CURRICULUM

Curriculum: Planning & Delivery Curriculum is the content and related skills that we teach in every subject area. Curriculum is what teachers teach and students learn. But the kind and quality of the planning and delivery of curriculum are critical to the depth of understanding of the learning.

Are you the textbook planner, primarily utilizing the resources and instructional activities suggested by the textbook? Are you an activity director, planning engaging activities to keep our students interested? Do you plan day by day or the entire unit? Do you make up the test before or after you've taught the unit? Do you write learning goals? Do you have Essential Questions to focus the learning and deepen the understanding? Do you plan a variety of assessments, including performance tasks, throughout the unit? Do you plan activities that will lead to achieving the learning goals? Have you included opportunities for processing, reflection and revision? Have you planned for student learning needs, including pathways for those who struggle and those who excel?
 * What kind of curriculum planner are you? **

Backwards design is not new, but it was formalized from an educational standpoint by the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in their book, //Understanding by Design//. The following video explains the concept of backwards design and the implications it has regarding teaching and learning.
 * Backwards Design - Forward Delivery **

media type="custom" key="22513414"

Planning for and implementing the Common Core Standards would be enhanced by utilizing the backwards design philosophy which is the basis for the Understanding by Design framework.The planning process sets up the instruction to maximize the learning. By identifying learning goals, big ideas, and essential questions at the beginning of the planning process, the instruction becomes focused on the desired outcomes. In addition, the big ideas and essential questions require that the instruction and the learning take place at a deeper level, resulting in understanding that can be transferred to situations outside the lesson or unit. Inquiry is encouraged so that students uncover their own understanding rather than have the information delivered to them by the teacher.

Consider what backwards design look like in a non-classroom setting.
 * What is the process we use when deciding to build a house?
 * We begin by asking questions - How much space do we need? How much can we spend? When does it need to be completed? What functions must be included?
 * Then we design the floor plan and what the house will look like (the end result).
 * Then we determine how it will be built, who will build it, and how we will know when it is finished the way we wanted it.


 * Understanding By Design Points of Emphasis: **
 * Backwards is best
 * Uncoverage vs Coverage
 * Understanding in various forms: meaningful inferences, transferability, evidence of understanding
 * Identifying and Understanding Misunderstanding
 * Unpacking standards
 * Big Ideas
 * 6 Facets of Understanding
 * Essential Questions
 * Overarching and Topical Understandings
 * The development, planning, and use of assessments (including performance tasks)
 * WHERETO Elements of Instructional Planning

** Read Wiggins & McTighe's article about the Big 5 as it relates to using the UbD process for examining and implementing Common Core (in Kansas = Kansas College and Career Ready Standards).
 * Understanding by Design and the Common Core


 * RESOURCES: ** To provide additional information on the UbD philosophy and process.

- Article by Wiggins & McTighe to provide an overview of the UbD process.

- Graphic Organizer to explain and delineate the UbD process developed by Grant Wiggins.

- How to guide for Essential Questions developed by Onhand Schools