Writing a Usable and Working Curriculum

Background with Step-by-Step Guidance

Curriculum Planning

"To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction." (Covey, 1994)

Curriculum Planning

• Curriculum Planning is a process• How should you approach

curriculum development?

What is in an Ideal Curriculum Document?

Ideal Curriculum Document• Standards• Learning Targets (benchmarks)• Common Assessments--Benchmark and

Summative; Formative assessments or strategies

• Vocabulary• Instructional Resources• Modifications for differentiation• Scope and Sequence – Order• Units of Study• Pacing Recommendations – Curriculum

Map

Research FindingsSource: “Hiding in Plain Sight” article

• Robert Marzano’s metanalytic studies indicate that: – A decent, guaranteed curriculum may

be the single largest in-school factor that affects learning.

• David Conley adds that:– Common curriculum means very little

without clearly specified parameters for how much reading and writing will be required in each course.

Research Findings• Mike Schmoker (writer, speaker, and

consultant) outlines three “first things first” approach to helping ALL students be college and career ready:– Massively increase the amount of purposeful

reading, writing and discussion.– Create and ensure the implementation of

decent, coherent curriculum.– Ensure each lesson has clear, curriculum-

based learning targets identified, multiple segments taught in short cycles of instruction, and frequent checks for engagement/understanding by all students before moving on.

Looking at Specifics

Using The 4 PLC Questions in Curriculum Planning

A PLC is always focused on student learning. When writing curriculum these questions become part of the discussion:1. What is it that we want all students to learn?

(Learning Targets Include both content standards and CCSS)

2. How will we know when each student has acquired the essential knowledge and skills? (Assessments)

3. What happens when students do not learn it? (Intervention Plan)

4. What happens when student have learned it? (Extensions and Enrichment)

Understanding by Design (UbD)• It’s a way of thinking purposefully

about curricular plan. It’s not a program.

• Developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

• End goal: Be able to connect, make sense of, and use discrete knowledge and skills in context.

• Planning is best done backward from the desired results.

UbD: The Backward Design Model

1. Identify desired results– What do students need to know and be

able to do?

2. Determine acceptable evidence – How are students going to be able to

demonstrate that they know and can do it?

3. Plan learning experiences and instruction– How are students going to learn and

what do they need to be able to do?

The backward design model is comprised of the following three stages:

UBD Visual

Identify desired results- What do students need to know and be able to do?

Looking for Guidance in Writing Learning Targets

So Where Do You Start?• Start with:

– Reviewing existing courses – are you spending time on the right things?• Recommendations from your self study• Your national/state standards• Common Core standards for ELA• 21st Century expectations

– Outlining new courses – are you planning to fill a gap based on needs or goals

Learning Targets• They can recur--and should recur--in

professional work, adult life, as well as in the classroom (Reeves:leverage).

• They should provide a purpose for learning (Daggett:relevance; Reeves:endurance).

• They are often higher-order, in Bloom's & DOK sense: they consist of analysis, synthesis, and evaluative judgment. You must “go beyond” the information given (Daggett:rigor).

• They provide the necessary knowledge or skill needed for the next level (Reeves:readiness).

Your Standards

Common Core Standards

• Common Core Standards for ELA– Pages 60-66

21st Century Skills• Partnership for 21st Century Skills

Different states/schools/teachers use different models to describe cognitive rigor. Each addresses something different.

• Bloom –What type of thinking (verbs) is needed to complete a task?

• Webb –How deeply do you have to understand the content to successfully interact with it? How complex is the content?

Developing the Cognitive Rigor Matrix

Knowledge—Define, duplicate, label, list, name, order, recognize, relate, recall

Remember—Retrieve knowledge from long-term memory, recognize, recall, locate, identify

Comprehension—Classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate recognize, report, review, select, translate

Understand—Construct meaning, clarify, paraphrase, represent, translate, illustrate, give examples, classify, categorize, summarize, generalize, predict…

Application—Apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, practice, write

Apply—Carry out or use a procedure in a given situation; carry out or use/apply to an unfamiliar task

Analysis—Analyze, appraise, explain, calculate, categorize, compare, criticize discriminate, examine

Analyze—Break into constituent parts, determine how parts relate

Synthesis—Rearrange, assemble, collect, compose, create, design, develop, formulate, manage, write

Evaluate—Make judgments based on criteria, check, detect inconsistencies/fallacies, critique

Evaluation—Appraise, argue, assess, choose, compare, defend, estimate, explain, judge, predict, rate, core, select, support, value

Create—Put elements together to form a coherent whole, reorganize elements into new patterns/structures

Bloom’s Taxonomy [1956 ] &Bloom’s Cognitive Process Dimensions [2005]

DOK Level 1- Recall and Reproduction

• Simple procedures and/or formulas• Recall of a fact, term, principle, concept, or perform a routine

procedure

• Students either know the information or they don’t

• There is a correct answer

DOK Level 2 _ Basic Application of Skills/Concepts

• Use of information & conceptual knowledge

• Select appropriate procedures for a task, two or more steps with decision points along the way

• Routine problems, organize/display data, interpret/use simple graphs

• Involves the engagement of some mental processing beyond recall

• Requires students to make some decisions about approaches

• Usually one correct answer

DOK Level 3- Strategic Thinking

• Requires deep understanding and the use of higher-order thinking skills

• Requires reasoning, developing a plan or sequence of steps to approach problem

• Requires some decision making and justification abstract, complex, or non-routine

• Stating one’s reasoning is a key marker

• Requires coordination of knowledge and skill from multiple subject-matter areas

• More than one possible answer

DOK Level 4 - Extended Thinking

• Students are expected to make connections within the content and solve real-world problems

• An investigation or application to real world

• Requires time to research, problem solve, and process multiple conditions of the problem or task

• Employ and sustain strategic thinking processes over a longer period of time

• Non-routine manipulations, across disciplines/content areas/multiple sources

• More than one possible answer

• The intended student learning outcome determines the DOK level. What mental processing must occur?

• While verbs may appear to point to a DOK level, it is

what comes after the verb that is the best indicator of the rigor/DOK level.– Describe the physical features of a plant.– Describe how the two political parties are alike and

different.– Describe the most significant effect of WWII on the

nations of Europe.

DOK is about complexity—not difficulty!

Other Components

Evidence of Learning: Assessments

• What would be sufficient and revealing evidence of understanding?

• What performance tasks support the unit and learning outcomes?

• How will I be able to distinguish between those who really understand and those who don’t (though they may seem to)?

Types of Assessments

• Summative – assessment of learning (end of unit, course)

• Formative – assessment for learning; informs instruction

• Benchmark – A benchmark is the target at any particular time. A benchmark assessment can measure where a student is in relation to the set target. Results may be monitored throughout the year, course.

More assessment related terms• Common assessment – an assessment given by

two or more instructors with the intention of collaboratively examining the results for instructional planning for individual students and curriculum instruction, and/or assessment modifications

• Screening – an assessment at beginning of new learning or beginning of the year; used to identify students who may be “at risk” of a poor outcome

• Progress Monitoring – assessing students often and quickly to determine growth from additional supports and intervention

Activities and Strategies

• What would be interesting and engaging activities on this topic?

• What resources and materials are available on this topic?

• What will students be doing in and out of class?

• What assignments will be given?• How will I give students a grade (and justify it

to parents)?• Did the activities work? Why or why not?

Other Components• Vocabulary• Resources

Ready, Set, Go