Week SynthesisWhere have we been this week?

Week Synthesis:

A SummaryWe said we would learn new language and structures in order to…1.Work with colleagues to articulate a K-12 diocesan curriculum (curriculum development process)

2.Generate holistic Performance Assessments and Rubrics

3.Design units that support struggling students while challenging succeeding students

The Curriculum Development Process:

Prioritizing Standards

Catherine Storms—Diocese of Memphis 2008

- Team/Department Outcomes-Course Outcomes

-Unit Goals

- Lesson Plan Objectives

Curriculum Standards

Prioritized Standards

The Big Picture

• Teams of teachers formed by grade level and subject• K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12 + Science, Social Studies, Math etc.• Example: 3-5 Social Studies• Each team collaborates on curriculum, instruction & assessment

• Team/Department Outcomes articulate what students will be able to do at the broadest level—at the end of a sequence of courses or grades

• These Outcomes:• Incorporate standards that require more than one year to accomplish• Focus primarily on skills• Are the responsibility of the entire team

• 5-9 Outcomes for the team or department • Based on standards that

• Take more than a year to accomplish and require team coordination• Are critical for student success in subsequent grades or courses

• The stem “SWBAT” (students will be able to) • For each Outcome, one verb from Bloom’s Taxonomy• Verb must be:

• Active • Observable

• Constitute a “floor” not a “ceiling” of student achievement

The Big Picture

• Course Outcomes articulate what students will know and be able to do by the end of one specific subject or course

• These Outcomes:• Incorporate standards that require more than one unit to accomplish• Focus on content knowledge and skills• Span one subject and one year • Build on and do not repeat Team/Dept. & Course Outcomes from

previous grades • May contribute directly to relevant Team/Dept. Outcomes

• 5-9 Outcomes for each course/subject• Based on standards that

• Take more than 4-weeks to accomplish• Are critical for student success in subsequent grades or courses

• The stem “SWBAT” (students will be able to) • For each Outcome, one verb from Bloom’s Taxonomy• Verb must be:

• Active • Observable

• Constitute a “floor” not a “ceiling” of student achievement

The Big Picture

• Based on standards that typically require 2-4 weeks to accomplish

• Each is the basis for a Unit Goal that articulates the level of critical thinking students will engage with the Unit Concept

• “Chunk” information in useful ways

• Identify the core concepts for a subject/course that will lead to “enduring understandings”

• Sequenced in order to form a “story” or course narrative

• Opening Unit ought to be engaging

• 8-10 Unit Concepts for each course/subject• Elementary subjects with less academic time (e.g., science, social

studies) or electives may only have 4-6 for the year

• Not in SWBAT form• Our Basic Needs (1st Grade Science) • Systems of Linear Equations (HS Algebra)

• May be phrased in terms of an essential question• The American Revolution: What were the reasons for and against

the colonists revolt from England? (7th Grade Soc. Stud.)

• Sequenced in order to form a course narrative

The Big Picture

• Unit Goals articulate what all students will know and be able to do at the end of a 2-4 week unit• They do so by stating the level of critical thinking, or the level at which

students will engage with the Unit Concept

• Unit Goals:• Incorporate standards that require 2-4 weeks to accomplish• Focus on content and skills• Will be assessed independently and individually on new material

• 8-10 (or 4-6) Unit Goals—one for each Unit Concept• The stem “SWBAT” (students will be able to) • Each uses one verb from Bloom’s Taxonomy• Verb must be:

• Active • Observable • Challenging & Developmentally Appropriate

• Constitute a “floor” not a “ceiling” of student achievement

Performance Assessments:

A Summary• Provide a culminating Unit assessment in which students

demonstrate Unit Goal critical-thinking and Unit Concept attainment through performance of a task

• Projects and presentations are performance assessments only if:• They allow students to demonstrate achievement of the Unit Goal• The performance at the level of the Unit Goal is attempted independently

and individually (I&I) and on previously unseen material (students in 3rd grade and beyond)

• Younger students and ELLs may benefit from scaffolds and graphic organizers

• Good performance assessments often allow students to make decisions about the content.

• A logical progression of lesson plan objectives facilitates organized, meaningful learning

• 2-4 day lesson plans “chunk” concepts together, which helps students remember new knowledge and connect it to prior knowledge

• Multiple, diverse and uniquely placed assessments support struggling students while challenging succeeding students

• Based on the ideas of Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins (Understanding by Design) coupled with those of Robert J. Marzano (A Different Kind of Classroom).

The Big Picture

Unit Structure:

5 Phases• 3-5 Acquiring & Integrating LPs that focus without distraction on building

toward the Unit Goal.• A Traditional Test that identifies at what level each student has engaged

independently & individually (I&I) the Unit Goal.• 1-3 Extending & Refining LPs that challenge students to integrate the Unit

Concept into the Course Narrative in sophisticated ways, while providing struggling students more I&I opportunities to demonstrate unsophisticated achievement of the Unit Goal

• 1 Using Knowledge Meaningfully LP that uses the Unit Concept in an academic or real-world situation

• A Performance Assessment, which may or may not derive from the Using Knowledge Meaningfully LP, that assesses the Unit Goal achievement level by each student (I&I) in an academic or real-world situation.