Curriculum Overview

Curriculum Overview Curriculum Team Work Year 1

KTD – Curriculum Development K = What I KNOW I Know T = What I THINK I Know D = What I know I DON’T Know

KTD – Curriculum Development • Iowa Core Curriculum • Big Idea/Enduring Understanding • Mission Statement • Course Purpose • Grade Level Benchmark • Component

Goal for the Year • Understand the meaning behind the Iowa Core Curriculum Benchmarks • Align what we teach to the Iowa Core Curriculum -21st Century Skills • Identify gaps and overlaps – fill/remove • Write a Mission Statement, Course Purposes, Grade Level Benchmarks and Components • Update the Curriculum Maps to reflect new GLB, Components and ICC Standards……

Goal/Outcomes for Today • Look at the big picture of our work – how the Iowa Core Curriculum fits in • Discuss the process for our work to understand expectations and work for the year • Define our current reality (what we teach) (Step 1) • Analyze the Iowa Core Curriculum for better understanding (Step 2) • Align our BM to the ICC (Step 3)

Questions we will answer • What is the Iowa Core Curriculum? • How does the Iowa Core Curriculum fit into our current Standards and Benchmarks? • What is the structure for curriculum going to look like? • Will our Curriculum Maps still be used? • What does the process look like for year 1, 2, and 3, and beyond?

Year 1 – alignment to ICC Write Grade Level Benchmarks and Components for each grade/course Alignment in Curriculum Maps Curriculum Year 3 – Aligning assessments with our curriculum. Writing common summative assessments Continue training on Assessment OF and FOR Learning Alignment in Curriculum Maps Embedded in Year 2 and Year 3 Professional Development planned Characteristics of Effective Instruction – Assessment FOR Learning TeachingAnd Learning Assessment Instruction

Importance of Curriculum • Second biggest impact on learning is from what is taught. (Shanahan) • Explicit curriculum is important in ensuring that teaching occurs. • Explicit curriculum prevents excessive overlaps across grade levels. • Curriculum needs to be organized. • An explicit curriculum makes differentiated instruction possible.

Curriculum Framework – ICC and OCSD • Big Ideas/GLB: Declarative statements of enduring understandings for all students at all grade/course levels. Grade Level Benchmarks (Essential Questions) • Concepts: Describe what students should know, key knowledge, as a result of instruction, specific to grade level. Components (Concepts and Skills) • Competencies: Describe what students should be able to do, key skills, as a result of this instruction, specific to grade level. Components (Skills)

Big Ideas – GLB or Essential Questions

Hierarchy of OCSD Curriculum The Grade Level Benchmarks and Components drive instruction = they provide the roadmap to what the teacher needs to teach. Currently these are reflected in the Essential Question and the Content and the Skills. But…. They all do not meet the requirements of “Big Ideas” Bigger Ideas….. How do we help students “master” this content? What do we do if they don’t?

Steps in the Process • Step 1: Define Current Reality • Step 2: Analyze the Iowa Core Curriculum • Step 3: Align current reality with ICC – eliminate any gaps and/or overlaps • Step 4: Develop a Subject Mission Statement • Step 5: Develop Grade Level/Course Purposes • Step 6 and 7: Write Grade Level Benchmarks and Components • Step 8: How do GLB’s and Components fit with GLB – Based Grading?

ICC and the “Big Ideas” • What does the Iowa Core Curriculum look like? • Do we teach the big ideas described in the ICC? What’s our current reality? • What if we don’t teach something in the Iowa Core Curriculum now? • Do we have any gaps or overlaps in our curriculum right now after aligning to the ICC?

Current Reality – Step 1 • On the “walls” list what you are currently teaching • Look at the essential question/content/skills and identify the “Big Ideas” your grade level or course teaches.

