Curriculum Mapping: Thoughts For Administrators Presentation By Janet Hale Curriculum Mapping Consultant www.CurriculumMapping101.com Janet A. Hale teachtucson@aol.com 520-241-8797 www.CurriculumMapping101.com

All that is shared in this slideshow is based on the work of Dr All that is shared in this slideshow is based on the work of Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs… Mapping the Big Picture 1997, ASCD Getting Results with Curriculum Mapping 2004, ASCD Active Literacy Across the Curriculum 2006, Eye On Education and …

Keys to Curriculum Mapping: Strategies and Tools to Make It Work Susan Udelhofen 2005, Corwin Press

A Guide To Curriculum Mapping: Planning, Implementing, and Sustaining the Process Janet Hale December, 2007 Corwin Press

Curriculum (Latin Root) = A Path Run In Small Steps Jacobs (2006) states: Consider the following reality. Johnny has a flotilla of teachers…the total number of teachers that Johnny has over his thirteen years from K-12 ranges from between forty and sixty-five. Curriculum mapping does not guarantee that all of these teachers will become intimately acquainted with Johnny’s needs or his experience. What it can do is provide a real data base allowing any of his teachers to find what he has experienced and is experiencing currently, and it can communicate with more precision with any of the flotilla of teachers through technology. (pp. 114-115) Reference: Jacobs, H.H. (2006) Active literacy across the curriculum. Larchmont, NY: Eye On Education.

“Why Map?” Three Common Reasons Why Learning Organizations Choose To Map… Marie Strangeway, CM Consultant

3 Base Reasons To Map Issue Motivated Initiative- Turns to mapping to address a specific problem or series of problems.  Low test scores in ____ (e.g., Reading, Writing, Math, AYP Subgroups, Etc.). All are looking for quick results in a specific area or areas. Be aware: CM is not designed to be a “quick fix” and then discarded.

3 Base Reasons To Map Grass Roots Initiative - Turns to mapping because some administrators, faculty, and/or parents have learned about mapping and believe that it will help students improve and succeed. They know or feel there are gaps, redundancies, and absences in the curriculum and want to create horizontal and vertical communication. Be aware: CM is designed to provide ongoing evidence via curriculum maps and other data that empowers teachers to discover inconsistencies and then create consistencies in curriculum: PreK-12+.

3 Base Reasons To Map Good to Great – A school or district is successful by current standards, however is looking to stay competitive or to continually improve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) scores. They are looking to mapping to become the tool and catalyst for ongoing curricular dialogue and to lead to ongoing professional development. Be aware: CM is designed to fully align curriculum and improve learning: PreK-12+.

Regardless of what is or was the purpose(s) for your initiative… Grass Roots Issues Good to Great NO MAPS (Diary Maps, Projected Maps, Consensus Maps, Essential Maps) are NEVER used for TEACHER EVALUATION or PUNITIVE PURPOSES!

All Types of Curriculum Maps are… Designed BY Teachers FOR Teachers to aid in generating ongoing collaborations focused on student learning. Collaboration = To work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort

Is there Scientifically Based Research? Yes! The Indiana Center For Evaluation… Analyzed one-third of Ohio’s schools that showed substantial improvement to find the key effective strategies educators considered to be responsible for causing the marked improvements. Curriculum mapping was one of the six most effective practices having a positive effect on student performance; which correlated closely with the characteristics of effective schools. Source: A Case Study of Key Effective Practices in Ohio’s Improved School Districts, 2002 When a new process or technique is created, it takes about a decade to get in-depth research on its application results in the schools. Two states have completed major studies that have found curriculum mapping to have a positive effect on student performance: Virginia and Ohio. The complete Ohio Study is available at www.CurriculumMapping101.com > Materials > Curriculum Mapping Research. Janet A. Hale teachtucson@aol.com 520-241-8797 www.CurriculumMapping101.com

Curriculum = A Path Taken In Small Steps Curriculum Mapping = Systemic Change It is about “doing business” differently. Please realize up front that your teachers will be learners for quite some time, and as with all learners knowledge must be presented in small steps to be sustained…

Small steps are okay since curriculum mapping is never “done”… “Stop asking me if we are almost there, we’re Nomads for crying out loud!”

