Standard 9: Curriculum Design

        Standard 9 states teacher leaders evaluate and use effective curriculum design. To accomplish this learning goal, I took the course Curriculum Design in the the summer of 2018.  From this course I learned how to properly design a unit of instruction within a music context. One interesting aspect is that this course was taken simultaneously as I completed my Kodaly certification (a specific pedagogical style of music education).  Both my Kodaly course and the Curriculum Design course focused around planning large music units. 

        Prior to the Curriculum Design course I had two main thoughts.  First, I knew I had a lack of comprehensive unit planning, specifically in the middle school area.  My training and coursework thus far in my career did not prepare me for middle school general music, something that is highly uncommon. I have been designing the curriculums in a “trial by fire” method and relying on student feedback to implement necessary changes.  Second, I reflected on my assessment methods and realized I rely too heavily on a couple of assessments modalities.  My methods are not diverse enough to ensure all students have an opportunity to display their learning in a manner that suits them.

Reflection:

Through completion of EDU 6524, I have gained new perspective on curriculum design.  The three big takeaways are as follows:

1.     Effective teaching ensures standards are taught and assessed

2.     Quality curriculum design utilizes organizing centers focused on concepts and not topics

3.     Effective teaching employs a multitude of assessment modalities

1. Effective teaching ensures standards are taught and assessed.

Standards should be viewed in three ways: addressed, taught, and taught and assessed (Lalor, 2016). Each viewpoint has its own benefits and one is not superior to another.  However, effective teaching ensures by the end of the unit, trimester, and year, standards have been taught and assessed. Much to often standards are simply written on the board, lesson plan, or verbally mentioned to students. What evidence can teachers provide to show each standard has been taught and assessed? By placing emphasis on teaching and assessing standards we are prioritizing the standard, developing learning targets, communicating those learning targets, and developing appropriate learning activities (Lalor, 2016).

2. Quality curriculum design utilizes organizing centers to focus on concepts, not topics.

In pushing students to a deeper level of understanding teachers must focus on instructing concepts, not topics as the latter merely requires students to memorize and regurgitate information. Through organizing centers, a central idea in which a unit is centered around (Lalor, 2016), teachers can develop and instruct thought provoking units. The use of organizing centers is important as the material can be explored from many angles, thus engaging the students.  The material is meaningful because the end product (the concept taught) is focused on something bigger than the students (Lalor, 2016).

3. Effective teaching employs a multitude of assessment modalities.

Teachers must diligently and purposefully asses their students on the curriculum instructed.  In properly measuring student success, a wide range of assessment strategies must be employed.  This ensures two things: 1) Multiple assessment modalities provide more information regarding what the students know and are able to do, and under what conditions (Lalor, 2016). 2) Multiple assessment modalities allow more opportunities for student success as instruction is differentiated to all learning styles.

         On a similar note, educators must ensure all standards are assessed throughout the year.  As stated by Rebecca Alber (2014), certain standards can be focused on too much, not giving enough attention to the others.This task is surprisingly difficult in specialist classes when the curriculum is typically weighted to one or two standards.

Lastly, it is important to assess the actual skill you are trying to assess.  It sounds trivial, but more often than not I realize there's some other variable interacting with the skill i’m trying to assess in the students.  As stated by Jnell Bjorklund (N.D.), respected Kodaly educator, “Target the actual skill or knowledge you want to assess.” Sounds simple, but is actually quite tricky to accomplish.

Future Teaching Implementation:

          These three takeaways impact my teaching as I will focus on ensuring standards are taught and assessed, expanding my view from topic to concept, and employing a multitude of assessment strategies to ensure opportunities for student success.  All three ideas provide clarity and intention in my practice.  These ideas also provide students with more opportunities to display their understanding and demonstrate confidence in what they know.  Lastly, these ideas provide for a student-centered classroom as learners are given more freedom to discover and demonstrate learning.  With my new understanding of effective curriculum design I will reevaluate my current curriculums utilizing the same ideas presented in the Lalor readings.  Each unit, particularly at the middle school level, will use an organizing center to ensure the areas of focus are concept focused with room for students to discover their own learning.  As mentioned by Mariko Nobori (2011) in the article “5 Strategies to Ensure Students Learning”, a school in Arizona encourages teacher to focus on one or two standards a week and thoroughly assess those standards at the end of the week.  I might experiment with this type of compartmentalization when spreading the standards out throughout the year.

In my current state, this course deeply affected my ability to plan, specifically the middle school curriculum.  As I mentioned before the units should focus on concepts and not topics.  This Spring, the sixth grade music class is focusing on the concept of inferences, through the vehicle of world music.  I’m finding the students are more engaged in the learning process as it is clear what skill we are building.  Students are grasping why this class is important, because they see the tool we are developing so clearly.

A deep understanding and effective application of learning from this course standard are paramount for teacher leaders.  Quality curriculum design is the roadmap to student learning. As stated by Priya Gard (2018), “Curriculum should be defined by the outcomes you want your students to obtain”.  These outcomes are the desired destinations of the roadmap.  If units of study are designed properly, with care and thought, the students will engage more, take ownership, and ultimately have a better experience in the classroom.   

Link to relevant coursework:

Curriculum Design Coursework

 

My curriculum map for 4th grade

Sources:

Alber, R. (2014). Teaching students not standards. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-students-not-standards-rebecca-alber

Bjorklund, J. (N.D.). Assessment in the primary grades. Retrieved from http://depaulkodaly.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/4/5/14455574/assessment_in_primary_grades_cake_2015.pdf

Garg, P. (2018) Curriculum design [PowerPoint slides]. Retreived from http://www.bumc.bu.edu/bumg/files/2015/07/Curriculum-Design-_Garg_5_24_18.pdf

Lalor, A. (2016). Ensuring high-quality curriculum: How to design, revise, or adopt curriculum     aligned to student success. Alexandria, Virginia: ASCD.

Nobori, M. (2011). 5 strategies to ensure student learning. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-budget-assessment-how-to