Designing Effective Curriculum
Standard 9:
Evaluate and use effective curriculum design.
Standard Aligned Courses:
EDU6524- Curriculum Design
Reflection:
Curriculum design taught me the true importance of unit planning. In my undergraduate teaching program, we planned units, but it was never clear why we should plan that far in advance. It seemed that I would plan out a unit and then I would have to change the entire unit once students started working through it. What this course made me realize was, I was planning out my units incorrectly. I was not taking into consideration remediation and extension while planning it, I was not planning out the meaningful activities ahead of time, and I was not laying out the I do, You do, We do for each lesson. Since I was not doing these things, when the time came in a lesson where I should be implementing one of them, I had to make a snap decision of what I should do. Not all of these decisions ended up being in the best interest of my students. I now know that, "instructional planning begins with focused attention on creating a productive environment for learning" (Dean & Marzano, 2013, p.153).
While both of the assigned texts for this class, Visible Learning for Teachers, by John Hattie and The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe were incredibly helpful texts, the text that gave me the most new information was the Wiggins and McTighe book. Wiggins and McTighe said, “the most successful teaching begins, therefore, with clarity about desired learning outcomes and about the evidence that will show that learning has occurred” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011, p. 7). This statement makes complete sense to me. It is something that should be thought about by all teachers. However, I do not believe that all teachers know to think this way. Another aspect of the Understanding by Design book that stood out to me was where they said, “Essential questions are ongoing and guiding queries by which we make clear to the students that true learning is about digging deeper; it is active, not passive” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011, p. 15). So often students and teachers think learning should just happen. If I do this, then this will happen. This is not the case with education. If you are truly trying to educate students then it needs to be an active and engaging space. Another piece of the Wiggins & McTighe book that has stayed with me is the six facets of understanding. On page 93 they explain that the six facets of understanding are when students:
Designing the Unit Plan helped me understand the importance of mapping out a unit before teaching it. Before this class, I was the teacher Wiliam's was talking about when he said, " In many classrooms, the process of eliciting such evidence is done mainly on the fly -- teachers almost always plan the instructional activities in which they will engage their students, but they rarely plan in detail how they are going to find out where the students are in their learning" (Wiliam, 2011, p.71). Having thought through the unit, I was more confident in my ability to teach the content well since I had already thought of ways to help students who do not understand the content on my initial teaching of it. This year, teaching this unit, my students were more successful than any other group I have taught. The unit plan forced me to think about aspects of my teaching that I too often neglect. Hattie says, "there are four critical parts in planning that we need to consider up front: the levels of performance of the students at the start (prior achievement), the desired levels at the end of a series of lessons (or term, or year) (targeted learning), and the rate of progress from the start to the end of the series of lessons (progression). The fourth component is teacher collaboration and critique in planning" (Hattie, 2012, p. 41). This project made me think through the pre-assessments I give my students. Pre-assessments has been a frequently overlooked thing in many of the trainings, classes, and professional development. Having to truly think about the ways I could pre-assess my students to be able to know what knowledge they already have was one my goals for this coming school year because of this course. While I did a better job of creating pre-assessments, my ability to pre-assess students to gain actual knowledge still needs to be refined. The other part of this unit plan that I incorporated into my goals for the year was to think about the differentiation steps before I taught the lesson. In the past, I have come up with something on the spot. If I had the differentiation activities ready for each lesson it would be significantly easier for both the students and myself.
Another aspect of this class that has shaped the way I look at a curriculum was the Curriculum Analysis we completed as a part of this class. I looked at the calculus book my school uses. During the summer, I was able to attend AP training. At this training I was presented to with many different curriculum options. The particular book my district uses for AP calculus is a college calculus book. It is not geared towards the AP test or high school students at all. This training and the curriculum analysis made me realize how much better our AP calculus curriculum could be. While I believe there is no perfect curriculum, the curriculum analysis showed me where the current curriculum we are using was lacking. This book is only about practicing the specific skills while the AP test asks students to apply their learning to specific situations. "Too often students begin each new task as if it were being approached for the very first time" (Costa & Kallick, 2010). From this analysis, I was able to add supplements this year in the spots where it was lacking. I looked at how to take a textbook with limited readability and present it in a way that students would be able to understand. Throughout this course, my knowledge of curriculum design and how to present material to students in a cohesive and coherent way were challenged. From this course, I was able to push my thinking throughout the school year when thinking about how to help students be the most successful they could be.
