Transcript curriculum - White Middle School

Any document or plan that defines:
•the work of teachers
•the content to be learned by the students
•the methods to be used in the process.
What is it like?
A path or course to run
in small steps.
What is the Purpose?
Curriculum
What isn’t it?
Curriculum is NOT
the textbook or program
you purchased from a
publisher.
To focus and connect
the work of teachers in
their classroom to the
standards, assessments,
and classroom practices
in order to raise student
achievement.
Curriculum can no longer be what we’ve been doing for the past 15 years
unless it is demonstrated to be in line with the standards,
assessments and student learning styles!
Why ‘Prioritize’ the Curriculum?
• Every state’s curriculum has far
too many standards to be
learned in the time available.
• The prioritizing curriculum
process provides the means to
deal with this abundance of
standards and limited time.
Why Prioritize the Curriculum?
• Prioritizing the curriculum does
not eliminate the curriculum, but
rather ‘codes the curriculum’.
• All teachers that teach a common
grade now will emphasize the
same learning and understanding.
Why Vertical Planning?
• Identifies what needs to be learned
across individual grade levels as
well as a vertical sequence from
grade level to grade level.
• Prevents redundancies in
instruction.
• Guards against gaps in student
learning.
Prioritizing the Curriculum
• Not all content is equal!
• Standards contain a range of
performance objectives and
standard statements.
• Some performance objectives
are more important than others
in helping students succeed!
How do we do it? STEP 1
• Prioritize the Standards into Essential,
Important and Compact categories.
Essential = 4-6 questions in the CST
(Requires 70% of the Instructional Time)
Important = 4-6 questions in the CST
(Requires 25% of the Instructional Time)
Compact ≤ 1 question in the CST
(Requires 5% of the Instructional Time)
Prioritizing the Standards
CALIFORNIA CONTENT STANDARDS: WRITING
1.0 WRITTEN AND ORAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS: Students write
and speak with a command of standard English conventions appropriate to
this grade level.
1.1 Sentence Structure: use simple, compound, and compound-complex
sentences; use effective coordination and subordination of ideas to
express complete thoughts
1.2 Grammar: identify and properly use indefinite pronouns and present
perfect, past perfect, and future perfect verb tenses; ensure that verbs
agree with compound subjects
1.3 Punctuation: use colons after the salutation in business letters, semicolons to connect independent clauses, and commas when linking two
clauses with a conjunction in compound sentences
1.4 Capitalization: use correct capitalization
1.5 Spelling: spell frequently misspelled words correctly (e.g., their, they’re,
there)
# of
Items
%
16
21%
4
E
essential
3
I
important
3
I
important
2
4
I
E
essential
STEP 2: Vertical Planning
• Each teacher shares with team the
prioritized standards for his/her
grade level.
• Look for redundancies and gaps
between grade level.
• Discuss what students need know,
understand, and be able to do upon
entering each grade level.
STEP 3: Vertical Mapping
• Cluster those Standards in the three
categories (Essential, Important, and
Compact).
• Identify the CONCEPTS/SKILLS that
need to be mastered by the end of
each grade level.
• For EVERY standard in EACH grade
level, list the vocabulary, Approaches
to Learning (ATL), and resources
needed to enhance learning.
7
SCIENCE
STANDARD AND
BRIEF DESCRIPTION
2
SAMPLE EXIT SKILL
QUESTION/ PROBLEM
TERM/S
SAMPLE
STUDENT
WHITE
BOARDS
ENGAGEMENT/
CLASSROOM
TXBK P.28
ROUTINE/
NOTETAKING/
INSTRUCTIONAL
STRATEGIES
Step 4: THE VERTICAL MAP
GRADE 6
• Each group posts
their maps.
GRADE 7
• Have a gallery walk
to view all the
different teams’
map.
GRADE 8
• Based on all the
teams’ outputs,
create a final map
for next school
year.
Curriculum Maps: Why are
they so important?
Use as communication device
Conceptualize a unit
Enable consistent curriculum
pacing and planning
Highlight important vocabulary
“Shows" students’ knowledge gained
over time.
Step 5: Curriculum Map
• Estimate how much time should be
spent on each topic and arrange
them sequentially on your roadmap.
• The goal of the roadmap is to assure
that all the content is taught before
it is tested!!!!
• Revisions are expected to be made
to the content maps and to the
course maps as ALL teachers
experience them.
Where do we go from here?