curriculum and unit design
CURRICULUM DESIGN
Curriculum design is often referred to as blueprints, unit maps, at-a-glance unit designs and more. Curriculum design is purposeful planning of a course in order to provide the learner with a learning experience that invokes inquiry, synthesis and creativity. In order to do this, content and tasks aligned to learning goals, real-world and cross-curricular connections must be rigorous and relevant to students’ interests and lives. Additionally, extensive time must be carved out to allow students to represent their learning.
In designing curriculum, ensuring that information presented to students is well organized and not overwhelming is extremely important. Students must have a clear purpose of what they are going to learn, and how they will represent their learning. In addition, unit design for teachers must be the same; the unit and lesson designs must not be overwhelming. Less time should be focused on detailed documentation of lesson plans and more time spent on acquiring tasks that will invoke profound learning experiences and on implementation. I was sought out by a previous AP that I worked with to create a planning document for his as he stated many times how impressed he was with my curriculum design content and format. He also asked me to meet with him to share my ideas on curriculum and unit designs; I would say this is my first step to being a Math Consultant.
Below, under the section Tasks and Activities, I have included a SAGE Curriculum Design graphic that I created to reflect the elements of curriculum design, which also includes PBL projects. Additionally, I have included the At-A-Glance Unit Design document that I created for the AP that contacted me to provide consultation. This was designed to be a one page at-a-glance curriculum design overview where tasks, activities, engagement and representing learning elements are all on a single page. Hyperlinking tasks and activities is a great way to keep all unit content in an At-A-Glance page.
In designing curriculum, ensuring that information presented to students is well organized and not overwhelming is extremely important. Students must have a clear purpose of what they are going to learn, and how they will represent their learning. In addition, unit design for teachers must be the same; the unit and lesson designs must not be overwhelming. Less time should be focused on detailed documentation of lesson plans and more time spent on acquiring tasks that will invoke profound learning experiences and on implementation. I was sought out by a previous AP that I worked with to create a planning document for his as he stated many times how impressed he was with my curriculum design content and format. He also asked me to meet with him to share my ideas on curriculum and unit designs; I would say this is my first step to being a Math Consultant.
Below, under the section Tasks and Activities, I have included a SAGE Curriculum Design graphic that I created to reflect the elements of curriculum design, which also includes PBL projects. Additionally, I have included the At-A-Glance Unit Design document that I created for the AP that contacted me to provide consultation. This was designed to be a one page at-a-glance curriculum design overview where tasks, activities, engagement and representing learning elements are all on a single page. Hyperlinking tasks and activities is a great way to keep all unit content in an At-A-Glance page.
UNIT DESIGNS
Below, you will find some Unit Designs I created for the teachers I coached. These varied a bit from the design above because they were personalized to meet teachers' needs. Each design consists of the state provided objectives, unpacked student friendly learning objectives, instructional materials, and rigorous tasks. Links to blended learning platforms were also included in order for students to work asynchronously to deepen and synthesize learning. Student Engagement and Representing Learning sections are also main components in these Unit Designs as we need to ensure that learning is released to students and VERY IMPORTANLY, time is carved out during the daily and weekly learning times for students synthesize and creatively represent their learning.
ALGEBRA 1 UNIT DESIGNS
8TH GRADE UNIT DESIGNS