The course, Curriculum Design, addresses Teacher Leadership Standard 9: evaluate and use effective curriculum design. The goal for this course was to develop a cohesive unit plan by using backwards design with a consideration for how current teaching and learning practices may need to change in order to best meet the needs of our 21st century learners.
To help in achieving this goal, we were provided with two texts. The first was Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay Mctighe which helped me to successfully build a unit plan that is tightly aligned with the Common Core State Standards for reading informational texts. The second was Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs which provided me with curricular philosophies, history, and the theoretical aspect of curriculum. I enjoyed reading from both texts as they helped to illuminate several important ideas that ultimately influenced my work in this course and will continue to influence my work moving forward.
I began this course knowing that I wanted to develop a reading unit. My reason for this was because of the reading curriculum my District recently adopted and the introduction of the Common Core State Standards for literacy and math. After my first year with both a new curriculum and new reading standards, I was left feeling frustrated and confused. My personal hope was that through this course, I could get a better grasp of the reading standards and figure out how to implement the new reading curriculum in a way that is engaging and meaningful to my students. My Curriculum Analysis helps to communicate my initial thinking and understanding regarding the CCSS for reading and my District’s curriculum, Wonders.
Wiggins and Mctighe encourage teachers to start with “the end in mind” when it comes to designing unit plans. The authors present three stages of backwards design: identify desired results, determine acceptable evidence, and plan learning experiences and instruction (Wiggins & Mctighe, 17-18). I think it is most teachers’ instinct, when sitting down to plan a unit, to dive right into outlining the lessons and activities. Perhaps this is because that is where a lot of the fun is – in designing of the day-to-day lessons and activities the teacher and student will engage. But, by using a backwards design approach, one will find “greater coherence among desired results, key performances, and teaching and learning experiences, resulting in better student performance (Wiggins & Mctighe, 33).” Although I have yet to teach my reading unit, I feel very confident that by approaching my unit plan with the end in mind, I will see an increase in student engagement and performance.
To start my journey in planning a unit, I began by examining the Common Core State Standards I wanted to address in my informational reading unit. By starting with the state standards, it allowed me to determine the essential questions and specific learning targets I wanted to address in my unit that would align with the CCSS. Along with this step, and to get a better sense of the “big picture”, I created a Curriculum Map to serve as a blueprint for where I might head in my unit planning.
After the development of the curriculum map, I was then able to focus on the assessments, both summative and formative. Before considering the daily lessons and activities my students and I would engage in, I had to consider how I would capture evidence of student progress towards the standards. Therefore, I began with the development of my summative assessment. I took the CCSS and my student-friendly learning targets based on those standards to develop my assessment questions. By knowing at the start what standards and learning targets I wanted my students to master, it became easier to create a more balanced summative assessment. Once set with my end-of-unit assessment, I then moved on to consider ways to formatively assess my students to ensure success by the end of the unit. Again, the standards and my student-friendly learning targets drove the decisions I made for how I would formatively assess my students. In my unit, students will be provided checks for understanding through exit slips, journal entries, small group and one-on-one conferences as well as tracking their own learning by completing a learning target tracking sheet daily and through weekly self-assessments. After completing the first two stages in the backwards design process, I began to develop my learning progression – the instruction and activities my students and I would engage in during the unit. By beginning with the end in mind, I was provided with clarity and understanding about what I wanted to achieve and how I could get there with my students. This is reflected in my Unit Plan for Informational Reading and my Daily Lesson Plans.
To help make my unit relevant and meaningful to my students, Heidi Hayes Jacobs’ book provided me with wonderful insight into the need for making adjustments to my teaching and learning environment and suggestions for how those changes may occur.
In chapter 1, she considers whether students today feel like they are stepping back in time when they step into the classroom. She writes, “as educators, our challenge is to match the needs of our learners to a world that is changing with great rapidity (Jacobs, 7).” She believes, and I whole-heartedly agree, “we need to become strategic learners ourselves by deliberately expanding our perspectives and updating our approaches (Jacobs, 7).” This idea remained at the forefront of my mind as I worked to develop my daily lesson plans in my reading unit. And, as stated by Dr. Tyson in chapter 7, I want to “make learning irresistible (Jacobs, 121).”
The idea of comfort presented itself while I read Curriculum 21. People like what is known, they like to feel comfortable. But, as we learned in one of our Engaging Communities seminars last quarter, progress can only be made if we allow ourselves to get uncomfortable. Change, no doubt, can be extremely scary but it is completely necessary if we are to make any progress in education. Although I am not intimidated by the use of more technologically advanced teaching methods, I certainly fall into the habit of teaching in ways that are familiar and comfortable to me.
Jacobs’ presented the idea that teachers need to be intentional about providing students with opportunities to learn through the use of technology as well as develop a greater sense of media literacy.
So, while developing my unit, I tried to incorporate ideas inspired by Jacobs’ book in order to push myself outside my own comfort zone. First, I plan to use the Haiku online discussion feature as a way to get my students connected online, outside of school, making homework more meaningful and connected to what we’re learning in the classroom. Second, since my reading unit is focused on key ideas and details for informational texts, I plan to supplement the reading Wonders curriculum with articles from National Geographic Explorer magazine. The NGE website has an abundance of media resources including short videos, interactive games, etc. that get students engaged in less traditional ways. Lastly, I plan to have students watch an infomercial, analyzing it for ways it makes buying an item appealing, and then use that knowledge to create student-created infomercials that “sell” others on the idea of how to achieve success in mastering the learning targets for the unit.
Prior to taking this course, I would say I felt capable in developing a unit plan. I have designed units before and have found students to be successful in achieving the unit goals. However, this course has truly opened my eyes to many important aspects of curriculum design that I perhaps have not considered as deeply. I am far better equipped to develop strong unit plans after taking this course. I now have a greater understanding and appreciation for curriculum design. Ultimately who will benefit from this new learning are my students, as they will be provided the opportunity to engage in more thoughtfully designed units that start with the end in mind and address the needs of students in this 21st century.
References:
Arneson, L., Dredske, J., Hunt, C., & O’Leary, E. (2012, July 5). Gradual Release of Responsibility. Retrieved April 26, 2015, from http://commoncorestatestandards.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/55136589/CESA
English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Literature » Grade 5. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2015, from http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RL/5/
Wees, D. 56 Different Examples of Formative Assessment. New Visions for Public Schools. http://www.commoncorehistorysocialstudies6to8.com/uploads/1/3/5/2/1352457/56_examples_of_formative_assessment.pdf
Jacobs, H. H. (2010). Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World. Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.
Reading Wonders | Reading Wonders. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2015, from http://mhreadingwonders.com/reading-wonders/
Stiggins, R., Arter, J., Chappuis, J., and Steve C. (2012). Classroom Assessment for Student Learning: Doing it Right – Using it Well (2nd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ.: Pearson Education, Inc.
Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
Adventures in Teacher Leadership 