Most teachers do not see themselves as curriculum developers, nor believe they have been adequately trained to write valid assessments. Serving on a curriculum committee may seem like a lot of unnecessary work to a teacher initially; however, once they go through the process, they realize that thoroughly studying, clarifying, and organizing standards into units of learning targets and then creating aligned assessments helps them to identify what students need to know and do and how learning will be measured. Clearly defined learning targets direct teachers’ instruction and student learning. Read More
Tag Archives: Curriculum
Using Google Sites to Increase Curriculum Implementation in the Classroom
Within the last year, over half a dozen current and former CLI districts have opted to organize their local curriculums using the new CLI Online Curriculum Library, a Google Site template. The benefits for districts using Google (now called G-Suite for Education) are widely known: free email accounts (Gmail), file storage (Google Drive), and file creation (Google Docs). One application that may be underutilized due to time or training constraints is Google Sites. Google Sites could easily serve as your district’s intranet, a closed network only accessible by those within your district.Read More
Using Data to Improve Instruction in Five Steps or Less
Now, review the three essential pieces already mentioned above: curriculum, assessment, and instruction. Begin with the locally-written curriculum. Check the alignment of the curriculum to the state standards; particularly the standard that students performed poorly on. Ask yourself or your PLC these questions: Does the local curriculum require the same skills and knowledge as those in the state standards? Is the “essence” of the standard the same when it was …Read More
End-of-the-Year Checklists
Here it is! The end of the school year is looming large on the horizon ahead of us. The push is accelerating to make sure tasks and documents are complete before teachers leave for the summer, and that everything is arranged so that planning and organizing can occur for the next school year.Read More
Grade-to-Grade Sequencing of Curriculum
Most of today’s standards either incorporate sequencing in their content, or attempt to do so. A number of organizations provide guidance in helping teachers interpret and converse about sequencing, or what is now often referred to as instructional coherence. Read More
How Can School Officials Respond to Critics of the CCSS?
Many school district educators are now asked challenging questions about the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Much political debate centers on whether the CCSS should be supported or discarded. Perhaps some of the debate is due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what the CCSS actually are. One school district representative recently asked, “What do we say to folks who challenge what we are doing because they don’t like the CCSS?” Here are some suggestions.Read More