While both of the assigned texts for this class, Visible Learning for Teachers, by John Hattie and The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe were incredibly helpful texts, the text that gave me the most new information was the Wiggins and McTighe book. Wiggins and McTighe said, “the most successful teaching begins, therefore, with clarity about desired learning outcomes and about the evidence that will show that learning has occurred” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011, p. 7). This statement makes complete sense to me. It is something that should be thought about by all teachers. However, I do not believe that all teachers know to think this way. Another aspect of the Understanding by Design book that stood out to me was where they said, “Essential questions are ongoing and guiding queries by which we make clear to the students that true learning is about digging deeper; it is active, not passive” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2011, p. 15). So often students and teachers think learning should just happen. If I do this, then this will happen. This is not the case with education. If you are truly trying to educate students then it needs to be an active and engaging space. Another piece of the Wiggins & McTighe book that has stayed with me is the six facets of understanding. On page 93 they explain that the six facets of understanding are when students:
● Can explain
● Can interpret
● Can apply and adjust
● Have perspective
● Show empathy
● Have self-knowledge
As a teacher it is important to know and understand all six of these. When students can show these things that is when we know that they have mastered the understanding of whatever they are trying to learn.Designing the Unit Plan helped me understand the importance of mapping out a unit before teaching it. Before this class, I was the teacher Wiliam's was talking about when he said, " In many classrooms, the process of eliciting such evidence is done mainly on the fly -- teachers almost always plan the instructional activities in which they will engage their students, but they rarely plan in detail how they are going to find out where the students are in their learning" (Wiliam, 2011, p.71). Having thought through the unit, I was more confident in my ability to teach the content well since I had already thought of ways to help students who do not understand the content on my initial teaching of it. This year, teaching this unit, my students were more successful than any other group I have taught. The unit plan forced me to think about aspects of my teaching that I too often neglect. Hattie says, "there are four critical parts in planning that we need to consider up front: the levels of performance of the students at the start (prior achievement), the desired levels at the end of a series of lessons (or term, or year) (targeted learning), and the rate of progress from the start to the end of the series of lessons (progression). The fourth component is teacher collaboration and critique in planning" (Hattie, 2012, p. 41). This project made me think through the pre-assessments I give my students. Pre-assessments has been a frequently overlooked thing in many of the trainings, classes, and professional development. Having to truly think about the ways I could pre-assess my students to be able to know what knowledge they already have was one my goals for this coming school year because of this course. While I did a better job of creating pre-assessments, my ability to pre-assess students to gain actual knowledge still needs to be refined. The other part of this unit plan that I incorporated into my goals for the year was to think about the differentiation steps before I taught the lesson. In the past, I have come up with something on the spot. If I had the differentiation activities ready for each lesson it would be significantly easier for both the students and myself.
Another aspect of this class that has shaped the way I look at a curriculum was the Curriculum Analysis we completed as a part of this class. I looked at the calculus book my school uses. During the summer, I was able to attend AP training. At this training I was presented to with many different curriculum options. The particular book my district uses for AP calculus is a college calculus book. It is not geared towards the AP test or high school students at all. This training and the curriculum analysis made me realize how much better our AP calculus curriculum could be. While I believe there is no perfect curriculum, the curriculum analysis showed me where the current curriculum we are using was lacking. This book is only about practicing the specific skills while the AP test asks students to apply their learning to specific situations. "Too often students begin each new task as if it were being approached for the very first time" (Costa & Kallick, 2010). From this analysis, I was able to add supplements this year in the spots where it was lacking. I looked at how to take a textbook with limited readability and present it in a way that students would be able to understand. Throughout this course, my knowledge of curriculum design and how to present material to students in a cohesive and coherent way were challenged. From this course, I was able to push my thinking throughout the school year when thinking about how to help students be the most successful they could be.
Sources:
- Costa, A. L., & Kallick, B. (2010). DESCRIBING 16 HABITS OF MIND. Retrieved April 29, 2018, from http://www.ccsnh.edu/sites/default/files/content/documents/CCSNH MLC HABITS OF MIND COSTA-KALLICK DESCRIPTION 1-8-10.pdf
- Dean, C. B., & Marzano, R. J. (2013). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
- Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. London: Routledge.
- Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2011). The understanding by design guide to creating high-quality units. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
- Wiliam, D. (2013). Embedded formative assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
- Dean, C. B., & Marzano, R. J. (2013). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Boston, MA: Pearson Education.
- Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. London: Routledge.
- Wiggins, G. P., & McTighe, J. (2011). The understanding by design guide to creating high-quality units. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
- Wiliam, D. (2013). Embedded formative assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.
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