Curriculum Mapping--Made Simple
Glossary of Terms:
Why Should We Unwrap the Standards?
Unwrapping process is critical to achieve collective clarity and agreement regarding
essential learning outcomes within the standards of the core curriculum.
Elements of the Standards
All standards contain two elements: a set of concepts that students must be able to
know or understand (declarative knowledge) and a set of skills that students should
be able to perform (procedural knowledge).
Step 1—Focus on Key Words
 Circle the words that depict the skills; the things students should know
(verbs) that are contained in the standard
Ex. Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text;
summarize the text.
 Underline the words that indicate the knowledge or concepts that a student
should know (nouns) that are the focus of the standard.
Ex. Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text;
summarize the text.
 Put brackets around any context information that may be provided within the
standard.
Ex. Determine a theme of a [story], [drama], or [poem] from details in the
text; summarize the text.
know
do
Step 3—Determine the Big Ideas/Power Standards/ELO’s
(Ex.“I can find the theme of and summarize a story, drama, or poem.)
Step 4—Establish guiding questions to be answered by your instruction.
(Ex. What is a theme? What are the main ideas in this text?)
Jadicic, C, Bailey, K (2012). Common formative assessment: A toolkit for
professional learning communities at work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
(noun)
A brief description of the content;
a description of the processes and
skills emphasized; and the nature
of the assessment the student
produces as evidence of growth,
(Jacobs, 1997).
power standard
What Do You Want Students to Learn? Unwrapping
Standards
Step 2—Map It in a T-Chart
 Create a T-chart or table graphic organizer.
Left side: What students must know
Right side: What students must be able to do
curriculum map
(noun)
The knowledge, skills, and
dispositions that have endurance,
leverage, and are essential in
preparing students for readiness
at the next level; otherwise called
essential learning outcomes,
(Reeves, 2002).
leverage
(noun)
success in a power standard
which will likely yield success in
other academic subjects.
Ex. There is substantial evidence
that when students are successful
in nonfiction writing, they also do
well in math, reading
comprehension, science, and
social studies (Reeves, 2006).
endurance
(noun)
acquisition of knowledge and
a skill that they can use for
years, rather than knowledge
with value evaporating within
minutes of the conclusion of a
state test (Reeves, 2006).
essential
(adjective)
necessary knowledge and skills
that students must master to have
academic success
Ex. Core standards are NOT
created equal. It is more
important to be able to effectively
and efficiently multiply than to
determine the properties of a
rhombus.
These are the ideal standards to
both drive and focus the
curriculum.
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