2. Prioritizing and Mapping the Curriculum A Process for Developing Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

3. What is it? Curriculum What is it like? A path or course to run in small steps. What is the Purpose? To focus and connect the work of classroom teachers in school to the standards, assessments and classroom practices in order to raise student achievement. What isn’t it? NOT Curriculum is NOT the textbook or program you purchased from a publisher. Curriculum can no longer be what you’ve been doing for the past 15 years unless it is demonstrated to be in line with the standards and assessments! Any document or plan that defines: the work of teachers the content to be learned by the students the methods to be used in the process.

4. Why ‘Prioritize’ the Curriculum? Every state’s curriculum has far too many standards to be learned in the time available. In the past, teachers have had to independently prioritize their curriculum - which has provided an uneven “taught” curriculum that results in inconsistent achievement.

5. Why Prioritize the Curriculum? The prioritizing curriculum process provides the means to deal with this abundance of standards and limited time. Prioritizing the curriculum does not eliminate curriculum, but rather ‘codes the curriculum’. All teachers that teach a common grade or course, now will emphasize the same learning and understanding rather than emphasizing “coverage”!

6. Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum As referenced by Bob Marzano in his book: What Works In Schools “the single most important initiative a school or district can engage in to raise student achievement..”

7. Guaranteed Curriculum EVERY STUDENT is provided the opportunity to learn a core curriculum which provides them with the probability of success in school.

8. Viable Curriculum Schools make sure that the necessary time is available and protected so students will be able to learn the guaranteed curriculum.

9. Quality Curriculum: Provides teachers with a guide for what students need to learn in order to be successful. Prevents redundancies in instruction. Guards against gaps in student learning.

10. Quality Curriculum Provides a sequence of what needs to be learned across individual grade levels or courses as well as a vertical sequence from grade level to grade level or from course to course. Provides teachers with a correlation to the standards and assessments in an attempt to assure students are as well prepared as possible.

11. Exemplary Practices in High Achievement, High Accountability Districts and Schools Organization -- Multiple Options for Acceleration -- Vertical AND Grade Level Teams -- Large Blocks of Time -- Literacy & Math Blocks Planning -- Priority, Time Allocated -- Data & Results Driven -- Team-Based & Individual Planning -- Linked to Staff Development Curriculum -- Prioritized Curriculum -- K-12 Benchmarks/Maps -- Curriculum Maps With Vocabulary Focus Instruction -- K- 12 Reading Comprehension -- K- 12 Writing in Content -- Advance Organizers, Scaffolding, Preview -- Differentiated Cognitive Strategies -- Schools With Instructional Coaches Assessment -- Focus = Assessment for Learning -- Continuous Formative Assessment -- Benchmark Assessments That Direct Instruction -- Continuous Use of Rubrics

12. Best Curriculum The highest quality curriculum is developed by utilizing a wide range of resources during the development and subsequent monitoring of the curriculum. Standards Benchmarks Performance Objectives/Standard Statements Assessments Teacher experience

13. Prioritizing Not all content is equal! Standards contain a range of performance objectives and standard statements. Some performance objectives are more important than others in helping students succeed!

14. How do we do it? STEP 1 Teachers need to prioritize the PA Academic Standards into Essential, Important and Compact categories. Essential = 50% of the Content Requires 70% of the Instructional Time Important = 30% of the Content Requires 25% of the Instructional Time Compact = 20% of the Content Requires 5% of the Instructional Time

15. Differences Essential refers to the “Big Ideas” or concepts that you want your students to understand at a greater depth. Important refers to the key knowledge and skills that lead to student understanding of the essential knowledge. Compact: refers to the less important stuff that students can usually get by without or will be acquired as a result of other instruction.

16. Prioritizing the Standards

17. Vertical Teaming After grade level teams and course teams prioritize their Standards, they meet in vertical teams. They review and discuss their rationale for how they prioritized each Standard. They looked for redundancies and gaps before returning to their teams to make revisions.

18. STEP 2: They clustered those Standards in the three categories into TOPICS that will be used to guide instruction. Then they identified the CONCEPTS that are contained in each topic. For every topic, they created a Curriculum Map including all the necessary elements.

19. Key Learning (Enduring Understanding): Unit Essential Question(s): Instructional Tools: Concept: Lesson Essential Questions (LEQs): Vocabulary: Topic: Course: Lesson Essential Questions (LEQs): Lesson Essential Questions (LEQs): Assessment(s):

20. Curriculum Map Components KEY LEARNING: A full statement of what is essential for students to know and do, representing significant concepts key to understanding the content. ESSENTIAL QUESTION(S): Written as a thought provoking and engaging question about the content that provides a view of the ‘Big Picture’ and acts as the ‘Mental Velcro’ for students to make connections. Concepts: The ‘heart’ of the unit’s content. Concepts: ‘Big Ideas’ that connect the skills or knowledge to the overarching topic. Concepts: Nouns in the ‘Performance Objectives’ of each state’s standards. Lesson Essential Questions: Concept specific but link to and support unit EQ(s). Lesson Essential Questions: Frame the study of the topic and guide the learning. HOTS Lesson Essential Questions: Used to activate & summarize key ideas. Vocabulary: Words that are critical and essential to understanding the content being taught. Vocabulary: Multiple meaning words & words that are easily misunderstood. Vocabulary: Words related to “Big Idea” concepts and skills being taught.

