Transcript Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment Chapter 3 • What is curriculum? Planned learning opportunities for students.

Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment
Chapter 3
• What is curriculum? Planned learning
opportunities for students. Goal – Improvement in student performance with emphasis on
equity and superior teaching & learning.
• It is adopted by the state (learning standards)
and the district (goals). It’s our bible!
• It is composed of content: skills, knowledge, &
concepts we expect students to learn & apply.
• What is instruction? An outline of
procedures/methods to be taught & learned
• Sometimes called Methods or strategies to be
completed in activities, products, performances,
etc.
• Tools including textbooks, workbooks, audio
visual items, guest speakers, etc. assist instruction
• Lesson plans might call for use of word walls,
large & small group instruction, cooperative
groups, literature circles, teacher modeling, guided
reading, retelling, book reports, etc.
• What is Assessment? Appraisal of student
work as compared to a stated goal or rubric
showing some degree of mastery &
application.
• Assessment can take numerous forms
including testing, projects, observations,
discussion, presentations, etc.
• What are Instructional Resources?
Materials, places, or people who can add
depth to instruction.
• Examples might include community
resources, guest speakers, field trips,
computer word processing, dictionaries,
visual aids, assemblies, local contests,
internet, demonstrations, reference books,
etc.
NMSA BELIEFS
Middle school curriculum, instruction, &
assessment should…
1. Relate to the lives of students
2. Integrate knowledge
3. Focus on the process of learning
4. Be delivered in an environment in which
exploration is pervasive, is activity based, and
students can learn from failure.
Curriculum Development
• Content or academic standards must spell out what
students should know and do. LEP students should
be held to the same standards.
• 1. Which learning standards are to be mastered?
• 2. Develop a curriculum based on those standards
• 3. Decide which assessment methods to use.
• 4. Decide which instructional methods will be
used to prepare students for learning & applying.
• 5. Decide on instructional resources that are
applicable and available.
• Concepts and generalizations are the foundation for
any unit and should be contained in the standards.
• Concepts are single words or phrases that serve for a
category or class of things with shared attributes.
• Generalizations (principals) are rules that govern how
concepts function.
Concepts
Generalizations
change
change is inevitable
power
may be used or abused
patterns
allow for predictions
order
comes out of chaos
Prioritize. Complete the standards that are most critical,
first. Less important standards, further down the line.
We need quality, not quantity in covering material!
WWW.achieve.org – clearinghouse for standards
Curriculum based on standards
• Why are we doing this? What is it’s value? What
will I be able to do with this? Why is this
important to me either now or in the future?
• 1. The curriculum should be organized around
important concepts and questions.
• 2. It should reflect the interests & needs of
middle school students.
• 3. Work should be oriented toward the
assessments, the tasks students will undertake to
demonstrate their knowledge and skills.
Questions
• Develop good questions tied to concepts before
you begin a unit or lesson. Good questions will
drive a lesson if they relate to the world outside
the school and connect to the students’ lives.
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Example: Is terrorism wrong?
Do revolutionaries differ from terrorists?
Do they differ from criminals?
Were our country’s founders terrorists?
Curriculum Designs
• Integrated Curriculum – Each teacher on a team
ranks the standards in their core subject area.
Comparisons are made to discover overlaps in the
concepts, questions, and skills. They join
commonalities and develop an integrated
approach.
• Multidisciplinary approach – Units are developed
across several disciplines with a common topic or
theme (oceans, dinosaurs, weather, rainforests)
Be careful here – you may be choosing a fun
topic, but not connecting to a standard or concept.
Assessment Methods
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Informal checks for understanding
Traditional quizzes & tests
Interviews, questionnaires, & conferences
Performance tasks & projects
Authentic or alternative assessments allow students to apply
information learned and skills gained to solve realistic
problems. (videos, skits, surveys, posters, timelines, debates,
models, portfolios, projects, etc.)
Rubrics outline a set of criteria, on a 4 or 6 point scale, with
performance descriptors that define the range of performance
on an authentic assessment task.
Portfolios contain a selection of a student’s work designed to
demonstrate progress toward a goal.