Curriculum refers to the subjects
taught at an educational institution, or
the elements taught in a particular
subject. A comprehensive (complete,
includes everything) curriculum will
address physical, social, emotional,
and intellectual development.
Curriculum types include fine and
performing arts (music and art),
vocational or career and technical
(business, industrial technology,
Family & Consumer Science) core
academics (English, math, social
studies, science), and physical
education.
An integrated or interdisciplinary curriculum is education that is organized in
such a way that it cuts across subject-matter lines. Example: if the topic is
Nebraska students in social studies learn the geography of the state, students in
food’s class learn what food products are manufactured in this state, math
students calculate how many hours and minutes it takes to drive the length of
the state at 65 MPH, music students play or sing the state song, art students
paint a picture of the state flower, English students read a story written by a
Nebraska author, etc.
To write an individual lesson plan, you start with
an objective. An objective is the “goal” you wish
to accomplish within a specific curriculum area.
The objective must be child-directed. You may start each objective with “the
child will…” or “the student will…” or “the learner will…”. (If an objective
was teacher-directed, it might read “the teacher will present a lesson on
multiplying single digits…”.)
The objective must be measurable. As you
write the objective, think of a method you
could use to observe or measure whether or
not the student actually accomplished the
objective. “The student will add…, draw…,
list…, explain…, write…, demonstrate the
ability to…, differentiate between…, recite…,”
Those sound like words in a test question.
You cannot see or measure “the student will
know…, understand…, visualize…,”.
Later on in the lesson, during assessment,
you will refer back to the language of the
objective to evaluate whether or not the child
has met the objective.
When developing objectives
for a lesson, you must
consider “scope”. Scope
simply means “the range of
information” covered in an
activity, or on a subject or
topic. Example: if the topic
is vegetables, will the scope
of the lesson include how to
plant vegetables, how to
cook vegetables, daily
nutritional requirements of
vegetables, differentiating
between vegetables and
other foods, common
vegetable colors, how to
spell names of vegetables…
or will the scope be limited to
one or more areas.
Sequence refers to the order in
which knowledge is learned.
Learning how to add and subtract is
a necessary prerequisite (required
first in order for something else to
happen) to learning how to
multiply. The sequence then, must
be to teach adding and subtracting
first and multiplying after.
Suppose the teacher said it was time for a
new lesson, and then started by putting on a
hat and trenchcoat, pulling out a magnifying
glass, and looking around the room through
the magnifying lens. How would the children
react?
Of course they would get
excited, and “anticipate” what
the lesson was going to be
about. They would “look
forward to” what they were
going to learn next. They
might guess “are we going to
investigate something?...
solve a mystery?... hunt for
clues?...” The way the teacher
introduces the new lesson
should create this anticipatory
set.
Now that you’ve got their attention,
they’re “ready” to learn.
Input is the information that is imparted to the student
in a lesson, and the method a teacher chooses in order
to provide the information.
The younger the child, the more active or
interactive the presentation needs to be.
The teacher must look at the type of
information to be presented and their own
abilities in deciding “how” to present the
lesson. Lab? Lecture? Reading
assignment? Video? Game? Discussion?
The way any human being learns anything…
is through practice. The only variable is “how
much practice does any one person need?”
There are two different types
of practice. Both help reinforce
the teaching of the input.
Guided or monitored practice
is done in the presence of the
teacher. After the lesson input,
the teacher allows students to
practice and get help as
needed.
Independent practice is that
which is done away from the
classroom. Homework is the
most common form of
independent practice, where
students are expected to
practice a skill or review
information without
assistance of the teacher.
While one child may learn a particular concept
with just one practice, another child may need
to practice over and over and over again.
An assessment is a form of evaluation.
How well does the child meet the
objective? Look back at the objective.
Did it say “the child will be able to match
states and capitals?” If so, your test
question should be matching.
Sometimes criteria becomes a
part of assessment. Criteria is an
acceptable standard used in
judging how well the child met
the objective. Perhaps the
criteria added to the objective is
“the child will match states and
capitals with 70% accuracy.”
That means the child “achieves
or passes” the objective with an
allowable percentage or number
of errors.
If the child is tested on adding single
digit numbers such as 2+2, and if the
criteria is “70% accuracy”…
Ideally, if the child does not
“pass the objective”, then
the teacher should go back
and re-teach the
information again. Reteach, and then reassess… until the child is
successful. After all, what
will happen if the child
doesn’t know simple
addition, but the teacher
goes on to subtraction?
