What are Curriculum Guides?

April 27, 2012

Curriculum guides are designed by two or more educators wherein all designers have come to agreement on the course learning and serves as the planned learning map wherein all who teach the course use the map as a foundation for his or her course instruction.

Janet HaleA Guide to Curriculum Mapping, 2008

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Hale continued…

Curriculum maps serve as a living, breathing, ever-changing story of student learning. Mapping is formal work and takes time. The improvement in student – and teacher – learning makes both the work and the time worthwhile.

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Hale continued…

The quality of a learning organization’s curricular dialogues can only be as strong as the quality of its written maps.

Hale continued…

• 10 Tenets of Curriculum Mapping– Multifaceted, ongoing process designed to

improve student learning– Teachers are leaders in curriculum design and

curricular decision-making– Curriculum reviews are conducted on an ongoing

and regular basis– Designed BY teachers FOR teachers

Two Empty Chairs

Wikipedia

• Work in progress• Living, breathing document• A process, not a one time initiative

ABC – Aligning and Building Curriculum

• Design• Implement• Review• Revise

Kentucky Department of Ed.

• Curriculum maps offer a sequence for delivering content and provide a clear scope for what must be taught to all students.

• Map what is taught, when it is taught, and suggested activities and resources for how it is taught.

Teaching Today

• Curriculum maps:–Create a snapshot of the educational

activities of every classroom within a department, a school, and a district–Promote horizontal and vertical

alignment as well as interdisciplinary connections

Teaching Today continued…

While curriculum mapping is an intense and time-consuming undertaking, improvements to instruction and elimination of redundancies builds a stronger curricula throughout a system.

Dr. Heidi Hayes JacobsGetting Results with Curriculum Mapping, 2004• For mapping to be successful – and sustainable –

your learning organization needs to establish, from the onset, systemwide map-writing norms regarding the wording, format, and alignment of the map elements.

• As with any writing process, your learning organization’s curriculum guide elements will improve over time.

• Start by establishing a solid foundation and then allow teachers to collaboratively add to the map elements as they naturally evolve.

Duplin County Template

• Standard• Essential Vocabulary• Task Analysis• Learning Activities/Assessments• Resources• Bloom’s Tag• Time

WHAT?

HOW?

WHEN?