Curriculum Mapping: A Road Less Traveled

Curriculum mapping seems to provide the tools necessary for building a learning community that unifies a district or its schools with respect to determining what students are expected to learn, know and be able to do in each content area. While it may help to rein in teachers who have become accustomed to providing instruction based on their sense of what is meaningful to know and may take the guesswork out of what should be done in class, its success likely depends on the extent to which educators are invested in exploring the concept and their willing to examine the quality of their instruction, identify the goals and objectives instruction is sought to achieve and relinquish their absolute and unfettered autonomy for the betterment of all students.

Although its purpose seems evident, it is hard to imagine how it would unfold in a district with many schools and multiple classes in each grade level. In my prek through 8 school district—a district that serves approximately 300 students—third grade teachers do not even teach multiplication the same way. When students move on, teachers do not necessarily use the same language to describe the same process students learned the year before. In fact, staff members—many of whom maintain long standing friendships spanning decades—have met on several occasions in small team meetings to come to some common understanding and nomenclature of the most basic of concepts and terms but emerged with little success. Little horizontal or vertical consistency across classes, subjects and grade levels is noted. Although team meetings are designed to define expectations, encourage the development of mutual goals and objectives and foster collaboration, little, if anything, is accomplished. Few seem interested or invested in approaching education from an altered or common perspective and most feel the meetings are nonproductive and have little value. Perhaps if teacher evaluations included references to curriculum mapping, as described in the Curriculum Mapping article, more would be accomplished.

Education evolves slowly and is often the product of reluctant change. While change takes time, it should not be forgotten that students get sacrificed in the process.

The Online Experience

I must say the online approach to learning works for me. Once I figured out how to negotiate the system which, for me, was no easy feat, I found myself compelled to read other blogs. I liked reading different points of view and appreciated doing so at my own pace. Although I don't know most of my classmates, I feel like I have a good handle on what and how they think. In some ways, blogging has made the experience more intimate than attending class, not less so.

While I wasn't able to get my powerpoint project up and running in a movie format, I consider it a victory that I was able to create a powerpoint at all. Trying different things--moving out of my comfort zone--is what teachers need to do and what they should be asking their students to do. All in all, it worked well for me.

UbD: The Process

Developing the lesson using the UbD model brought home for me how difficult good teaching--or rather good planned instruction--really is. Taking a concept embedded in the standards, crafting it into meaningful goals and objectives and developing activities to achieve authentic learning is a complex, painstaking and time consuming process that is not fully appreciated by those who have never done it before and may not often be used by those who should.

Despite its value, I wonder how often it is used by teachers, who, like other professionals in various disciplines, may take short cuts when doing so seems more practical and useful. New teachers may start out creating and using well developed unit and block plans but day to day teaching demands, coupled with an emphasis on standardized test performance, likely make the best of plans just that—plans. While certain veteran teachers may follow the approach in some truncated way, others have clearly left the approach behind not long after they became teachers. Still, we all become complacent and change does not happen over night—particularly as change conjures up very real fears regarding out ability to adjust and succeed. Getting teachers to change their approach to developing plans may have to come in baby steps—starting with school administrators who often do not ask or expect their teachers to do what works best.

Somehow, teachers need to reconcile doing what works best with an environment that does not always support it. I don't envy them as the task seems daunting to say the least.

Overall, the experience was enlightening. The format worked for me since I'm not a teacher and I needed the structure it provides. How do you sustain this level of preparation over time?

UbD Template

Persuassive Communication

Stage 1: Desired Results

Established Goals:

The learning goals and objectives are several-fold and reflect a variety of educational and real world needs. By the unit’s end, it is anticipated that students will be well versed in all aspects of persuasive communication that transcends what happens in the classroom and can be applied to the broader community. In particular, students will be able to recognize and identify incidences of persuasive communication as it appears in different formats, understand and explain its purpose and analyze and tease out its merit and value as they use the information to make decisions.

Students will learn how to craft an argument that supports a given point of view—a point of view they will support through information they gather—develop an appreciation for opposing viewpoints and use both to inform and influence public opinion.

Through a variety of activities, students will think critically about persuasive communication and come to recognize that it has the power to work to the betterment or detriment themselves and their world.

Understandings:

Students will come to understand that effective persuasive communication:

Clearly states opinions and positions that are supported by organized and relevant evidence that are used to validate arguments and conclusions.

Considers and addresses different perspectives on an issue.

Is a process of gathering, selecting, and organizing information related to an appropriate topic, task, and audience in order to present an effective position that will influence, support or change others’ points of view and/or actions.

Often depends more on an appeal to emotions than it does on logical reasoning.

Can be seen in a variety of media and everyday circumstances (e.g., letters of recommendation, newspaper editorials, book or movie reviews)

Is used by advertisers to convince consumers to buy their products.

Can work to both the benefit and detriment of people and society.

Essential Questions to Guide and Focus Instruction and Learning:

Why do people write or communicate persuasively?

Is it important to persuade others?

Are other opinions important?

What is the impact of opinion driven language?

How do you make decisions?

How do we know if we are making the right decisions?

What is the best way to make and win an argument?

How does persuasion function in everyday life?

Where do we see persuasive techniques being used?

How do advertisements influence people?

What hidden messages—often emotionally based—are being conveyed in advertisements and commercials?

Can persuasive communication work to the detriment of others and society?

Students will know and understand the:

Concept and purpose of persuasive communication.
Appeal and impact of persuasive communication.
Importance of and need to consider factors such as target audience, points of view, supporting Details, etc…
Persuasive communication techniques.
Process and stages of crafting a persuasive argument or appeal and conveying it to others.
Appearance and use of persuasive communication in everyday life.