A CM Initiative Reality It will take more time than you think it will to learn “all about mapping” and get the mapping process started and established in your school or district. If you are implementing CM only in one school, you will want to create a CM Council. If an entire district is involved, you will want to create a CM Cabinet. All members of either configuration begin with a half-year to a full year of CM learning known as the prologue…

To Preserve CM and Persevere Since a districtwide curriculum mapping initiative is an major task, and well worth it, it cannot be achieved with just a few persons at the helm! Plan now to train an incredible crew of teachers and administrators to steer the CM ship and keep it on course!

Curriculum Mapping Intra-Organizations CM Coordinator Serves as the liaison between district administrators; collective CM intra-organizations; and CM Consultant, if applicable. Coordinates the CM initiative’s implementation and ongoing professional development topics. Takes on the responsibility of becoming one of the district’s CM “resident experts.” Collaboratively develops, revises, and publishes CM District Strategic Plan with input from collective CM intra-organizations/administrators. Responsible for carrying out the district’s CM multi-phase implementation and ongoing accountability and progress processes.

Curriculum Mapping Intra-Organizations CM Cadre A team of approximately five to seven people who have a high interest in curriculum design, and an understanding of administrative insight into the district’s curriculum issues and demands. These team becomes the district’s “resident experts” in all aspects of CM implementation and application. Serve as the district’s lead CM trainers and facilitators. Attend all CM Cabinet meetings, and when appropriate, CM Council meetings.

Curriculum Mapping Intra-Organizations CM Cabinet A district-based representative group (member size per school site will vary depending on site’s teacher population) consisting of CM Coordinator, CM Cadre, administrators, technology support, and teachers representing the diversity of all grades and curricular areas in the district. The CM Cabinet members become confident in all aspects of CM implementation, components, and processes during the prologue.

Curriculum Mapping Intra-Organizations CM Cabinet After the mapping initiative has gone through its beginning stages of implementation (Year One with all teachers), the members continue to support the establishment of this model as it takes an average of three years before mapping becomes a natural, normal way of conducting professional business Each CM Cabinet member dually serves as a CM Council member at his or her respective school site.

Curriculum Mapping Cabinet Equal teacher representation for all schools, all grades, all disciplines, including specialists and special education, plus administration and technology representation from each school. Mapping the Big Picture, Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs. ASCD, 1997.

Curriculum Mapping Intra-Organizations CM Council Each school-site in the district creates and maintains its own CM Council with support from the other CM intra-organizations and CM Coordinator. A CM Council consists of teachers, technology support, and/or administrators that represent all grade levels and content areas within the school site (usually a ratio of one CM Council member to every five to six teachers/staff members) and becomes confident in all aspects of CM implementation, components, and processes. Each CM Council member assists a small-group of five to six, mixed-group staff members in their initial and/or ongoing learning of CM and related components and processes

Curriculum Mapping Council (a CM Council per school site) Equal teacher representation for all grades, all disciplines, including specialists and special education, plus administration and technology representation. Janet A. Hale teachtucson@aol.com 520-241-8797 www.CurriculumMapping101.com

CM Cabinet and Councils: A Few Considerations… Provide job descriptions of member’s roles, expectations, and if offered, compensations, before commitment Consider having teachers serve for 1, 2, or 3 years (rotation-style: some new join, while some established depart) Generate agendas, pre-readings, or expectations for all officially attending (meeting are always open to anyone who wants to attend)

CM Cabinet and Councils: A Few Considerations… Members help plan future CM professional staff development based on needs teachers express through CM review cycles either at personal school site (Council) or entire district (Cabinet) When new teachers are hired annually, or during the school year, CM Cabinet and Council members aid in training the new staff members in the mapping process and recording maps in the mapping system.