21. Topic: First Grade Writing Key Learning: Spoken words, illustrations & print convey meaning. Unit Essential Question: How can I be a good writer? Instructional Tools: Story Maps Writing Process Writer’s Workshop Animated Literacy Word Splash Organized Word Walls D-Nelian Handwriting Letters & Words Directionality Capitalization/Punctuation Concepts: LEQ(s): (1) How do I form letters correctly? (2) How do I make words that say what I mean? Vocabulary: middle left around right bottom top down LEQ(s): (1) Where do I start writing? (2) Where do I go when I reach the end of the line? Vocabulary: return sweep left top rightbottom LEQ: (1)What does a sentence look like? How would I know one if I saw one? Vocabulary: question period space capital letter sentence lower/upper case letters exclamation mark question mark

22. Curriculum Map Key Learning: All living organisms are made up of cells with specialized parts and functions. Each type of cell has a characteristic structure. Unit Essential Question: If you were a cell, would you have more or less mitochrondria to party? Topic: Cells & Their Environment (Cell-e- brating life on a microscopic level.) Cell Anatomy Physiology Key Vocabulary: ribosomes chromatin centrioles Golgi Bodies endoplasmic reticulum lysosome The Cell & It’s DNA Key Vocabulary: DNA RNA nucleotides nitrogen bases complementary bases Double helix The Cell’s Environment Key Vocabulary: osmosis solutions diffusion hypotonic plasmolysis hypertonic permeable isotonic LEQ(s): (1) How are a cell’s parts related to function? (2) What causes varieties in cells? LEQ(s): (1) Why would you call a nucleus “the central center” of a cell? (2) How is your DNA similar to the DNA of bacteria? LEQ(s): (1) How is a fence and a cell membrane similar? (2) What happens when a cell changes environment? Instructional Tools Egg Osmosis Kit DNA magnetic board Cookie Cell Model Rubric

23. Topic: Persuasive Writing (10th Grade American Literature) Key Learning : Persuasive writers use reason, emotion & credibility to influence our thinking & motivate readers to action. Unit Essential Question : How do persuasive writing techniques influence & motivate a reaction from readers? Instructional Tools: Essay Rubric Persuasive Writing Graphic Organizer Literature Suggestions: Equiano, Paine, P. Henry, Jefferson, popular media & political documents Logic & Reason Emotional Appeal Clarity Concepts: LEQ: (1) What are the differences between fact and perception? Vocabulary: refute opposition deduction qualify induction logos LEQ(s): (1) How do the words a writer chooses influence his audience? (2) How does popular belief persuade a majority? Vocabulary: diction tone pathos attitude spin rhetorical purpose LEQ: (1)How do I connect the individual parts of an essay in order to unify it? Vocabulary: structure organization emphasis pace coherence transitions unity rhetorical question

24. Sample Curriculum Map 3 rd Grade Math: Multiplication Key Learning: Multiplication is a more efficient way of adding. Essential Question: How do we use multiplication? Meaning LEQ(s): 1. How can arrays help you understand multiplication? 2. How is multiplication repeated addition? 3. How can you use skip counting to find a product? LEQ(s): 1. How do you multiply factors to get a product? 2. What patterns can help you remember the multiplication facts? 3. How can we find errors in multiplying? Real-Life Application Process LEQ(s): 1. Where is multiplication used in real-life? Vocabulary: large lots budgeting finding area shopping Industry Vocabulary: arrays repeated product digit value Vocabulary: factors product reversing lattice method patterns errors Instructional Tools: Graph Paper Multiplication Charts Calculator Real Life Problems (finding area) Sequence Chart of Steps

25. 8 th Grade Social Studies: The Lewis and Clark Expedition Key Learning(s): Exploration is motivated by political, economic, scientific, & social factors. Individuals and their values impact history. Patterns in one historical event can be found in other historical events. Unit Essential Question(s): The Lewis and Clark Expedition: What’s the big deal? Lesson Essential Questions: Students will be able to: Primary Sources Time Line Persuasive Writing Graphic Persuasive Writing Rubric Word Splash Lesson Essential Questions: Vocabulary: Lesson Essential Questions: Motivation The Corps of Discovery Significance Why did you send them, Thomas Jefferson? How can you support Jefferson’s decision? Who were they and why were they chosen? What were the contributions of the expedition? How can we find patterns in historical events? How is the Lewis and Clark Expedition like other events in history? Vocabulary: Expedition Louisiana Purchase Northwest Passage economic political corps adventurous leadership teamwork perseverance Vocabulary: impact accomplishment significance Instructional Tools:

26. Curriculum Maps and Pacing Guides: Why are they so important? Use as communication device Conceptualize a unit Enable consistent curriculum pacing and planning Highlight important vocabulary Enable students to "see" the knowledge gained over time and their learning

30. Step 3: Pacing Guide Teachers estimate how much time should be spent on each topic and arranged them sequentially on a course map. The goal of the course map is to assure that all the content is taught before it is tested!!!! Revisions are expected to be made to the content maps and to the course maps as ALL teachers experience them.

31. Benefits for Teachers… The instructional “WHAT” has been shared, making it quick and easy to develop plans Many instructional factors have been decided and developed for teachers, making their planning time much more efficient Lessons are directly connected to the school/district prioritized curriculum Planning and sharing with peers is easier and more efficient

32. Benefits for Students… Mobility has much less impact on achievement Instruction is directly connected to what is tested Consistency of strategies and formats raises their performance