Teachers as Curriculum Designers

1. Teachers as Curriculum Designers Thoughtful Education www.schoolofeducators.com

2. Divergent Thinking • Fluency • Elaboration • Flexibility • Originality www.schoolofeducators.com

3. Thoughtful Education Assumptions of Thoughtful Education • Improved instruction is the PRIME FACTOR in producing student achievement gains. • Professional Learning Communities are the SUREST and FASTEST path to instructional improvement. • Leadership begins with the recognition that we must eliminate the senseless things that divert time and attention away from the two elements most vital to school success—how we teach, which is best improved through focused teacher collaboration and what we teach—in Marzano’s words, “a guaranteed and viable curriculum.” www.schoolofeducators.com

4. Think about a time you were involved in a creative process. What was the process like? What were your struggles? What were your rewards? www.schoolofeducators.com

5. Creativity is a Mess---From a Mess to a Model • Generating Ideas • Forming Big Ideas/Concepts • Shaping Ideas • Refining and Polishing Finished Product www.schoolofeducators.com

6. What makes writing a unit challenging and how can we simplify the process? How is a thoughtful unit of study like play dough? What are the parts of a thoughtful unit of study? What is the difference between an activity planner and a curriculum designer? As a teacher do you model questioning in four styles when working with your teachers?

7. Imagine a BOX. In this box is a curriculum that teachers love to teach and students love to learn. What would be in the box? www.schoolofeducators.com

8. David Perkins Director Project Zero, Harvard University Knowledge by Design Attributes Purpose Value How would you improve on the design? www.schoolofeducators.com

9. The focus on learning becomes the leverage for improved teaching. www.schoolofeducators.com

10. Attributes Purpose Value Improvements Look at the unit on evolution. What can you learn from the design? www.schoolofeducators.com

11. Standards Students National State District School Learning Styles Multiple Intelligences Culture Interests Talents Skills Abilities Learning Style Profiles Research Based Strategies and Tools Varied Assessment Task Rotation, Comprehensive Menus Graduated Difficulty Hidden Skills www.schoolofeducators.com

12. Foyer Library Kitchen Know Attitudes Workroom Porch Understand Skills

13. Know Parts of a Thoughtful Unit of Study Be Like Appreciation for the creative process and messiness of creativity. Collaboration and Collegiality Foyer Think of a Time Imagine a Box Generating Ideas Think Pair Share Rank Order Ladder Knowledge by Design Library Examining a Unit: Resource Evolution Unit Thoughtful Curriculum Guide Learning from Louie Learning from Research Learning from Examples Principles Five Easy Pieces Workroom Creating a Thoughtful Statement of Purpose Jigsaw Resource: Thoughtful Curriculum Guide Unpacking the Standards Porch How is writing a thoughtful unit like play dough? Understand Components of a design Planning Your Unit Step 1: Identify Your Purpose Unpacking Core Content 4.1 Skills Unpack the standards Identify purpose www.schoolofeducators.com

14. What can we learn from Louie?

15. Standards SC-HS-3.5.1 Students will: predict the impact on species of changes to 1) the potential for a species to increase its numbers, (2) the genetic variability of offspring due to mutation and recombination of genes, (3) a finite supply of the resources required for life, or (4) natural selection; propose solutions to real-world problems of endangered and extinct species. Species change over time. Biological change over time is the consequence of the interactions of (1) the potential for a species to increase its numbers, (2) the genetic variability of offspring due to mutation and recombination of genes, (3) a finite supply of the resources required for life and (4) natural selection. The consequences of change over time provide a scientific explanation for the fossil record of ancient life forms and for the striking molecular similarities observed among the diverse species of living organisms. Changes in DNA (mutations) occur spontaneously at low rates. Some of these changes make no difference to the organism, whereas others can change cells and organisms. Only mutations in germ cells have the potential to create the variation that changes an organism’s future offspring. DOK 3 www.schoolofeducators.com

16. Standards Students will describe patterns of human settlement in regions of Kentucky and explain how these patterns were influenced by physical characteristics (e.g. climate, landforms, soils, vegetation, bodies of water. Students will describe how the physical environment both promoted and restricted human activities during the early settlement of Kentucky. Students will use a variety of tools to explain significant events in Kentucky’s history. Students will give examples of why people explored and settled Kentucky. www.schoolofeducators.com

17. Built to Last Five Easy Pieces Research Behind Effective Unit Design Madeline Hunter Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe Benjamin Bloom www.schoolofeducators.com

18. I D E A S dentify the standards, big ideas, key details. etermine your essential questions. stablish your assessment task and criteria. lign instruction/assessment to diversity, research based strategies, and hidden skills. equence the learning events.