Read and discuss CM books and materials Plan to … Read and discuss CM books and materials Watch and discuss CM videos Participate in on-line CM courses and/or CM video conferencing Attend CM trainings or conferences Correspond or meet with a CM consultant or consultants Visiting CM schools or districts You will also need to purchase your CM technology system and practice writing Projected/Diary Maps to learn how to write and record all map elements.

The role of school-site administrators is critical in a successful and sustainable curriculum mapping initiative. Each building principal needs to learn all about mapping just as if he or she is going to be mapping classroom learning. (Many administrators choose to map their professional environments to better understand the teachers’ learning curve.) All administrators need to learn about the selected mapping system and become familiar with all its components including its search and report features. Consider what can be “let go of” so the focus can be centrally on mapping during the first year or two of implementation.

The Role of Administrators and CM Cabinet/Councils include motivating and encouraging… Include CM in action plans/school policies Work toward clear short and long-range goals for solving curricular problems Make connections between mapping and other initiatives Use, use, use the recorded map data to conduct teacher collaborations and to make curricula decisions based on a variety of data comparisons

When curriculum mapping is taken to all teachers in a learning organization it can not be executed in quite the same manner as other initiatives have been done in the past. Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) state that “incremental [first-order] change fine tunes the system through a series of small steps that do not depart radically from the past. Deep [second-order] change alters the system in fundamental ways, offering a dramatic shift in direction and requiring new ways of thinking and acting” (p.66). Curriculum mapping cannot be executed or established in a few meetings or in-services. Its implementation most often alters how a school or district functions in the most fundamental ways.

Peter Senge’s influential book Schools That Learn (2000) contends that if schools are to be successful in an increasingly competitive world—and if educators are to help students overcome systemic inequities—then schools must become organizations staffed by individuals who know how to learn and grow. Vol. 63(6) (p. 39)

Shifting Mental Models Systems Thinking Shifting Mental Models

Level II Patterns/Trends Bena Kallick’s Mental Model Shifts for Change through Systems Thinking Level I Events An initiative begins through a series of presentations that may include professional development, faculty meetings, etc. The learning organization’s members may or may not mentally connect the separate meetings at this time. Level II Patterns/Trends After a series of meetings has taken place wherein members have been provided opportunities to explore their tacit mental models through reflection and inquiry, they begin to connect the individual experiences and they begin to merge into patterns or trends.

Level III Systemic Structure After a period of time wherein members participate in formal and informal experiences regarding the patterns or trends, they begin to reconfigure the repetitions into a new mental structure that brings synergy to the series of events and patterns or trends. Level IV Mental Models This new mental structure naturally becomes an explicit mental model wherein members consciously act on it and it moves to being a deep belief and a part of the learning organization’s system and culture. Kallick, B. (2006). Keynote presentation. Santa Fe, New Mexico, Twelfth National Curriculum Institute.

5 MYTH BUSTERS Myth #1: People are happy doing what they are doing now. Truth #1: People are miserable when they are not feeling successful in their professional lives, or they fail to sense personal mastery. Myth #2: People resist change because of irrational fear. Myth #2: People resist change because they have been burned before or changes that are poorly planned, badly executed, and resulted in more work with fewer results. Dr. Douglas Reeves, Standards and Assessment Conference 2005 www.makingstandardswork.com

5 MYTH BUSTERS Myth #3: You can’t make significant changes until you have buy-in from everyone. Truth #3: Resistance to change is an organizational reality. The volume (noise) exceeds the volume (quantity) of the resistance. Myth #4: You must have perfect research to support a proposed change. Myth #2: Perfect research does not exist: “Try it, test it, improve it” is far superior to waiting for the illusion of perfection. You need sufficient research and common sense. Dr. Douglas Reeves, Standards and Assessment Conference 2005 www.makingstandardswork.com

5 MYTH BUSTERS Myth #5: The risk of change is so great that you must wait until you have things perfectly organized before implementing a change Truth #5: There is no risk-free alternative. The risks of change must be compared to the very significant risks of continuing current practices. The Reality of Change Change is never convenient, never universally popular, never without opposition, never risk-free, and never gets easier over time. Dr. Douglas Reeves, Standards and Assessment Conference 2005 www.makingstandardswork.com

