Group items tagged

"The term curriculum refers to the lessons and academic content taught in a school or in a specific course or program. In dictionaries, curriculum is often defined as the courses offered by a school, but it is rarely used in such a general sense in schools. Depending on how broadly educators define or employ the term, curriculum typically refers to the knowledge and skills students are expected to learn, which includes the learning standards or learning objectives they are expected to meet; the units and lessons that teachers teach; the assignments and projects given to students; the books, materials, videos, presentations, and readings used in a course; and the tests, assessments, and other methods used to evaluate student learning. An individual teacher's curriculum, for example, would be the specific learning standards, , lessons, assignments, and materials used to organize and teach a particular course."

"Stephen Covey explains that humans need to clarify and understand their priorities. "Schooling at its best reflects a purposeful arrangement of parts and details, organized with deliberate intention, for achieving the kinds of learning we seek" (Wiggins and McTighe, 2007, p. 9). In a video presentation titled Big Rocks, available at http://The8thHabit.com/offers - You will need to create a username and password in order to view this free video clip. Covey says "Put the Big Rocks First." If you fill your bowl [think curriculum map] with pebbles first, and then you have a major crisis such as a snow day, a pep rally, or an interruption to teaching and learning, what are you going to do? "

"Today's teachers and students are savvy. Savvy about new teaching methods and new ways of learning. And thanks to a program called curriculum mapping, teachers can get on the Internet and check out shared curriculums at other schools in their district or diocese."

This article is a great example of bridging curriculum design and curriculum practice. While this learning environment's curriculum learning expectations (design) is discipline-specific, a collaborative teacher team--through hard work and collegial dialogue and decision-making--create interdisciplinary units that integrate relational discipline-specific learning via universal theme [conceptual lens]-based units of study (practice).

Basic definitions for some common mapping terminology