Tricia Condon
University of New England
EDU 707
Implementing Effective Curriculum,
Instruction & Assessment
Engagement and Differentiated in ELA by Developing 21st Century
Authentic Learning to Increase NYS Test Scores
CMS English Department Mission
Our mission is to educate and inspire each student to love learning, pursue excellence and use knowledge, skills
and attitudes to contribute respectfully and confidently to an ever-changing global community.
Strategic Objectives
Each student will:
- Participate continuously, respectfully and willingly in improving
community well being
- Demonstrate their love of learning through the passionate
pursuit of his/her personal interests
- Possess the knowledge, skills and attitudes to meet or exceed
expectations as outlined in Brighton’s curriculum and New York
State’s standards
Plan Purpose
We believe effective schools have cohesive instructional programs well-aligned
with strong standards that in turn are driven by a community of adults
committed to working together to develop the skills and knowledge of all
students. The purpose of this plan is to develop a department-level framework
to help educators understand what it is to incorporate authentic learning to
collect data in a manner that contributes to improved instruction and
increased student learning. When educators use data to inform instruction,
students are provided with the feedback necessary to increase ownership in
their learning.
Our department defines data as evidence of student achievement and recognizes
that it comes in many forms: standardized test results, common summative
and formative assessment results, unit tests, “tickets out the door”, writing
folders, online blogs, presentations, poetry, running records, performances,
post-its, and “3-2-1” assessments are just a small sampling of the types of
data educators may use to and inform their instruction.
Presentation Outline
1. Why the need for new curriculum
2. How the curriculum has been changed
3. An overview of the curriculum itself
4. Timeline & Responsibilities for implementation
5. Implications for the school
Moving away from the “teaching to the test” mentality
Teachers are “teaching to the test.”
A study by the National Center for Research on Evaluation,
Standards, and Student Testing found that teachers have started
planning their curricula around state tests. Opponents of highstakes testing claim that with tests at the center of a year's
curriculum, teachers lose some of the dynamism and creativity
that makes school effective and enjoyable—that there is no value
placed on concepts and hands-on projects that require a greater
challenge than what can be tested in a multiple-choice format.
"Teaching to the test" is replacing good
teaching practices with "drill n' kill" rote
learning.
A five-year University of Maryland study completed in 2007 found "the
pressure teachers were feeling to 'teach to the test'" since NCLB was
leading to "declines in teaching higher-order thinking, in the amount of
time spent on complex assignments, and in the actual amount of high
cognitive content in the curriculum."
Moving towards authentic learning
& implementing the power of choice and differentiation
“Choice boards allow educators to focus on the
learning standards at the same time we are making
content meaningful to students, differentiating their
learning opportunities, implementing Bloom’s
Taxonomy to develop higher levels of thinking and
incorporating 21st century skills such as the use of
technology” (Spanish, 2013).
“Learning becomes as much social as
cognitive, as much concrete as abstract, and
becomes intertwined with judgment and
exploration” just as it is in an actual
workplace” (Brown, 1999).
