Competency 8
Curriculum Plan and Development
a. Demonstrating the ability to provide planning and methods to anticipate trends and implications
b. Develop, implement and monitor procedures to align sequence and articulate curriculum
c. Develop, implement and monitor procedures to align sequence and articulate curriculum
d. Identify instructional objectives and evaluate procedures to measure performance outcomes
e. Appropriately using learning technologies
f. Demonstrating the understanding of alternative instructional designs, curriculum, behavior management and assessment accomodations and modification
g. Demonstrating an understanding of urgency of global competitiveness
District 15, LAC Job Description.pdf (108,2 kB)
2010 Social Studies LAC to ACT presentation.pptx (298,6 kB)
ACT Committee yearly agenda.pdf (106,9 kB)
Curriculum Plan and Development
Every school district approaches the competency of Curriculum Plan and Development a bit differently. Though it may not be the job of the building administrator to coordinate this process, they must be well versed in procedures and know where to go for resources. Administrators must be able to provide curriculum items, answer questions, and offer support to teaching staff. I had the privilege of interviewing our district Curriculum and Testing Coordinator, Kurt Becker, on this topic and found his insights to be very beneficial.
One of the main items I discussed with Mr. Becker included curriculum review, development and adoption. Though he is the leader in the process, there are two specific committees that play a large role as well; the Assessment, Curriculum and Teaching Committee (ACT), and several Learning Area Committees (LAC). District LAC committees include: Art and Music; Career and Vocational Technical; Health and Physical Education; Language Arts/Reading; Math; Science; Social Studies; Technology Skills; World Language and Write and Speak. I have attached a draft copy of the nine year adoption cycle as an artifact. The main components of the cycle consist of planning, implementing and refining curriculum. The LACs present their information to the ACT committee, who then ensure that deadlines are met and progress is being made.
In the globally competitive world we live in it is important we stay current with trends. With the dynamic nature of evolving technology I feel the district nine year cycle may need to be revamped. This year we are in the implementation stage of new curriculum for Language Arts/Reading. The materials that were chosen included multiple components, one of which was an online central location for all curricular items. This makes the resources immediately conducive to use with SMARTboards, which are used on a large scale within the district. Part of the benefit of adopting curriculum with an online component is the possibility of continual restructuring of material, and the addition of new materials. This helps tremendously in keeping up to date with the latest technology.
Being a strong believer in supporting teachers in curriculum, I signed up to be a Reading Curriculum Mentor. This gave me hands on experience with the process and has allowed me to offer support to my coworkers, especially those who aren’t as comfortable with technology. As a Reading Curriculum Mentor I work closely with my building team and similar grade level district mentors. I have taken a leadership role in the group as a whole and have helped complete tasks for the benefit of all district employees. For example, I coordinated the creation of district dropboxes for sharing resources. I have included as an artifact an email from a district technology specialist letting me know that the dropboxes were ready for use.
The nine year adoption cycle is used in all levels and areas of teaching and learning throughout ISD 15. Specific items the LAC groups look for include: alignment of standards, a technology component for our 21st Century learners, opportunities for differentiating instruction and assessment; including remedial support, ELL, special education and enrichment. I now know that the process of adopting appropriate curriculum to meet the needs of our diverse learners is a process that is anything but simple. However, when run in an organized and effective manner, the process isn’t felt by those whom aren’t directly involved. Other artifacts I have included to show my competence in the area of Curriculum Plan and Development include: a distict LAC job description, a yearly agenda for the district ACT committee, and a presentation created by the Social Studies LAC which was presented as evidence of progress to the ACT committee. I do feel I have grown in leaps and bounds in this area, but as an administrator I know I’ll constantly need to stay current with new trends in teaching and learning.