Understanding ICC – Step 2 • What do the Benchmarks of the Iowa Core Curriculum mean – what do they expect our students to know and be able to do within a grade band? • http://www.corecurriculum.iowa.gov/Home.aspx • Determine what big idea they are wanting our students to know – discuss and write what you believe the meaning to be

Aligning with the ICC – Step 3 • Using the strands from the Iowa Core, determine which Benchmarks you are currently teaching and at what grade level… then place the name of the strand and the BM number next to the content on your “wall” • If there is content in the ICC that is not on your “wall” you will need to add it to the appropriate grade level within that band. • Do we have any overlaps within a band? With any other grade level/course? (appropriate?) • Place an ** by those OCSD concepts we have that are considered “extra”

Mission Statement – Step 4 • Answer the questions: • Why do we have a Music curriculum and what we want students to know and be able to do? • Why does this area exist in our curriculum? • Is: • Student focused (Students will be able to…) • Measurable • Descriptive about curricular area

Mission Statement • Music offers students a prism through which to develop both creative and critical skills, thus enabling them to synthesize their subjective experiences with history, theory and culture. Using a variety of approaches, students hone communication and problem solving skills, learning craftsmanship and teamwork through sustained effort. Above all, our faculty prepares students to become thinking, articulate, sensitive and conscientious citizens and musicians. • Fostering Educational and Artistic Excellence • To advance music education by encouraging the study and making of music by all. • The study of music provides students with the skills necessary to use their minds creatively as well as intellectually. To instill within each student an understanding, appreciation and love for music

Grade Level/Course Purpose – Step 5 • Answers the questions • What will students in the 4th grade know and be able to do? • What will be different from the emphasis in another grade? What will the focus be in this grade/course? • Is: • Student focused (Students will be able to…) • Measurable • Descriptive about grade level/course

Course Purpose • 7th Grade Example – Instrumental Music • Students will express themselves through musical performance. They will demonstrate characteristic tone quality, music literacy, and ensemble skills through a variety of technique studies and literature.

Writing Grade Level Benchmarks – Step 6 • Must: • Be student focused “The student will…. • Be measurable • Begin with a verb which determines level of thinking and indicate method of summative assessment • Be from Bloom’s top 4 levels of Bloom’s taxonomy • Be indicative of the main skill/concept – the essential question or purpose of the unit of study

Writing Components – Step 7 • Must: • Be student focused “The student will…. • Begin with a verb which determines level of thinking and indicate method of formative assessment • Be measurable • Be from Bloom’s any levels of Bloom’s taxonomy – scaffolding of skills and concepts should take place • Provide direction for instruction toward success of the Grade Level Benchmark

Big Ideas/GLB are… • Reflect Higher Order Thinking - Rigorous • They require “uncoverage.” or “investigation” or “evaluation” These abstract concepts stimulate higher-level thinking. They are more than just facts. They come from the top 4 levels of Bloom’s taxonomy. They have a greater potential for engaging students. The verb provides clues as to the assessment • Student Centered • They reflect what the student will know or be able to do as result, not what the teacher will do • Timeless • The concept transcends individual examples and/or activities. They have enduring value beyond the classroom. They will be relevant to any time teaching and do not reflect specifics – reflect skills such as problem solving • Measurable • They can be measured to determine success. • Essential Concepts or Skills • They are the heart of the discipline. They are worthy of the time it will take to study them at some depth (www.movingbeyondthepage.com and Understanding by Design. Wiggins & McTighe. ASCD. 1998.)

Big Ideas/GLB Are Not… • Topics (Apples, Winter, Shakespeare, Maps, Fractions) • Facts (2x4=8, red and yellow make orange, the capital of Illinois is Springfield) • Skills (multiplying, painting, memorizing, rhyming) • Assignments (research paper, collage, speech, book report) • Textbook Units (Unit 1, The World At War, Rational Numbers)

Science Example • Apples • Better Choices: • Students will describe different species of plants and animals and different classify them by observable characteristics • Students will demonstrate understanding that plants and animals have life cycles including being born, developing into adults, reproducing, and eventually dying. • Students will illustrate that organisms have basic needs. • Students will consider a variety of ways humans change environments in ways that can be either beneficial or detrimental to themselves or other organisms. (ICC/Life Science/K-2)

Literacy Example • Main Idea • Better Choices • Students will use a variety of strategies to make sense of what they read. • Students will monitor their thinking as they read so that the text makes sense • Students will use a variety of strategies to fix their reading when meaning breaks down.

