Prioritizing and Mappingthe Curriculum with the

Learning-Focused Toolbox

A Process for Developing Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

LEARNING-FOCUSED SOLUTIONS

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.

Curriculum

What is it?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.Curriculum is NOTNOT

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!

What isn’t it?

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.

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 & understanding rather than emphasizing “coverage”!

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.”

Guaranteed Curriculum

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

Viable Curriculum

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

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.

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.

Exemplary Practices in High Achievement,High AccountabilityDistricts andSchools

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 Planning & Individual-- Linked to Staff Development

Curriculum-- Prioritized Curriculum-- K-12 Benchmarks/Maps-- Unit Content 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

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 / GLEs Assessments Teacher experience

Prioritizing

Not all content is equal! Standards contain a range of

performance objectives (benchmarks & GLEs).

Some performance objectives are more important than others in helping students succeed!

How did we do it? STEP 1

Teachers prioritized the benchmarks & GLEs into Essential, Important and Compact categories

Essential vs Important vs. CompactEssential = 50% of the Content &

requires 70% of the Instructional TimeImportant = 30% of the Content &

requires 25% of the Instructional TimeCompact = 20% of the Content &

requires 5% of the Instructional Time

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.

Prioritizing in Toolbox

Vertical Teaming

After grade level teams and course teams prioritized their GLEs or benchmarks, they met in vertical teams

Here they reviewed & discussed their rationale for how they prioritized each GLE or benchmark

They looked for redundancies and gaps before returning to their teams to make revisions

STEP 2:

Teachers clustered those benchmarks & GLEs in the three categories into topics that will be used to guide your instruction.

Then they identified the concepts that are contained in each topic

For every topic, they created a Content Map including all the necessary elements

Mapping in Toolbox

Creating Content Map in Toolbox

Printed or publishedversion of the Content Map

Key Learning (Enduring Understanding):

Unit Essential Question(s):

Instructional Tools:

Concept: Concept: Concept:

Lesson EssentialQuestions (LEQs):

Vocabulary:Vocabulary: Vocabulary:

Topic: Course:

Lesson EssentialQuestions (LEQs):

Lesson EssentialQuestions (LEQs):

Assessment(s):

Content 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 & support unit EQ(s).

Lesson Essential Questions: Frame the study of the topic & 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.

English Literature: 11th Grade

Key Learnings: To define and understand the elements and characteristics of Shakespearean tragedy. Explore the tragic heroes in the Shakespearean tragedies and identify the flaws, events, and influences that led to the tragedy of each hero.

Unit Essential Questions: Why a tragedy?What are the characteristics of a Shakespearean tragedy?

Concept: Character Analysis

LEQ(s):1. Why do we call them tragic heroes?2. What are the common characteristics of William Shakespeare’s tragic heroes?

LEQ(s):1. What are the literary elements of a Shakespearean play? 2. How do these elements work together to develop a tragedy?

Concept: Drama Characteristics Concept: Literary Analysis

LEQ(s):1. How do Shakespearean drama characteristics enhance the portrayal of the tragic hero?

Vocabulary:MonologueSoliloquyAsideFoilCatastropheStaging

Vocabulary: ProtagonistIntellectualVirtuousAvengingFlawedAntagonist

Vocabulary:SettingCharacterizationThemePlot/ConflictImageryDramatic Irony

Instructional Tools:Plays: Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Macbeth Concepts of Shakespeareancharacterization, drama, & tragedies

Compare / Contrast Essay Persuasive Essay

8th Grade Social Studies: The Lewis and Clark Expedition Instructional Tools:

Key Learning(s): Exploration is motivated by political, economic, scientific, & social factors. Individuals and theirvalues 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:

Vocabulary:

Students will be able to:

• Primary Sources• Time Line• Persuasive Writing Graphic• Persuasive Writing Rubric• Word Splash

Lesson Essential Questions:

Vocabulary:

Lesson Essential Questions:

Vocabulary:

MotivationThe Corps of

DiscoverySignificance Processes

Why did you send them, Thomas Jefferson?

How can you support Jefferson’sdecision?

Who were they andwhy were they chosen?

What were the contributions of the expedition?

How can we find patternsin historical events?

How is the Lewis and ClarkExpedition like other events in history?

ConstructingSupport

Abstracting

• Expedition• Louisiana Purchase• Northwest Passage• economic• political

• corps• adventurous• leadership• teamwork• perseverance

• accomplishment• impact• significance

Sample Content Map3rd 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 lotsbudgetingfinding areashoppingIndustry

Vocabulary:arraysrepeatedproduct digitvalue

Vocabulary:factorsproductreversinglattice methodpatternserrors

Instructional Tools:Graph Paper

Multiplication ChartsCalculator

Real Life Problems(finding area)

Sequence Chart of Steps

Writing Process (1st. Grade)

Key Learning: Good writing enables us to “talk to” people.

Essential Question: How can I become a good writer?

Instructional Tools: Story Element Graphic Organizer

Daily Journal Entries Word Maps &

Categorized Word Walls Writing Samples Writing Process Check List

Sequence Maps/Story Boards

Writing Process Simple Story Writing Genres

LEQ(s): (1) Where do ideas for writing come from? (2) How can a ‘writing map’ help me plan before I write? (3) How do I make sure what I write says what I mean/?

Vocabulary: editing writing process fix-up sloppy copy story map publishing CUPS

LEQ(s):

(1) What would a good story look like?

(2) What would happen if my story didn’t have a beginning or was missing an ending?

Vocabulary: sentences characters illustration captions ending first beginning middle end finally setting story elements problem

LEQ(s):

(1) How does the purpose affect the way I write?

Vocabulary: poems journal writing lists information rhyming entertain story question/answer

CONTENT MAPS: Why are they so important?

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

Step 3: Course Map

Teachers estimated 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

Revisions are expected to be made to the content maps and to the course maps as teachers experience them.

Pacing and Prioritizing Time

Clicking on the Topicin the timeline opensthe Content Map forthe unit.

Revise the priorities and edit the Content Maps as needed – based on current assessment data and experience.

Step 4: A Work In Progress

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

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

How do you use your ‘Content Maps’?

The ‘Content Maps’ are not meant to create more work for teachers but to act as guides as they plan instruction!

In grade level/course teams, preview the maps and discuss what content you are already addressing in your instructional program

At this point, you can assess what needs to be add or delete from your current program to assure student success