K-12 Curriculum Development

"Curriculum is analyzed to find gaps - are there standards that have not been addressed?  Repetitions - are there topics in content that repeat without any significant changes in the material? Spirals - places where the curriculum spirals and builds in complexity?  Are thinking skills focused and to what level?"  These curriculum conversations help us to answer the question What do we want students to know and be able to do (p. xiii)?

References:

Kallick, B. & Colosimo, J. (2009). Using curriculum mapping and assessment data
            to improve learning.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Video:
An official update to the original "Shift Happens" video from Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, this June 2007 update includes new and updated statistics, thought-provoking questions and a fresh design. For more information, or to join the conversation, please visit http://shifthappens.wikispaces.com -- Content by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod, design and development by XPLANE. 

What is Twitter?  According to the official web site, Twitter allows teachers, friends and family members to “stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”

While Twitter does not provide the amount of information that a curriculum map gives each teacher and administrator, it could be used as a communication tool.  Professional educators could take advantage of this tool in an effort to provide ongoing communication about instructional decisions, pacing, teacher assignments, project deadlines and exam dates.

At the beginning of a new unit of study, teachers could update their Twitter statement (under 140 characters max. allowed).  An educator may type, “This week our Honors U.S. History classes are beginning World War I.  This is a five day unit.”  Another educator may type, “Our students struggled with Unit 3, so we are going to spend March 20-21 reviewing the key concepts identified in Unit 3.” 

As with other forms of professional communication (Email, Blogs, Discussion Boards, Education Chat Rooms, etc.), educators would need to make certain that they did not post unprofessional comments, mention student names or post what they are doing in their personal life.

If your school district is currently using Twitter as a form of ongoing professional communication, please share your experiences.

“The essential question is conceptual commitment.  When a teacher or group of teachers selects a question to frame and guide curricular design, it is a declaration of intent.  In a sense you are saying”, ‘This is our focus for learning.  I will put my teaching skills into helping my students examine the key concept implicit in the essential question’ (Jacobs, 1997, pp. 27).

Grant Wiggins wrote an online article titled,
What is an Essential Question?

It is important that teachers and administrators have a common definition of an Essential Question.  Wiggins’ informational article provides educators with a starting point for evaluating current essential questions in your district’s local curriculum.

Please share your experiences with developing and implementing essential questions for K-12 students.

References:

Jacobs, H.H. (1997). Mapping the big picture: Integrating the curriculum &
        assessment K-12. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and
        Curriculum Development.

As a teacher and curriculum developer, do you ever feel like you are in a race against time?  At some point, most educators ask the question 'Is everything important?'  How do teachers and administrators in your school district make decisions about what is most worth knowing?  Curriculum development cannot be done in isolation if educators are seeking curriculum alignment, a purposeful curriculum, and a guaranteed and viable curriculum (Marzano). 

“Any curriculum aiming for student understanding requires uncoverage of the material – inquiring into, around, and underneath content instead of simply covering it” (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998, p. 98).  According to Brandt, "designing lessons for understanding begins with what we want students to be able to do and proceeds to the evidence we will accept that they have learned it”
(in Understanding by Design, p. vi).

Before there can be a rational curriculum, we must settle which things it most concerns us to know.....

                                                               - Herbert Spencer
                                                                 What Knowledge is of Most Worth (1854)

Seven Questions for Educators to Address: 

1.  What should students know and be able to do as a result of this course?

2.  What concepts and skills will every teacher at a specific grade level
     'guarantee' to teach?

3.  What will each teacher commit to doing when students do not learn the key
      concepts and skills for this course?

4.  How will teachers in our school district communicate with each other
     regarding curriculum and instruction? (Online Curriculum Mapping, Early
     Release Days, Common Planning Period, Professional Learning Community,
     Periodic Curriculum Audit, K-12 Writing Folders, etc.)

5.  Does the current recommended pacing outlined by our district allow enough
     time for student mastery of the key concepts and skills?

6.  How can classroom teachers provide input when they see a gap in the
     district's curriclum or when the pacing needs to be adjusted in order to
     support student understanding?

7.  Former college football coach Lou Holtz describes W.I.N., an acronym he used
     with his teams.  W.I.N. stands for What's Important Now (Holtz, 1998,
     Winning Everyday: The Game Plan for Success ).  At this point in the school
     year, What's Important Now (W.I.N.) in your course?  Would all teachers and
     administrators provide the same answer?

Does your school district use curriculum maps to inform instruction?  Does your school provide teachers with time to discuss the 'guaranteed and viable' curriculum?  The attached tool will support teacher teams as they continue to discuss the written, taught and assessed curriculum.

"Reeves may refer to power standards, Marzano to a guaranteed and viable curriculum, and Lezotte to clear and focused academic goals, but they all are advocating the same principle: Schools are more effective when the teachers within them have worked together to establish a clear and consistent understanding of what students must learn" (DuFour, Eaker & DuFour, 2008, p. 186).

curriculum_mapping_checklist.doc
File Size:	54 kb
File Type:	doc

Download File

---