I Anticipate Backward Curriculum Design

Part: 1 Explanation and discussion of the curriculum design and development process currently used in Australian Secondary schools.

Deliberate and focused instructional design requires us as teachers and curriculum writers to make an important shift in our thinking about the nature of our job. The shift involves thinking a great deal, first, about the specific learnings sought, and the evidence of such learnings, before thinking about what we, as the teacher, will do or provide in teaching and learning activities. Though considerations about what to teach and how to teach it may dominate our thinking as a matter of habit, the challenge is to focus first on the desired learnings from which appropriate teaching will logically follow.

In my classroom, I plan to use The Creative Curriculum. This curriculum aligns with my personal philosophy and values as a teacher by providing a child centered, hands on environment. The Creative Curriculum includes developmentally appropriate goals and objectives for children within four main categories of interest: social/emotional, physical, cognitive and language (Marquette University, 2015). The curriculum focuses on the teacher’s role in the classroom as well as the classroom layout. Some characteristics of a Creative Curriculum classroom include providing materials on low shelves, in containers so children can get them independently and put them away when they are finished, having picture and word labels on containers and shelves so children know where materials belong and learn to use print, having distinct interest areas such as blocks, dramatic play, toys and games, art, discovery, library, sand and water, music and movement, and computers with a variety of learning materials is in each area so children know what choices are available and can make decisions (Marquette University, 2015).

Children cannot be labeled like pieces of garments; one size does not fit all. Each student who enters the classroom is uniquely made. They come with their own background, intelligence and/ or skill set. The strengths of one student may be the weakness of another. Those factors combined should influence any teacher to make the necessary adjustments to lesson in order to ensure all students are engaged in the learning cycle. During my course, Assessment for Student Learning, I was provided strategies to evaluate student learning higher than the formal paper and pencil test. Not all students test well during a summative paper/ pencil test. It is imperative to give all students the chance to show their true ability and understanding of the material presented in the class. The professor led the course with instruction on various assessment tools, ending with the creation of an assessment photo album. Backwards design is an educational best practice that has been implemented in classroom widely for the last several years. It is logical to design a lesson from the end to the beginning, rather than the other direction. The photo album highlights the intended learning objectives, goals and intended assessment tools. When I used this tool in my classroom, students were well aware of the learning objectives. No one “wondered” what was to be accomplished during the unit. Early in the unit, I performed a diagnostic assessment to gain more

All Students, Regardless of Social Status, Race, Gender, or Minority, Have Equal Opportunity to Pursue a High Quality Education

Teachers are demonstrating a greater knowledge of their content, and are teaching the same subjects for longer periods of times. The district level should require the teachers to implement a backwards design when creating their unit plans. The same grade level teachers from the parish will meet as a group to design the district test for each unit. This planning will help the teachers set their instructional objectives for their classes, and find additional resources to use during instruction. As a future district level supervisor, I believe, as stated in Standard 2, I have gained the knowledge and the understanding of curriculum design, implementation, evaluation, and refinement in order to help the teachers improve their student’s math

The Backward Design framework is guided by the results of the three student achievement studies summarized below:

The lesson plans were designed following the backward design process (Wiggins & McTighe, 2001) (2.2). Following backward design included considering the Australian Curriculum: Mathematics in order to identify the learning goals and decide on what evidence, both formative and summative would indicate that learning had taken place (Wiggins & McTighe, 2001). The students are introduced to

“We are now taking the lead because for too long the public school system in Camden has failed its children”, exclaimed Chris Christie, the standing Governor of New Jersey. On the one hand, The New Jersey Public School System was awarded number 1 as the best system in the nation by 2012 Education State Ranking (Morgan, 2011). Yet on the other, only 2 percent of the graduates from Camden High School scored high enough on the SAT’s to be considered college prepared. This blatant inconsistency echoes the hyper-polarization of wealth and indigence throughout not only the state of New Jersey, but also the country as a whole. In response to this crisis, NJ’s Governor Christie has proposed the Opportunity Scholarship Act, which would stimulate competition between schools and in turn boost the quality of education. The act would create this competitive open market by providing scholarship funds to eligible low-income children who attend a chronically failing school district in order for them to choose to attend an alternative public or non-public school.

Setting Instructional Direction. My interest in Instructional Design began during my first year of teaching when I had poor classroom management skills and looked for solutions to managing a disruptive classroom. I learned that I was in charge of my classroom, the kids’ behavior was up to me, and the easiest way to have a smooth classroom was to design lessons that did not allow for off-task behavior and to deliver those lessons with strong instructional strategies. Because it was up to me to engage my students in their own learning, I had to find instructional strategies that worked for my kids, and I’ve spent the past 18 years continuing to do so. The result has been my passion for teaching and learning.

When curriculum are designed, planed daily activities follow. Curriculum designed by the interest of the children and go through steps. Include philosophies of education, theories, standards, principles values, research, and views on how children learn best. Usually contained different domains that children develop through the activities. Socio emotional, intellectual. Then, goals and objective are written and say how this goals will be recognize. A plan is coming for outside and inside environment, the activist have to be planned to be out or in the classroom.

Standard based educational services for our societies students has transformed through the years. The establishment of the National Governor’s Association set of common core standards (CCS) has gained widespread attention according to Allman and Lewis (556). Within this shift, general education teachers and teachers of students with disabilities are being held more accountable for their student’s growth and knowledge. These standards have been adopted and implemented throughout our nation in order for our youth to be better prepared for higher learning once they

All that being said, the students are in desperate need of a curriculum that can be individualized and that will keep them motivated. Implementing this program will require both the other teacher and I to be credible in our knowledge base beforehand. From there, we will start the new curriculum from the beginning of the school year and lay out clear expectations for the students. Some bumps in the road should be expected, but persistence is key. Constant reflection, however, is of the utmost importance. In order to make sure that the curriculum is effective both teachers will need to reflect on each and every lesson so that they can constantly be improving. Pre, formal, and summative assessments will also be utilized in evaluating the program.

One of the subjects that I remember well from high school is curriculum that I learned from my AP Chemistry course. I took AP Chemistry throughout my entire junior year in high school. My chemistry course was the first time that I was introduced to the “reverse classroom” teaching style. My teacher, Mr. Rippeon, explained reverse classroom (also called flipped classroom) as a teaching style where the students watch assigned lecture videos for homework, and learning activities and demonstrations are done during class to reinforce what was learned from the videos. In my class specifically, we completed small labs, did worksheets in groups, and did many short demonstrations. Some of the demonstrations included lighting tables on fire with various chemicals, experimenting with marshmallows in vacuums, and setting tables on fire. Because my

By using the Backward Design approach, my assessment practices have also been positively affected. Now that I know exactly how I am assessing my students before I teach a unit, I am able to address misunderstandings in advance and provide students with rubrics and assessment materials before they start a project or assignment, so they know exactly what is expected of them. I have found that students perform better and are more engaged when they know my expectations in advance. I have also discovered that students are more conscientious about their grade or performance when they are able to look at my assessment tool and ask questions or check off the tasks they have completed.