Curriculum Assignment

As students move from an elementary school setting to a middle school setting, ensuring a smooth transition is a collaborative effort involving teachers, parents, students and school administration. Often parents and students are nervous about the magnitude of this transition and easing those concerns can be handled by hosting a curriculum night. The purpose of Curriculum Night is to acquaint all students and parents with their teachers and administration as well as provide useful information concerning what the student will learn and the environment in which he/she will learn. The Curriculum Night addressed in this paper is specific Exceptional Education students in the 6th grade English Language Arts co-teaching

The purpose of the Comprehensive Curriculum Project (CCP) is to analyze the myriad of issues that have arisen over the last few years revolving around curricula and its use in the classroom, school, and district. With the 2010 state adoption of the Common Core, educators experienced many different transitional issues and developmental issues revolving around the curricula. In order to develop a deeper understanding of these issues it is important to conduct interviews, look at the Teacher Working Conditions survey, and to analyze local organizational models that might affect the transition to the new standards.

I teach in an eighth grade classroom that is set in a Jr-Sr. High school. It is located in the Jr. High hallway, near the rear of our high school. I have thirty-two student desks situated in rows and two small tables at the front of my room used for paper pick up. I painted my room a turquoise beach blue and it is decorated with various beach themed paraphernalia. I also have many inspirational quote posters up around my room, hoping to engage my students into deeper thinking. The students all have their own Chromebooks and I have a desktop computer as well as a Samsung Tablet. Many computer applications suited for 1:1 schools are used in our building. We begin our day at 7:40am with a zero period for professional development and meetings. The students have seven, forty-five minute periods beginning at 8:20am and continuing until 3:15pm. My classes include four “regular” English classes, one “Honors” class, an Essential Skills class that rotates every week with two other teachers, and a prep period. My duties throughout the year consist of sponsoring the Jr. High Student Council as well as parking lot duty for two weeks during second semester. We adhere closely to the Indiana State Standards and use the ISTEP and NWEA mandated assessments. We, as teachers, are given free rein to teach how we see fit; however, we were asked to submit curriculum mapping outlining the content/topics, key terms, sources/resources, assessments

In summary, this course has really educated my view of being a teacher as well as being able to interact with today’s diverse and fluctuating educational setting. Therefore, the discussions were very good ways in understanding how

After completing all these assignments in the course, I have came to the realization that I need to follow a career path that is both social and helpful and a major. So I decided to follow the major Health, Care and Society though the college of social and behavioral sciences. I believe this is probably the best fit because it has every aspect I was looking for in a major both social and the helpful side and I learned this from the Holland Code assessment. which made me realize that my likings didn’t really reflect my major until I made the change. Overall, I am still very interested in the communication major just because of all the possible options there are for future jobs and occupations. Now because of that I am planning to minoring

I recently volunteered at the Sacred Heart Community center. This is a community center whose objective is to create a community free of poverty, and provide opportunity. There they provide civilians who are stricken with poverty, hunger, homelessness with the a shelter and the tools for that individual to get back on their feet. They provide needs for a whole family, along with the interpersonal skills needed for survival of the daily struggles of life.

Today, Ms. Laura Garner did a professional development on Differentiation. It was amazing! I’ve read professional articles and books on this topic, but never actually saw it up close as a participant. I was not just a participant but I was an active participant. I was engaged in the learning process. In fact, every teacher in the room was actively engaged in the learning process. Everyone was not doing the same activity, but the topic at hand was the same for all participants. Thus, instruction, in a classroom, should not be one size fits all. It should be catered so the needs of each student that enters into a classroom to learn are met and more importantly, students’ weaknesses are not highlighted for everyone in the classroom to

She was faced with the challenge of teaching a wide range of learner pathways while striving to maximize the learning for all her students grades first through eighth. While what my grandmother faced over eighty years ago is an obvious exaggeration in differentiation; the reality is that each class room in our schools is a microcosm of that environment. Each student learns through different pathways and it is the role of each teacher to maximize their learning potential by differentiating their instructional practices. Hence, the teachers of my school must strive to connect students and academic content through a responsive instructional practice that is reflective of the needs of their students (Tomlinson, C., Brimijoin, K., & Narvaez, L.,

There are two generational groups of teachers that exist within the Teaching and Learning Communities of the current Education Industry. The model of working with students in education is no longer traditional but dynamic and involves the teacher and the school system becoming diversity based to deal with the multitude of different types of people that use the education system. This new paradigm shift has promoted a new look at the difference in the generations of teaching and learning techniques. The landscape of education is extremely diverse today in every way. Even when working in the profession whether it is a public system or chartered system, schools have to hire and staff their schools that are also diverse in scope and

Curriculum can be broken into three forms: intended curriculum, implemented curriculum and attained curriculum. Intended curriculum is the goals for instruction, that are set through: schools, school districts, states, and national organizations. The TIMSS illustrates intended curriculum through the school’s textbooks, curriculum guides, programs, and surveys of educational higher-ups. Implemented curriculum is the pursuit of desired goals within the classroom, and the teacher’s performance in the learning process. The TIMSS studies for implemented curriculum include videotapes and surveys from a teachers’ course. The surveys include the teachers instructional practices, beliefs on education, subject being taught, and other factors that influence the student’s test scores. Attained curriculum is the

Adolescent literacy has become an important focus in recent years when addressing concerns about the achievement gap. With this, there is a need to focus on integrating reading in secondary areas such as science. The National Science Education Standards describe scientific literacy as “the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and progresses required for personal decision making participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity” (National Research Council, 1996, p. 22). In order for students to be scientifically literate, they must be able to read and comprehend a variety of science texts so they can develop reasonable. conclusions and share in meaningful

Compared to traditional classrooms, differentiated instruction considers the diversity of all learners, utilizes assessments to design instruction, and utilizes their learning style and interest during lessons. Differentiation methods may include learning contracts, tiered activities, and choice boards (Tomlinson, 2001). Recently, I observed a teacher include differentiation within her lesson. The strategy used was to allow students to pick one of two books to read. Initially, the class had been assigned to read Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. However, as the class progressed through the reading activity some students struggled with reading the book. As a result, the teacher introduced an alternate book, Among the Hidden that students

Instruction for all courses was inquiry-based. Courses were designed to do: (a) increase teachers’ efficacy and ability

Across the nation, urban school districts are trying to identify the most effective setting for sixth graders: K-6, K-8 or 6-8 grade level configurations. The middle school configuration began in the 1950s and increased in popularity in the 1980s. The creation of middle schools was predicated on the assumption that the middle grades “are not a time for academic learning so much as the social adjustment, individual growth coping with early adolescence, and looking out for the needs of the ‘whole child’” (Yecke, 2005).

Curriculum implementation entails putting into practice the officially prescribed courses of study, syllabuses and subjects. The process involves helping the learner acquire knowledge or experience. Curriculum implementation cannot take place without the learner. The learner is therefore the central figure in the curriculum implementation process. Implementation takes place as the learner acquires the planned or intended experiences, knowledge, skills, ideas and attitudes that are aimed at enabling the same learner to function effectively in a society.