Like an Antelope" and "Punch You in the Eye"
Health and Wellness: "Catapult"
Literature: "Prince Caspian"
Hebrew Studies: "Avinu Malkenu"
Psychology: "Crimes of the Mind" and "My Mind's Got a Mind of its Own"
Marine Biology / Aquatics:"Theme from the Bottom," "Moma Dance," "Water in the Sky," "Wading in the Velvet Sea," and "Waves."
International Relations: "Mexican Cousin," "Language Instructions," and "Manteca"
History: "46 Days," "No Dogs Allowed," "Guelah Papyrus," "Buffalo Bill"
Geography: "Albequrque," "Walls of the Cave," and "Train Song"
Career Planning: "Waste"
Geometry: "Round Room"

"Right angle rooms drive me crazier each day
Put me in a box I know I'm never going to play
Put me in a square room and I won't know what to say
I want a round room at the end of the day"

Also, "Demand" can go along way to teach emergency preparedness:

"You may as well keep your belly full
For the time may come when youl rely on the layer of fat
That separates you from the rabid dog and the common fly"





OK, that was fun, but it doesn't have to be Phish songs. A curriculum could be organized around almost anything that engages the students. The skills that students need to learn are already identified, but what makes them master those skills might be different for every student. Why do we continue to give them the same textbooks with the same essays, stories, and cookie-cutter excercises?

We don't need to spend such an inordinate percentage of our budget on textbooks. Instead, let's get ALL students access to the Internet and teach them to use it responsibly and effectively.

Free educational websites and apps let us read or download classic works of literature, and just about any idea or fact we need to find can be tracked down online.

You'll miss the excercise you copied from page 655 of the textbook and handed out to students. I know. I'll miss it, too.

But our students will gain the opportunity to be the creators of the projects and excercises, in a manner of speaking, when you present them with a problem and they develop the necessary skills by working together to find a solution. And won't they remember much longer, and with deeper understanding and connections, that which they learned by doing , rather than what they read and filled out on a copy from page 655?