The child falls further and
further behind.
Then what happens if the child scores
55%?
When re-teaching a lesson, the teacher may need to use a different
method of input. To re-teach using the same methods may cause a
greater degree of frustration for the student.
Consider this problem: If only 1 or 2 students need re-teaching, and the rest of
the students are ready to proceed… what should the teacher do?
The goal of education is to stimulate
and challenge each child at their own
level of development.
Within a single classroom,
student abilities may vary
widely, from slow to average to
high ability learners.
Expectations of students that are too
high cause students to become
frustrated.
Expectations of students that are too
low damage self-esteem, promote
laziness, or cause boredom.
Objectives are written for the average
student learner. The teacher may take
the basic objective and make changes
or “modifications” in the input or
Caution: bored
practice portions in order to
students create their
accommodate special needs of
own stimulation!
students.
1913-1999
In order to challenge
all cognitive levels of
students, you should
vary types of
assessment.
Benjamin S. Bloom
developed this taxonomy
(system of classification) of
assessments. They progress
from simple to challenging.
This taxonomy has been revised several times since its inception in
the early 1950’s. This illustration shows the now-widely-accepted
revisions of Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001.
Grading younger
children usually
requires the
frequent use of an
extrinsic rewards
system. They need
to see gold stars,
smiley and
frowning faces,
scratch-n-sniff
stickers, a special
prize such as a
pencil, awards
certificates, small
trophies, blue
ribbons, etc. These
rewards provide
recognition,
motivation, an
encouragement.
The purpose of grading and reporting student
progress is to engage teachers, students, and
parents in the process of increasing student
achievement. An effective system allows
educators to clearly communicate student
progress towards curriculum objectives
in a form that is equitable, accurate, and
useful.
The older a child gets, less
frequent extrinsic rewards are
necessary, and more frequent
intrinsic rewards are used. How
many ways can you think of to
tell a child they did a good job?
Extracurricular activities or programs are
those happening outside the normal
curriculum. These activities often
involve participants from another school.
An example would be an extracurricular
sports team from a school that competes
with team members from another school.
A basketball
game might
supplement
physical
education or
encourage a
sense of
competition.
An activity that is considered an
enrichment or enhancement to the
curriculum is supplemental to
instruction.
Actually constructing and trying out
this catapult might supplement a
history or physics lesson.
Intramural activities or programs are those occurring
within or involving members of a single school. An
example might be an intramural science fair.
Students work with students from their own school on
science projects and compete against other similar
teams from their own school.
Education costs money. School districts must
budget money for teacher salaries, the electric
bills, transportation, maintenance staff,
textbooks, and consumable supplies. Private
schools solicit donations and may charge
students fees and tuition to cover these costs;
public schools must operate within the confines
of a tax-dollar-supported budget.
Resources are limited!
Teachers cannot afford, nor do
school districts expect them to
purchase supplies with their own
money…although temptation to
do so is great!
The quality of lesson
presentation rests with
the teacher.
3 Qualities of a good teacher:
clarity - the ability to convey ideas and
concepts to students; includes good
background knowledge and careful
planning and organization.
ability to actively interact with students;
includes getting down on the child’s level
of thinking and activity, questions and
answers during lesson presentation
professional attitude; includes ability to
command authority and respect, courage
to admit limitations, ability to assess
student strengths and weaknesses,
enthusiasm for his/her field of expertise,
caring for children
1. Read the book and
rehearse in front of a
mirror…perform!
2. Hold the book to the
front so the children can
see the pictures (you
have to know the story
well in order to do this);
point out things in
pictures that go with the
story
3. Use props whenever
possible.
4. Allow time for questions
and comments.
5. Change your voice to fit different characters in the book.
6. Speak louder or make a funny sound if you see you are losing children’s
interest…or stop and ask a question.
7. Act out, act out, and over act! Ham it up!
8. Over-exaggerate your emotions, your voice, and your gestures.
1. I didn’t sleep at all well last night because my back was hurting. I must
have hurt it lifting furniture for my grandmother. It hurts to move this way
and it hurts to move that way. All I do is hurt, hurt, hurt.
2. What has happened here? This place is a mess! You need to get this
cleaned up immediately! We’re having company and they will be here any
minute. Get moving, don’t just sit there!
3. The little kitten looked at
it’s mother and purred,
“mama, mama, I saw a furry
little creature running across
the floor, what was it?” The
mother cat replied in a quiet
but excited voice, “Where
did you see it? Where did it
go? Tell me little one, tell
me quickly!”