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Despite Paula’s descripti<strong>on</strong> of an ideal curriculum,<br />
her students received little-to-no activities<br />
in daily living at school. Her life management<br />
class involved students reading a<br />
textbook, answering questi<strong>on</strong>s, <strong>and</strong> discussing<br />
topics, ra<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r than <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> h<strong>and</strong>s-<strong>on</strong> activities she<br />
talked about in interviews.<br />
Data also revealed an associati<strong>on</strong> between<br />
each school’s philosophy <strong>and</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> enactment<br />
of a functi<strong>on</strong>al curriculum. Yet, it was not <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
schools’ explicit philosophies “to make lifel<strong>on</strong>g<br />
learners out of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>se kids <strong>and</strong> have <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>m<br />
participating in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> community” (Interview,<br />
March 15, 2005) <strong>and</strong> “safety <strong>and</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> importance<br />
to learn something new each day <strong>and</strong> to<br />
strive to better yourself everyday” (Interview,<br />
June 14, 2005) that were as relevant as <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
schools’ implicit philosophies.<br />
At Paula’s school, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> office often asked her<br />
students to do things that were not asked of<br />
o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r students. One day <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> office called <strong>and</strong><br />
asked Paula if her students could stuff <strong>and</strong><br />
address envelopes <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> next day. Paula agreed<br />
to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> request, but expressed distress in her<br />
comment, “so much for my less<strong>on</strong> plans tomorrow”<br />
(Fieldnotes, January 28, 2005). In<br />
ano<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r instance, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> principal stopped by<br />
Paula’s classroom <strong>and</strong> asked if her students<br />
would clean <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> outside of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> school that day.<br />
Even though Paula felt that <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re was some<br />
educati<strong>on</strong>al value to this activity in terms of<br />
work experience, as she designed it so students<br />
had a supervisor <strong>and</strong> were rewarded for<br />
hard work, she still felt trapped into doing this<br />
activity when asked by <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> principal, saying,<br />
“how could I say no to <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> principal, my boss?”<br />
(Fieldnotes, March 28, 2005). Paula’s interpretati<strong>on</strong><br />
of this situati<strong>on</strong> was evident when a<br />
student questi<strong>on</strong>ed <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> request <strong>and</strong> she clarified<br />
why her students take time out of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir<br />
school day to clean <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> school.<br />
Why we do it is that we have pride in our<br />
school. Sec<strong>on</strong>d reas<strong>on</strong> is that it helps our<br />
school look nice <strong>and</strong> helps our custodians.<br />
And in this class, like Mrs. Murphy’s class<br />
[middle school cross-categorical program<br />
teacher] we have more freedom. When <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
principal asks us to do something, he looks<br />
for some<strong>on</strong>e in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> school who can get <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
job d<strong>on</strong>e (Fieldnotes, March 28, 2005).<br />
Paula c<strong>on</strong>tinued to explain to her students<br />
why <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y picked up trash outside <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> school.<br />
We stop what we are doing <strong>and</strong> go do that.<br />
You might think golly <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r kids d<strong>on</strong>’t<br />
do this. But it gets hot in <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> school <strong>and</strong><br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y are sitting <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re doing <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir homework.<br />
And if you find m<strong>on</strong>ey, you get to<br />
keep it (Fieldnotes, March 28, 2005).<br />
Although office pers<strong>on</strong>nel did not ask Katie’s<br />
students to engage in work around <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
school, o<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>r school pers<strong>on</strong>nel interrupted<br />
Katie’s program <strong>and</strong> had students participate<br />
in n<strong>on</strong>-classroom work. Marilyn, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> school<br />
job coach, asked Katie’s students to stuff registrati<strong>on</strong><br />
bags for a community 5K. Marilyn<br />
requested <strong>and</strong> Katie agreed that her students<br />
would take time from classroom activities to<br />
stuff <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> bags with running informati<strong>on</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
free objects. Katie set aside time in two of her<br />
classes <strong>and</strong> indicated that if <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>re was still a lot<br />
to do her students could start first hour <strong>and</strong><br />
c<strong>on</strong>tinue throughout <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> class periods until<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y were completed.<br />
Teacher factor. Although it seems intuitive<br />
that teachers affected <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> enactment of a functi<strong>on</strong>al<br />
curriculum, it is <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> intricacies of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
teacher factor that are worth discussing.<br />
Teachers were influential in terms of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir<br />
histories, preparati<strong>on</strong>, beliefs <strong>and</strong> philosophies,<br />
<strong>and</strong> expectati<strong>on</strong>s for students. Both<br />
teachers had created <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>ir programs. Paula<br />
started at River Bend five years ago, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> year<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> program was started at <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> high school.<br />
She was given relative freedom over <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> curriculum<br />
to choose <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> classes that were included<br />
in her program <strong>and</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> c<strong>on</strong>tent that<br />
would go into those classes. Katie assumed <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g><br />
role of <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> cross-categorical program teacher<br />
at Harborville <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> year after <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> program was<br />
started. However, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> first teacher had d<strong>on</strong>e<br />
little to establish <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> program <strong>and</strong> Katie was<br />
able to choose <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> curriculum. Yet, she had<br />
restricti<strong>on</strong>s <strong>on</strong> her curriculum in that it was<br />
suppose to align with <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> state’s general educati<strong>on</strong><br />
benchmarks <strong>and</strong> guidelines.<br />
Teachers’ pre-service preparati<strong>on</strong> was influential.<br />
Both teachers attended <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> same midsized<br />
teacher preparati<strong>on</strong> university about<br />
four years apart, yet, <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g>y had different<br />
teacher preparati<strong>on</strong> experiences. Katie focused<br />
her preparati<strong>on</strong> <strong>on</strong> sec<strong>on</strong>dary educati<strong>on</strong>,<br />
with a plan to teach at <str<strong>on</strong>g>the</str<strong>on</strong>g> high school<br />
level. Her field experiences occurred in high<br />
school programs, both resource <strong>and</strong> categori-<br />
Factors <strong>and</strong> Functi<strong>on</strong>al Curriculum / 301