Old Curriculum v. New Curriculum
“Old Curriculum”
“New Curriculum”
Education
Development
Facts
Thinking
Social Relations
Teacher authority
Teacher-learner equality
Learning
Teacher Q/A
Discovery
Instruction
Discussion
Product
Process
Norm
Criterion
Goals
Assessment
New Curriculum Design Objectives
 Use communicative technologies to redefine school learning by providing
individualized learning for each student
 Develop a new and exciting exploratory curriculum that teaches skills of access,
assessment and application
 Feature teachers who have transitioned to 21st century learning to be guides to
and designers of learning
 Possess evaluation measure that are relevant and that will assess students as
individuals
Curriculum Implementation
Step 1 –
Professional
Development
• June 2015- 4 hr
• July 2015- 8 hr
• Aug 2015- 4 hr
Step 2- Collect
and Organize
Step 3- Student
Acclimation
• Aug 2015- net book
delivery ixl math,
castle learning, blog
memberships
• Rubric developments
• Sept 2015- Week 1-2
“Choice Boards”
• Model & practice
various assessments
Step 4- CrossCurricular
Adaption
• Math 2016
• Science & Social
Studies 2017
• Health & Technology
Culminating in 2016, each department member will have
undergone staff development training in order to:
 Use the curriculum to embed a variety of instructional strategies to meet the needs of students
 Regularly implement opportunities for authentic learning and student-directed activities
 Understand and effectively use data to guide instruction and improve learning for all students,
using formative and summative assessments
 Provide a range of appropriate learning experiences and assist students in meeting their
potential as learners
 Use data to help ensure that each student receives rigorous and challenging instruction
8th Grade New Curriculum Unit Examplar
Key Ideas/ Enduring Understanding
-Authors use figurative language and imagery
devices to create visual pictures and aid readers in
making meaning and connections
-Authors use characters’ everyday experiences to
teach lessons about life.
-Conflict and resolution often lead to lessons
about life and/or personal growth
-In literature and life:
-Death is a natural part of life
-Growing up often comes with hardship, struggle
and pain.
-The right choice isn’t always the easy choice.
-There are many ways to define a man’s wealth
-There are many ways to judge a man’s
intelligence.
-Boundaries, both visible and invisible, must be
respected.
-The hurt you get over makes you stronger.
-Forgiveness makes you stronger.
Curricular Objectives
-Students will write a memoir after completing the
novel study A Day NO Pigs Would Die or Bearstone
-Students will independently identify and support—
with text evidence—the themes of short texts,
including poems, songs, fables and stories
-Students will increase their knowledge of Tier 2
vocabulary words through learning a common set of
vocabulary words form “The Flight of the Snowbird”
and A Day No Pigs Would Die or Bearstone
-Students will identify and explain examples of:
simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration,
onomatopoeia, oxymoron, hyperbole, symbolism,
imagery
-On-going: Students will study parts-of-speech and
roots/prefixes
-On-going: Students will regularly read Scholastic
Scope magazines independently, answering textbased questions based on nonfiction articles
Resources
Novel Study: A Day No
Pigs Would Die
OR
Bearstone
“The Flight of the
Snowbird” short story
and essay
State Exam Preparation
Non-Fiction STQs
- Roberto Clemente
-Cry of Gull
-Teen Scientist
-Awakening combined with
How it Works
-Bell of Atri
Reading/Writing
(Refuse/Reason)
Thematically related
poetry, lyrics and short
texts in “Flight of the Listening- Robert Newton Peck
Snowbird”
OR Leondardo Da Vinci
Vocabulary
PowerPoints/Prezi
Common Summative
Assessments
-Final draft of memoir
-Final draft of “The Flight of
the Snowbird” them essay
-Novel Study Choice Board
Assessments
-Unit test based on A Day No
Pigs Would Die OR Bearstone
“The Flight of the Snowbird”
unit test
Quarter 2 Outside Chocie
Reading Assignment (due
January)
Quarter 2 Roots/Prefix Quiz
A Minimum of 2 Scholastic
Scope assignments for
Quarter 2
Blooms Taxonomy Rubric Outline
Knowledge
Comprehension
Application
list, define, tell, describe, identify, show,
label, collect, examine, quote, name, who,
when, where
summarize, describe, interpret,
contrast, predict, associate,
distinguish, estimate, discuss, extend
apply, demonstrate, calculate,
complete, illustrate, show,
solve, examine, modify, relate,
change, classify, experiment,
Analysis
Synthesis
Evaluation
analyze, separate, order, explain, connect,
classify, arrange, divide, compare, select,
explain, infer
combine, integrate, modify, rearrange,
substitute, plan, create, design,
invent, what if?, compose, formulate,
prepare, generalize, rewrite
assess, decide, rank, grade,
test, measure, recommend,
convince, select, judge,
explain, discriminate, support,
conclude, compare
Comprehension or Evaluation
Application or Evaluation
Knowledge or Analysis
Make remembering and
understanding
activities worth 2 points
Make applying and
analyzing activities
worth 5 points.
