Supporting Curriculum Implementation

Supporting Curriculum Implementation Curriculum Overview My proposal is to implement a new math curriculum. My district, Carson City School District, currently uses Investigations by Pearson. The current curriculum that we have in place is not well liked throughout the district. While there are some components that some teachers do enjoy, the biggest concern is that many teachers feel as though it does not align with the MIUs that our district requires us to give our students at the end of every unit. The best way to find a more appropriate curriculum for the district as long as they continue to require the MIUs is to use the UbD model. Looking at the MIUs and setting clear goals in order for students to show success on the MIU and find the curriculum that best aligns with those goals. Another step in UbD is the planning instruction for the learning experience. Finding a curriculum that offers a component of fact fluency along with videos and interactive activities that allow for an engaging learning experience. Another important aspect of the new curriculum is that it offers different resources that the teacher can choose from to enhance the lessons and allow the teacher to feel as though they still have autonomy of their instructional practice. Rational As a first year teacher, having a curriculum that was unreliable was a challenge. At the start of the school year I found myself confused and looking for outside resources anywhere that I could. This was a challenge for me because I also was not sure what the upcoming unit was going to be about, or if the stuff I was teaching was going to be revisited later in the school year as I had never seen any of it before. ‘ Supporting Curriculum Implementation Having a reliable curriculum that I could directly pull from and trust to help my studnets get meet the learning goals for the unit would have been extremely helpful. As I discussed this issue throughout my school and at the professional development days for 4th grade teachers I began to realize that many teachers throughout the district opted to not use the curriculum and just create their own curriculum. While that may not be as big of a challenge for a teacher that has 20+ years of experience, for someone with less than one year of experience teaching it was extremely overwhelming. I believe that great teachers use their curriculum as a resource and not as their instructional practice. However, having a good curriculum book when you are still developing your instructional practice is extremely important. It would also benefit experienced teachers as well because they would have a one stop shop to pull resources from to improve their teaching as well. This would also ensure that there is common language throughout the district when it comes to mathematics. Expected Outcomes After implementing the new curriculum I expect that we would see more success from our students. We would see a common language that all of our students would speak which would ensure that the next teacher that gets a student doesn’t have to waste time going back and re-explaining something that the student already knows just in a different way. This would ensure that new teachers in the district have what they need in order to ensure that they are successful in helping their students achieve the Math learning targets. While also providing older teachers in the district with resources that they could pick and choose from to enhance their instruction. Supporting Curriculum Implementation Having a curriculum that offers a fact fluency component would, as I stated earlier, offer the opportunity for common language throughout the district. As of right now everyone at my school is using something different when it comes to fact fluency, and what we are noticing is that we now have fifth graders who don’t know all of their math facts. Timeline The first step would be for the distinct to agree on a curriculum that best aligns with the goals of the distinct. This would be by looking at each MIU and ensuring that it aligns to the curriculum. There may then be a pilot school to ensure that it shows success and is easy for both the students and the teachers to navigate. Once they are ready to push it out to the rest of the district they may pass out materials to the staff at the beginning of summer break to ensure the teacher has enough time to familiarize themselves with the layout and the resources. This will allow the teacher to get a clear idea of what their instructional practices will look like the following year. It may not be till the following year however, till the district moves up to tier 3. Key Roles and Responsibilities There are key roles and responsibilities when it comes to implementing a new curriculum throughout the district. One being how the teachers and staff use the curriculum to improve their instructional practices. This means when they are designing their lesson plans they are using the curriculum to plan and write out those lesson plans. Another example is to differentiate according to their students' needs utilizing the resources throughout the curriculum as well. It is also vital that there is someone to take on the role of ensuring that teachers are implementing the curriculum into their classroom, someone to listen to teachers' concerns, and offering professional development based on the curriculum. Supporting Curriculum Implementation Resources Some important resources that should be included in the new curriculum include manipulatives such as fraction magnets for the teacher and fraction blocks for the students, protractors, judy clocks, base-ten