Finding a Purpose for Curriculum Development 03/08/2009
"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)? 1 Comment TWITTER 03/06/2009
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?” Essential Questions 03/01/2009
![]() “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). What is Teaching for Understanding? 02/08/2009
![]() 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). ![]() 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. | AuthorSteven Weber is the Director of Secondary Instruction for Orange County Schools in Hillsborough, NC. Weber has served as a classroom teacher, assistant principal, and state department of education consultant in Arkansas and North Carolina. He consults school systems in aligning their curriculum and in unpacking curriculum standards. ArchivesOctober 2010 CategoriesAll |



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