Make evaluating and
creating activities
worth 8 points.
Unit Examplar “Think-Tac-Toe”
Unit 3: Novel Study “Think-Tac-Toe”
A Day No Pigs Would Die –OR—Bearstone
Choose assignments individually and complete 3 in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally
Create a pair of collages that
compares you and a character in the
book. Compare and contrast
physical and personality traits. Label
your collages so viewers understand
your thinking.
Write a bio-poem about yourself and
another about a main character in the
book so your readers see how you
and the character are alike and
different. Be sure to include the most
important traits in each poem.
Write a recipe or set of directions for how you
would solve a problem and another for how a main
character in the book would solve a problem. Your
list should help us know you and the character.
Draw/paint and write a greeting card
that invites us into the scenery and
mood of an important part of the
book. Be sure the verse helps us
understand what is important in the
scene and why.
Make a model or a map of a key place
in your life, and an important one in
the novel. Find a way to help viewers
understand both what the places are
like and why they are important in
your life and the characters’.
Make 2 timelines. The first should illustrate and
describe a least 6-8 shifts in settings in the book.
The second should explain and illustrate how the
mood changes with the change in setting.
Using books of proverbs and/on
quotations, find at least 6-8 that you
feel reflect what’s important about
the novel’s theme. Find at least 6-8
that do the same for your life.
Display them and explain your
choices.
Interview a key character from the
book to find out what lessons he/she
thinks we should learn from events in
the book. Use a Parade magazine for
material. Be sure the interview is
thorough.
Find several songs you think reflect an important
message from the book. Prepare an audio collage.
Write an exhibit card that helps your listener
understand how you think these songs express the
book’s meaning.
Subject
Learning Goal
Science
Students will be able to
identify similarities and
*Please choose two of
differences between
the follow activities and various planets in the
assessments to
solar system
complete
Activities/Assessments
Students will analyze the
video on the
characteristics of the
plants, moons and sun
Design a Prezi or
Powerpoint presentation
of the solar system
Read pp 24-32 and
complete the graphic
organizer
Cross-Curricular Differentiation
In the end…
Our main objective in adapting our curriculum was
to address individualized learning through
differentiation and engagement, and these tools
have helped us to accomplish our goal of
implementing more authentic learning opportunities
for our students.
References
6 Shifts in Common Core Reading Standards, Education Articles Online, 5 June 2011. Retrieved from http://educationarticlesonline.com/reference-educatino/k-12/6-shifts-incommon-core-reading-standards.
Bondi, J.C. & Wiles, J.W. (2011) Curriculum development: A guide to practice. Ed. 8. Pearson publishing. New York, New York.
Black, Rebecca (2009). Online Fan Fiction and Critical Media Literacy. Journal of Computing in Teacher Education 75. Vol. 26. ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education).
United States.
Brown, J. S. (1999, March). Learning, working, and playing in the digital age. Presented at the American Association for Higher Education Conference on Higher Education.
Retrieved October 17, 2014 from http://www.ntlf.com/html/sf/jsbrown.pdf.
Common Core State Standards Initiative website, “About the Standards” page. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards.
Dunkle, C.A. (2012). Leading the common core state standards: From common sense to common practice. Crowin: A SAGE company. Thousand Oaks, Califorina.
Spanish, Calico (2013). Assessing student choice assignments in the world language classroom. Retrieved October 17, 2014 from
http://blog.calicospanish.com/2013/09/30/assessing-student-choice-assignments-in-the-world-language-classroom.html.
Tomlinson, Carol Ann (2003). Fulfilling the promise of the differentiated classroom: Strategies and Tools for Responsive Teaching. Retrieved from www.ascd.org.