Learning the Art of Curriculum Deliberation: One Professor’s Story

This paper uses narrative methodology and theoretical sources found in the field of curriculum studies to tell the story of the author, who, while in his doctoral program, dismissed learning about the practical aspects of the field as being insipid time wasting activities. During this time, he chose to concentrate only on the theoretical aspects of the curriculum field in his doctoral studies. Yet, when he found himself in charge of two major efforts to change his department’s curriculum as well as reconceptualize a college-wide seminar program for first year students, those aspects of the field once perceived as insipid suddenly became critically important to his career.