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Design Model For Curriculum Planning

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Teachers around the world are tasked with what seems to be an impossible job. Increasing students’ knowledge and skills is no easy task, yet millions do it daily. Many can attribute their success to the ability to design a curriculum that engages learners and sets the foundation for success. Heidi Hayes Jacobs believes that a good curriculum sets the path for students to take (Laureate Education, n.d.). The process of curriculum mapping helps to ensure that learning is cohesive and beneficial to the individual needs of our students. Curriculum mapping provides the foundation and vision of learning. Once that foundation is set, it is up to the teacher to bring each individual lesson to life in a way that will truly impact students.
Developing the Unit Plan
My campus is one that promotes and practices the Understanding by Design model for curriculum planning. When creating my unit, I wanted to complete the process on my own so that I could gain practice. Being familiar with the Understanding by Design model and thinking with the end in mind, made the process of creating a unit very smooth. Jay McTighe (2010) found “that the intentional use of backward design results in more clearly defined goals, more appropriate assessments and more purposeful teaching” (p. 274). When planning my interdisciplinary unit, I constantly asked myself if the activity or assessment reflected the standards that students would be learning. Constantly reviewing the knowledge students will gain in a

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