Music Example • Rhythm • Better Choices • Students will demonstrate music literacy through a variety of technique studies and literature. • Read, create and perform the following rhythms: whole notes and rests, dotted half notes, half notes and rests, dotted quarter notes, quarter notes and rests, dotted eighth notes, eighth notes and rests, sixteen notes and rests, and syncopated rhythms. • Demonstrate a steady beat and rhythmic accuracy through foot tapping, clapping, and counting out loud.

Developing big ideas/GLB helps students • “Understand rather than memorize • Retain ideas and facts longer because they are more meaningful • Make connections between subjects and facets of a single subject • Relate ideas to their own lives, and • Build networks of meaning for effectively dealing with future knowledge.” (from How to Differentiate in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, 2nd Edition; C.A. Tomlinson; ASCD; 2001)

Grade Level Benchmarks • Describes the “essential” things ALL students in this grade level or course MUST KNOW or BE ABLE TO DO in Social Studies/World Language • GLB's are units of instruction that make connections between separate concepts or skills • Year-long course = 7-12 GLB's • Trimester = 3-6 GLB's

Grade Level Benchmarks • Each GLB requires high level of student thinking as well as dynamic student involvement in their learning • Written with verbs from top 4 level of Bloom's Taxonomy – application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation • Each GLB directs the assessment • Summative Assessment

GLB's • Criteria: • A positive statement about what the students will do • Verbs describing specific, measurable actions • Includes an end result – what the student will be able to do • High levels of achievement – Bloom's top 4 levels of thinking

GLB's - Example • What is wrong with these examples? • By the end of the lesson, students should be able to identify notes • Introduce the vocabulary words • Students will understand tempo • Students will read the textbook chapter about composers

Components • Statements of concepts or skills that describe what students must know or do in order to perform the GLB. • Can be written from all levels of Bloom's Taxonomy • Content or skills scaffold as the GLB is taught • 3-8 per GLB

Components - Continued • Simple and Complex skills • Must have students being active, not passive learners • Teachers become more facilitative instead of only providing information that students memorize

Components - Continued • Which are simple and which are complex? • Students will maintain a steady beat • Students will conduct research on a composer • Students will perform a piece using correct tempo • Students will read melodies • Students will play melodies in three-part rounds

Grade Level Benchmarks • How do you go about identifying GLB's? • What are the “essential” skills/topics? • What is the relevance of the topic/skills? • What might students “do” with the information they learn? • What skills will be involved? • Are several topics related – if yes, group together • Those connected skills/topics make up a GLB • Quiz time!

Grade Level Benchmark • Answer the following questions to make sure it meets all GLB requirements • DOES IT....? • Uses a positive statement and tells what the student will do • Uses a specific measurable action verb • Contains an end result • Requires high levels of thinking • Requires dynamic student involvement • Make connections – topics, skills and applications related • Directs the summative assessment

Grade Level Benchmarks • How do we write the GLB? • Group topics/skills together – lay out your “wall” • Don't force groupings • Visualize the grouping – what will students be able to do when they participate in the learning? • What will students know or be able to do? • Check the criteria to be sure all are present • Are all the components – skills and topics – identified and included in the GLB? • Remember to make all statements specific and measurable • Components tend to scaffold content or skills

Monitor Implementation • How will we know if the curriculum is leading students to mastering the content? • What do we do if our students have mastered the content before instruction? • What will we do if they are not mastering the content? • What supports are we providing to the struggling learners in our classroom? • What will you do to make sure ALL students master the content?

Updating Curriculum Maps

Curriculum Overview