Curriculum Overview Curriculum Team Work

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/Common Core Big Idea/Enduring Understanding Mission Statement Course Purpose Grade Level Benchmark Component

Goal for the Year Identify current reality based on IA Core/Common Core Alignment Write a Mission Statement, Course Purposes, Grade Level Benchmarks and Components Create a Reading List What about a “Style Guide?”

Goal/Outcomes for Today Discuss the process for our work to understand expectations and work for the year Determine Subject Mission Statement Define our current reality (what we teach) Determine Course Purposes Begin to Write Grade Level Benchmarks and Components

Curriculum Teaching And Learning Instruction Assessment Year 1 – alignment to ICC Write Grade Level Benchmarks and Components for each grade/course Alignment in Curriculum Maps Year 3 – Aligning assessments with our curriculum. Writing common summative assessments Continue Training on Assessment OF and FOR Learning Year 2 and Year 3 Assessment Training – Use of Assessment FOR Learning

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 – IC 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 Worth Being Familiar With – these are those Nice to Know things we want student to know but they are not assessed Important to Know and Do – Part of your subject area but not essential to life- long skill attainment – might be assessed if relate to the enduring understandings Big Ideas– Reflected in the IC and will be the Grade Level Benchmarks and Components

Hierarchy of OCSD Curriculum Content Area Standard/ICSubject Mission StatementGrade Level/Course PurposeGrade Level BenchmarksComponents 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 /Common Core Step 3: Align current reality with IC/Common Core – 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

ICC and the “Big Ideas” What does the Iowa Core look like? How is it different than the Common Core? Do we teach the big ideas described in the IC/CC? What’s our current reality? What if we don’t teach something in the Iowa Core/Common Core now? Do we have any gaps or overlaps in our curriculum right now after aligning to the IC/CC?

Current Reality – Step 1 As a grade band, list what you are currently teaching at your grade level/course Use the IC and the CC to eliminate gaps/overlaps Look at the essential question/content/skills and identify the “Big Ideas” your grade level or course teaches.

Mission Statement – Step 2 Answer the questions: Why do we have a LA 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 Inspire an appreciation for the English language and its literatures, and to cultivate its effective use in creative expression and day-to- day life. Promote the development of literacy, the use of language to construct personal and public worlds and to achieve full participation in society, through the learning and teaching of English and the related arts and sciences of language.

Grade Level/Course Purpose – Step 3 Answers the questions What will students in the 4 th 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 4 th Grade Example Students will demonstrate the use of comprehension skills and fluency skills within different reading genres. Students will produce writing pieces utilizing writing process skills and appropriate mechanics.

Writing Grade Level Benchmarks – Step 4 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 5 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 ( and Understanding by Design. Wiggins & McTighe. ASCD )

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)

Reading/Writing Example Shakespeare/Book Report Better Choices: Explain relationships between literature and its historical period, culture, and society and how writers represent and reveal their cultures and traditions. The student will develop a paragraph using three to five sentences with a main idea and supporting details.

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, 2 nd 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 = 7-12GLB'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 written directs assessments Formative and Summative

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 the main idea. Complete questions at the end of the chapter. Students will understand plot. Students will identify the noun and verb in a sentence.

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 list the characters in a story. Students will conduct research to determine and discuss the authors who had a contribution to the world today. The student will utilize parts of a book to locate information Students will use text to generate inferences. Students will identify, spell, and use words emphasizing vowels, consonants, common syllables, and plurals.

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 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 topics 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