Curriculum Mapping

1. Curriculum Mapping Innovative and Useful Software for Educators Created by Rebecca Butzow

2. 1. Analyze Needs:Needs and Goals • Where we are now • Schools are turning toward technology to keep track of grades, schedules, homework, and much more • Schools and teachers are held to high standards of accountability by parents and school boards • Teachers must plan out lessons to align with standards and government plans, and need to show proof they do this daily in the classroom • Where we would like to be • Teachers should be able to easily access their lessons and standard alignments for current and future use, which is easily done with computer technology • Teachers save time in the future by listing their curriculum and lessons online, and are able to easily find their strengths and weaknesses • Teachers are able to collaborate and compare to help students master the standards and lessons

3. 1. Analyze Needs: Objectives • Where we would like to be • Teachers want students to master learning, and this is best done when a teacher is able to review lessons and focus on weaknesses and strengths • Teachers should collaborate and compare lessons and curricula to ensure student mastery • Demonstration of desired behavior • Grades show desired learning, but curriculum mapping ensures learning needs are met • Teacher collaboration ensures teachers work toward improving student learning and behaviors • Criteria to measure behavior • Curriculum mapping offers ways to track individual and classroom learning throughout their years in school • It enables teachers to work together to fix their curriculum weak spots and weak student learning areas • Helps administrators and parents see results, and holds teachers accountable in the classroom and with standards

4. 1. Analyze Needs:Desired Medium of Choice • Medium of choice • Curriculum mapping offers ways for teachers to be accountable, to collaborate, to easily track lessons and curricula, and to track student mastery • Reasoning • Curriculum mapping is a great way to include technology and simplify the teacher’s work over time • It also holds teachers and students accountable, while creating a vastly easy method of comparing lessons to standards • Helps teachers collaborate to ensure student mastery • Helps teachers learn about other, possibly better teaching methods • Encourages teacher flexibility for the benefit of the students • Helps establish uniformity in the school system, and encourages teachers to work together by journaling, discussing, and comparing lessons and curricula

5. 2. Specify Requirements • Specify requirements for software • Teachers and administration should meet and discuss the purpose of curriculum mapping, and what works best for their specific school • Compatibility with available hardware • Most curriculum mapping is very user-friendly and compatible with modern technology • Cost/license/user friendliness/software purchase • Many curriculum mapping sites are inexpensive, but a yearly purchase per teacher, and is easily accessed online • Level of interaction desired • It requires a chunk of time to list lessons and attached standards, but after the first year it takes less time to update and fix weaknesses • Administration should specify a set time, such as a half an hour a week to fill in the curriculum information, and meet monthly to collaborate and discuss student mastery • Adequacy of documentation • Very simple, but effective way to keep track of lessons, standards, and student mastery • Ensures teachers enter information in a uniform, easy to read method • Technical support access • Often has easily accessed tech support online or by phone • Correlation with instructional objectives • Ensures student mastery, focuses on student learning and teacher collaboration • Instructors should apply following criteria within context of student needs, instructional presentation, demands placed on learner, technical features, documentation and management features • Curriculum mapping focuses primarily on student mastery and teacher collaboration, ensuring the student learns the maximum they can on a subject before advancing to higher education or a professional career

6. 3. Identify Promising Software • Read descriptions of software to verify if it applies to need (catalogs, educational journals and magazines, EPIE, TESS) • Can be used on both Macs and PCs • Able to align classes with national standards • Helps schools and teachers align curriculum standards comparatively (Levine) • Listservs to get knowledge on software from teachers who use it (AskERIC) • Helps align and coordinate teachers and classes to student mastery • Creates a good work ethic and collaboration between teachers (Uchiyama) • Screen out software by using step 2 to find promising software • I discovered www.curriculummapper.com had some of the best reviews, and when I tested it, it was easy to use and inexpensive. I looked at reviews for a few others, but this site seemed the best to me, because it was well organized and I was able to see the site in action.

7. 4. Read Relevant Reviews • Do the reviews approve or deny your needs in steps 1 and 2? • The reviews I read listed in the previous slide only reassured me in my choice of www.curriculummapper.com, and they let me know there are many teachers and schools in this country that have had great success with teacher collaboration and student mastery with this program. • Keep in mind your audience: grade level, size of school, etc • When speaking with my father and reading reviews on curriculum mapping, I found high school age is the best age to use it, because in grade school one teacher would need to fill out every subject for the students, and collaboration is not as easy between teachers. For high school children, it encourages teachers from different classes or departments to work together to see students achieve mastery of a subject (for example: English literature teachers work with American literature and Poetry teachers to ensure student mastery in Literature).

8. 5. Preview Software • Observe how users interact with software • I was able to work with my father’s curriculum mapping software (www.curriculummapper.com), and witness first-hand its uses for teachers and administration (he is both a teacher and an administrator at a private high school) • The software was easy to use and understand, and offered ways to set up the program for the needs of specific goals and student information • It did not take me long to understand the uses and different features of the software • Are educational objectives achieved? • The software allows for teachers to collaborate and journal student achievement, lessons, and curricula, while working together to achieve student mastery, which is the goal I set out to meet • Preview many programs before selecting final program • I was able to research a few different curriculum sites, but I was able to actually log in to my father’s account and see how the site worked. He said most sites are similar, but because I was able to preview the software, it was inexpensive, and easy to learn and use, I preferred curriculummapper.com

9. 6. Make Recommendations • Select most desirable software by evaluating needs and software uses • Curriculum mapping, specifically www.curriculummapper.com, seemed to be the best form of encouraging student mastery and teacher collaboration. • It encourages everyone works together for the same goal, and that the student receives the ultimate benefit, which is the goal of education. • Rate software against criteria in step 2 • www.curriculummapper.com is inexpensive, easy to use, and helps teachers work together to achieve goals set by administration, the school board, and national standards • It is easy to find technical support with the site, and does not take much time to fill in the information necessary. It helps keep track of students and curriculum in a technologically advanced way • Suggestions for optimal use found during preview period • I found using the site as my father does is very beneficial; he and the teachers worked together to discover what would work best for them individually and collaboratively. There is also information on the site to help teachers beginning curriculum mapping. It helps them to use the site to their advantage, and encourages that to benefit each other and the student in the best way, the teachers must collaborate work together.

10. Reaction Paragraph • I found that using the seven steps helped me find an easy to use and efficient form of software that helps me achieve the goals I set out. I think I had an advantage by being able to use my father’s curriculum map for his school and his teachers, but that is part of being a teacher. We must use our connections and resources to achieve goals that benefit the students. I found that the site www.curriculummapper.com was a great place for teacher collaboration and student mastery, and it encourages teachers to work together toward the ultimate goal of education; the benefit and education of students. The seven steps helped me make sure I chose a form of software that is beneficial, inexpensive, and that could be used for years to come by the teacher and the administration. Curriculum mapping is becoming a standard in schools, especially because it encourages teachers to work together, and to freshen their teaching styles to not only teach students, but to learn from them.

11. Bibliography • Levine, Mitchell. “Product Review: Westjam’s Curriculum Mapper.” Education Update Online: Education News Today for a Better World Tomorrow. January 2006. Web. 30 November 2009. • Uchiyama, Kay P., Jean Radin. “Curriculum Mapping in Higher Education: A Vehicle for Collaboration.” Innovative Higher Education. January 2009. Web. 30 November 2009.