Back-to-School 08/04/2009
 
“As teachers engage in this dialogue regarding what their students must know and be able to do as a result of this unit they are about to teach,
they become more clear, more consistent, and more confident in their ability to help all students learn” (DuFour, DuFour, & Eaker, 2006, p. 43).

This quote reminds us of the power of teacher collaboration and determining essential learner outcomes at the beginning of the school year.  When I entered the teaching profession, I was given a key to my classroom, a grade book, a set of Teacher's Guides, the state standards and a lesson plan book.  While a first year teacher has creative ideas, a passion for teaching, and a desire to make a difference in the lives of students, a collaborative team is more powerful.  

Guiding Questions to Consider When Teams Meet:

1)  What essential understandings and skills do our students need?

2)  Which standards can be clustered or incorporated into others?

3)  What are the Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings I want students to
     discover on their own after learning these concepts and skills?

The time it takes to meet as a team (vertical, horizontal, content alike, district wide, or other team structure) is worth the time and effort.  "When school staff have a more informed conception of curriculum, a teacher's daily decisions about how to deliver instruction not only affect student achievement in that classroom but also future student achievement, for it is assumed that students will be entering the next classroom prepared to handle a more sophisticated or more expanisve level of work" (Zmuda, Kuklis & Kline, 2004, p. 122). While several theorists and professional organizations have debated the ‘what’ of curriculum, implementation of curriculum and curriculum decisions are made daily by K-12 classroom teachers.  Begin the year with the end in mind and provide teachers with time to work as a collaborative team.
 


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