Has your school had an AEA or district rep lead a session on the Iowa Core Curriculum? If so, how was it received by your staff?

My name is Matt Townsley, brother-in-law of Russ Goerend. I will be starting my sixth year teaching high school math in Solon, Iowa this fall. I have a BA in Math Education from Wartburg College and in May I finished an M.Ed. in curriculum and instructional technology at Iowa State.

I first heard about ICC at the Iowa Model High School Summit several years ago when it was called the "Iowa High School Model Core Curriculum" or something along those lines. I recall it being primarily content/standards-driven and I have to admit that I wasn't very excited. I never liked the "mile wide and an inch deep" approach to math content, but I wasn't ready to succumb to state set of "core" state standards yet either. As many of you know, it has now evolved into a statewide initiative that encompasses more than high schools and more than just content or process standards. I am probably most excited about the Essential Characteristics aspect of ICC...

"A world-class mathematics curriculum should be built around and focused on:

* Teaching for Understanding
* Problem-Based Instructional Tasks
* Distributed Practice that is Meaningful and Purposeful
* Mathematical Modeling (secondary school emphasis)
* Deep Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge
* Rigor and Relevance
* Effective Use of Technology
* Connected and Coherent Content"
(from http://www.corecurriculum.iowa.gov/Discipline.aspx?C=Mathematics&D=Essential+Characteristics)

...because as I summarized it to Russ one day, "ICC is a framework for what all good teachers should be doing in their classrooms." It's no longer districts in isolation deciding to "create more rigor" or begin the quest towards "teaching for understanding." It is now a package deal that will be rolled out over several years. While acknowledging that that we, in public education, are always a part of the continual improvement cycle, I feel like ICC is here for the long haul and has the potential to help educators across Iowa improve teaching and learning. The students in schools across Iowa are in for a real treat as we all better understand and implement the Iowa Core Curriculum.

This is a place to share what your district is currently doing to learn more about (and eventually implement) the Iowa Core Curriculum. What module(s) have you been through? What are your colleagues saying?

Great to have you as a part of the group, Jen! Your observation of educators' uncertainty about ICC seems to make sense. Will it be yet another initiative or will it be something that is sustained over the course of many years to come? My hope is for the latter. I also wonder what role the AEAs will play in training teachers/districts. At my district, the plan of attack is to train leadership teams at each building first to pilot the effectiveness of the "module delivery" concept and then come up with a plan to diffuse this information out to the staff. Perhaps Evan, as an employee of an AEA, can elaborate further on these ideas.

Like you, Jen. I hope all of the DE's hard work yields positive results for the students of Iowa.


jenstover wrote:
> Matt Townsley wrote:
> > This is a place to share what your district is currently doing to learn more about (and eventually implement) the Iowa Core Curriculum. What module(s) have you been through? What are your colleagues saying?
>
> Matt, my name is Jen Stover. I am a newly added member of Maiers Educational Services (Angela Maiers). Just joined this discussion, very interested in what everyone is saying about implementation of the IA Core. I have been in a few districts around the state during the past few months. Reactions to the core by teachers are varied. I think some are unclear on what is coming. I get the impression that there are gaps in the understanding of how they will be trained in the new standards. When I look at the standards, I am very excited! I will say, however, I am worried about the delivery methods being used to train teachers. Will we lose the power of this amazing document? I understand the reason behind leaving it up to individual districts to train their staff, but just have some reservations. I am just a concerned teacher myself (and parent), excited about the changes we have coming. Want to see it done the best way possible.