Focus on Transitions for the Old to the New …William Bridges has argued that often in the process of moving from something with which we’re comfortable to something which is unknown, people experience a sense of loss. (9) This sense of loss is much like that which we experience in the death of a friend or relative… (9) Bridges. W. (1991) Managing Transitions: Making the Most of the Change. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Navigating Comprehensive School Change: A Guide for the Perplexed Thomas G. Chenworth and Robert B. Everhart www.eyeoneducation.com

The Law of Initiative Fatigue ENTHUSIASM Time, Resources, and Focus Available for the New initiative OVERLOAD Total Number of Old, Continuing, Pending, and New Initiatives = BURNOUT Dr. Douglas Reeves, Standards and Assessment Conference 2005 www.makingstandardswork.com

Pre-plan how teachers will be supported by the School Board and District/School Site Administrators: Preferably Weekly Early Release or Late Start Days Inservice Days Building District Department/ Grade Level After-School Workshops Small Group Mentoring Summer Workshops

A Red Flag! Mapping is a 21st century practice… Computer-phobic teachers, who struggle to employ technology will be a concern given the mapping is done using technology and most often using a commercial, on-line mapping system may need additional support to help them with their technology struggles Lack of computer access (enough computers) and adequate bandwidth so that the entire district can be on-line simultaneously without a slow down.

Differentiated CM & Technology Staff Development According to experience and comfort with CM processes and elements and technology (general and mapping-system specific) According to demonstrated or voiced competencies

CM. LANGUAGE TECHNOLOGY Differentiating Staff Development: Data Entry For Mappers from Getting Results with Curriculum Mapping ASCD, 2004, H.H.Jacobs. #3 Low Technology High CM. Language #4 High Technology High CM. Language HIGH CM. LANGUAGE #1 Low Technology Low CM. Language #2 High Technology Low CM. Language Each quadrant will have different needs in ongoing training… LOW LOW HIGH TECHNOLOGY

You may want to consider a Range of P.D. After-Initial-Training Venues Hands-On Labs Small-group Work Sessions One-to-One Mentors Peer Coaching

Low Technology Low CM. Language HIGH #1 Low Technology Low CM. Language CM. LANGUAGE One-on-one support may be necessary for some teachers until they are comfortable with the processes. LOW LOW HIGH TECHNOLOGY

Remember, the entire mapping process proves worthwhile when teachers use their maps to make curricula and other decisions for the school and/or the district. Also, be aware that you will need to think about how to training new-to-a-school or district teachers in what is curriculum mapping and how to map using the mapping system and its features.

Prepare for the emotional factors that come with second-order change. Establish district and individual school site strategic plans and monitor process and needed adjustments. Target priority items/problems needing improvement as part of the action plans. Prepare for the emotional factors that come with second-order change. Great … Curriculum Mapping! Here they go… Adding one more thing to our already overloaded plate!

Curriculum Mapping IS THE PLATE! Here is the major paradigm shift. Curriculum Mapping IS THE PLATE! The reason that it does not feel this way at the onset of the initiative is everyone is on a major learning curve. Administration plays a critical role in supporting teachers during this time of change. Most teachers do want to change, but need adequate amounts of time (preferably every week) to map, collaborate, and address the problems mapping is aiding to answer regarding curriculum design, revision, and refinement of student learning and instruction.

Plan now to read, learn, and grow over the next few years about “all things” mapping! It is a simple concept, yet complex process, that one can not grasp in a single sitting. Remember to read Curriculum Mapping and related books and reference materials Watch Curriculum Mapping videos Take a Curriculum Mapping on-line course Attend local and regional Curriculum Mapping seminars or conferences Plan to attend the national Curriculum Mapping Institute held every July IN CONCLUSION Information concerning upcoming seminars, materials, resources. consulting and training is available at www.CurriculumMapping101.com