19. Components of Thoughtful Curriculum Design • Identify your Purpose A statement of purpose defines what you want students to know, understand, do, and be like. A statement of purpose includes a set of essential questions that last over time and frame the learning. www.schoolofeducators.com

20. What Essential Questions will frame the learning? Knowledge What specific facts, details, or vocabulary does the unit need to address? Attitudes What dispositions or attitudes does the unit instill in students? Understanding What big ideas and themes need to be covered? Skills What skills do students need to develop? www.schoolofeducators.com

21. Components of Thoughtful Unit Design • Task Description Assessment pulls together the various threads you have explored throughout the unit and provides students an equal opportunity to show what they know and apply what they have learned. Clear expectations are defined through a rubric or scoring guide. www.schoolofeducators.com

22. Assessment: How will students’ understanding be measured? Task Rotation Comprehensive Menus Graduated Difficulty Project Learning www.schoolofeducators.com

23. www.schoolofeducators.com

24. Now, it is your turn to frame your unit of study. www.schoolofeducators.com

25. Identify the framework for learning…… Understanding Knowledge Attitudes Skills www.schoolofeducators.com

26. Workroom Porch What essential questions will serve as the foundation for learning? www.schoolofeducators.com

27. Foyer Library Kitchen Hook/Bridge Resources Assessment Workroom Porch Activities Reflection www.schoolofeducators.com

28. Assessment: How will students’ understanding be measured? www.schoolofeducators.com

29. How is a thoughtful curriculum like play dough? www.schoolofeducators.com

30. Teaching, What Matters Most Teacher Impact on Learning www.schoolofeducators.com

31. Teacher Student Home Peers Schools Principals What influences matter? www.schoolofeducators.com

32. Leadership, teaching, and adult actions matter. • While it is true that demographic variables are directly linked to student achievement, it is also true that adult variables, including the professional practices of teachers and the decisions leaders make, can be more important than demographic variables. www.schoolofeducators.com

33. The single greatest determinant of learning is NOT socioeconomic factors or funding levels---IT IS INSTRUCTION. Mike Schmoker www.schoolofeducators.com

34. Indisputable Evidence What teachers do has six to ten times as much impact on achievement as all other factors combined. Mortimer Simmons The single greatest determinant of learning is NOT socioeconomic factors or funding levels, IT IS INSTRUCTION. Mike Schmoker www.schoolofeducators.com

35. Indisputable Evidence Two teachers working with the same socio-economic population can achieve starkly different results. Different Results In one class 27% of the students pass a state assessment. In another 72% of the students will pass a state assessment. www.schoolofeducators.com

36. Thoughtful Education Three years of Effective Teaching accounts for an improvement of 35-60 percentile points. William Sanders Assumptions of Thoughtful Education • Improved instruction is the PRIME FACTOR in producing student achievement gains. • Professional Learning Communities are the SUREST and FASTEST path to instructional improvement. www.schoolofeducators.com

37. Thoughtful Education The best teachers in a school,that is to say the top 1/3, have SIX TIMES more impact on student learning than the bottom 1/3. Katie Haycock Assumptions of Thoughtful Education • Improved instruction is the PRIME FACTOR in producing student achievement gains. • Professional Learning Communities are the SUREST and FASTEST path to instructional improvement. www.schoolofeducators.com

38. Thoughtful Education There can be no improvement without the teacher.

39. A successful, face to face team is more than just collectively intelligent. It makes everyone work work harder, think smarter, and reach better conclusions than they would have own their own. James Solowreck www.schoolofeducators.com

40. Why Professional Learning Communities? • Instructional Learning Teams ensure follow up and reflection on instruction and its impact on learning. • Instructional Learning Teams are results driven. • Instructional Learning Teams reinforce a focus on common essential instructional standards. • Instructional Learning Teams create the best kind of accountability—a commitment to people we know. • Instructional Learning Teams honor and empower the intelligence of teachers. www.schoolofeducators.com

41. Imagine you are on a Learning Walk in your school. What would be the general quality of instruction throughout the building? What would be the level of student engagement be? What would you see and hear? www.schoolofeducators.com

42. In an extensive research study conducted by 24/7, 2005 of 1,500 classrooms here is what was observed: www.schoolofeducators.com

43. What is going on in your school? How does this compare to a Thoughtful Classroom? www.schoolofeducators.com

44. Moving from an Instructional Leader to a Learning Leader. Rick DuFour www.schoolofeducators.com

45. There are particular leadership actions that show demonstrable links to improved student achievement and educational equity. www.schoolofeducators.com

46. Inquiry: the degree to which school leaders analyze the underlying causes of deficiencies and successes in student achievement and equity. • Successful inquiry attributes the causes to adults in the educational system—teachers, school leaders, and policymakers. • Unsuccessful inquiry attributes causes to students. In other words, “blame the victim” is not only morally reprehensible but statistically untrue. www.schoolofeducators.com

47. Implementation: the degree to which the specific elements of school improvement processes are implemented at the student and classroom levels. Effective implementation is a continuous variable in which leaders recognize that there are degrees of successful implementation that are subject to quantitative and narrative description. www.schoolofeducators.com

48. Monitoring: the degree to which a school self assesses their own progress in reaching school goals. Plans without monitoring are little better than wishes upon stars. It is important to distinguish carefully between appropriate and insightful monitoring and monitoring that equates to a compliance drill for external authorities. • Assessment and reflection is designed to improve teaching and learning, provide immediate feedback for students and teachers, and focus on specific objectives. www.schoolofeducators.com

49. The focus on learning becomes the leverage for improved teaching. www.schoolofeducators.com

50. What percentage of your students are academically successful? 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 www.schoolofeducators.com