blocks, etc. The curriculum should also include an online component where the students can practice their fact fluency, or a student portal that the students could access in order to complete work that the teacher pushed out. Another resource that would be beneficial is having an online benchmark assessment that the students would take at the beginning, middle and end of the year in order to get an accurate depiction of where their gaps and misconceptions lie. Stakeholders and Collaboration Strategies f. Select two groups of stakeholders from the following list and discuss a separate strategy for collaborating with each group: • Administrators: In my opinion an important way to collaborate with the administrators on the curriculum is by being the voice for the students and their needs. At the end of the day the purpose of obtaining a quality curriculum is doe the students to feel secure in their education. Another important aspect of collaborating with the administrators is by the administrators offering professional development on the new curriculum and as a teacher attending that the professional development in order to ensure you have quality understanding of all the components throughout the curriculum. • Students: An important way to collaborate with the students when implementing a new curriculum is by being a safe space where they can advocate for themselves by sharing how they feel about the new curriculum, what aspects of Supporting Curriculum Implementation the curriculum are confusing and challenging for them, are all of the components student friendly, etc. Then as the teacher being their voice for them and sharing those concerns with the administration. Teacher Support Goal When supporting teachers while implementing a new curriculum I believe there are two goals that are important to have in place. My first goal is to have a coach that fully understands the curriculum and is available to go into a classroom and support a teacher by co-teaching a lesson so that teacher can have a good understanding of what it should look like in the classroom. Another important goal I believe should be in place is offering both online and in person professional development opportunities. Just as we say students have different learning styles, so do our teachers by offering a variety of options to gain more knowledge of the curriculum. We are allowing the teachers to choose the one that would be more beneficial to them and their own learning style. Professional Development Plan My school district's plan is to enhance the professional knowledge and skills of the teachers through training that has direct correlation to the students. They offer mentoring, coaching, and training opportunities for new teachers. When implementing new things throughout the school my administrators are big on team collaboration and discussing what this will look like in our individual classrooms. This allows the teachers to grow by sharing ideas. Strategies to Support Implementation Supporting Curriculum Implementation - One way to support teachers during the implementation process is to listen to their concerns. If the teachers are concerned about a component of the curriculum their instructional practice is then treated. We want teachers to feel confident in what they are teaching which will then feed into a love of learning for the students. - The second what to support teachers during the implementation process is to offer and encourage quality professional development opportunities. Having a coach readily available, team PLCs, whole grade PDs with all the teachers in the district, online PD opportunities, etc. Offering a variety of professional development will allow the teachers to grow in their confidence of the curriculum and allow the teachers to ask questions with their peer in a safe space. Strategies to Support onGoing Use - One way to foster ongoing use of the curriculum is to ensure teacher confidence. As I have stated previously, if a teacher is not confident in their understanding of the curriculum they will put it on the shelf and continue to do what has worked for them in the past. Ensuring that a teacher is confident in their resources, the more likely they are to continue using it in their instructional practice. - Another way to support ongoing use of the curriculum is by having clear expectations for the teachers. If the teachers have a clear understanding that they have to give the end of unit assessment out of the curriculum will mean the more likely they are to use that assessment. When they know what the expectations are the more likely they are to meet those expectations. Monitoring Goal Supporting Curriculum Implementation In order to monitor the implementation process, the school's monitoring goal should be data driven. Collecting data on student success on unit assessments, state tests, and MAP tests. Collecting data in these areas will allow the school to see if the curriculum is showing success and if it is in the students best interest to continue using said curriculum. If student scores are going to it could be due to the new curriculum and might not be logical to continue using said curriculum. Monitoring Strategies - One way to monitor student data is by reflecting on unit assessments at PLCs. This allows teachers to compare their data and if the classrooms are aligned when it comes to student success. - Another way to monitor student data is by having teachers compare current MAP data to MAP data from previous years. This will allow teachers to make connections on change. The teacher should then reflect on that change and what might be the cause of that change.