Students will be able to:

Define the concept and purpose of persuasive communication
Describe the appeal and impact of persuasive communication
State, explain and support a position.
Convey a position or point of view in writing and other mediums.
Compare and contrast different viewpoints.
Use appropriate language for the audience and task.
Employ various persuasive communication techniques.
Recognize the use of persuasive communication techniques in everyday life.

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks:

Assessment will involve students':

Participation in small and large group discussion of the concept of persuasive communication and its use and impact in everyday life.
Submission of written and oral arguments supporting a controversial position which will be used in a debate.
Participation in a debate to present their groups point of view.
Completion of a rating form that compares their views on an issue before and after the position is researched and debated.
Participation in small and large group discussion—including group notes when students meet in small groups—which reflects their ability to identify persuasive elements in commercials and advertisements they review.
Development of their own commercials or advertisements designed to sway public opinion.
Completion of rating form that indicates the extent to which commercials and advertisements affect their use of a product.
Participation in small and large discussion—including group notes when students meet in small groups—regarding viewed speeches and reviewed articles that show how persuasive language can work to the detriment of society.
Completed exit cards assessing what they learned in class.

Other Evidence:

Students will:

Take two tests—one of which will be administered half way through the unit following the debate and the other given at the conclusion of the unit.

Write and submit journal reflections that chronicle their experiences and highlight their thoughts and feelings on important issues.

Stage 3: Learning Plan

Learning Activities:

Students will:

Discuss the concept of persuasive communication and its use and impact in everyday life.
Prepare written and oral arguments supporting a controversial position which will be used in a debate.
Complete a rating form that compares their views on an issue before and after the position is researched and debated.
Examine commercials and advertisements to identify their persuasive elements and content.
Develop their own commercials or advertisements in an effort to sway public opinion.
Indicate the extent to which commercials and advertisements affect their use of a product.
Listen to and view speeches and read articles that support a point of view that takes persuasive communication to another seemingly dangerous level to show how persuasive language can work to the detriment of society.
Complete exit cards assessing what they learned in class.
Write journal reflections that chronicle their experiences and highlight their thoughts and feelings on important issues.

Indication of How Activities and Assessments of Student Learning will Foster Authentic Learning:

In all activities and assessments, students are being asked not only to become aware of, recognize and identify information but to analyze, interpret and explain concepts and their impact on themselves and society—the latter of which represent the kinds of critically thinking whose value extends beyond the subject matter and classroom to the broader issues in the larger world community.

Gathering information and marshalling evidence in support of a position on a controversial issue, crafting the material into a cohesive argument to express their point of view while influencing others are skills that they will use throughout their academic and professional careers. Participation in small and large group discussions will enhance their ability to recognize, appreciate and show respect for differing opinions, help them alter their point of view—presumably for the better—if doing so makes sense and is supported by the evidence and reinforce the cooperative skills needed for success. In creating commercials or advertisements, students will participate in a project based learning approach that helps both reinforce an understanding of concepts and provides an opportunity to contribute as a member of a team—a much needed skill in the business world. While formal tests will be used to assess the information they acquire and their ability to apply their critical thinking skills, exit cards, journal reflections and self assessments will help students become more aware of and chart their moment to moment processing of material on cognitive, emotional and social levels and begin to foster in them responsibility for and a commitment to learning.

Barriers to Change

Much of what happens in classrooms across the country seems to be dictated by teachers who appear to have a great deal of autonomy with respect to what is taught and how it is taught. At times, it seems that the culture of schools—which goes largely unchallenged—permits little administrative oversight and few opportunities for meaningful instruction and effective change. While in the psychological literature a buffer is described as a protective factor that weakens the positive relationship between a negative influence and its impact on some aspect of functioning, Schmoker’s use of the term seems to strengthen it as ineffective instruction works to the detriment of students.

Schools appear to be closed and isolated systems in which mediocrity is tolerated. While many teachers look to improve instruction, others seem content in doing what they have always done with little regard to how it affects the students they teach. To be sure, all professions include those who resist change and are free to operate as they choose, yet no other profession seems to allow for it to the degree noted in teaching. Poor and ineffective instruction and the failure of the profession to police itself in any meaningful way is the elephant in the room that no one talks about. Few seem willing to step up and say that the emperor isn’t wearing any clothes. Instead, ineffectiveness is permitted to flourish as administrators and others allow instruction to go unchecked. Teachers often seem to close ranks and protect their own even at a cost to others. The blue wall of silence noted in law enforcement found its match in education. While teachers know which teachers are good and which teachers need to find another profession, they rarely do anything about it. While collaboration is promoted and some do it very well, much of what I see in collaborative and team meetings are teachers reinforcing the bad ideas and ineffective practices of others.

It appears that the essential elements of instruction are lacking in many, if not most, classrooms. In classroom visits I make to see how well special needs’ students are being integrated into the general education setting, I see little evidence of a clearly defined objective, modeling, student engagement and assessment of learning—at least in certain classrooms. While school administrators are taking a closer look at what takes place in classrooms by visiting them on a regular basis and having teachers document what they do through folders they keep, instructional change is slow and is met by resistance from some who feel their professionalism and competence are being questioned. For the sake of harmony, administrators let certain things slide and long for the day ineffective teachers leave or retire. Few administrators are willing to confront ineffective teachers and demand changes in instruction. The teaching profession may, in fact, attract those who are less comfortable with change, but administrators support this discomfort through their willingness to allow resistance to change and by the watered down evaluations they sometimes produce.

While people want to have the autonomy to do things their way, they need to be held accountable for what they do and must make necessary changes. Administrators are often paper tigers with seemingly little recourse to address ineffective instruction—particularly as tenure and unions provide what appears to be impenetrable protection. Although no one wants to step on their colleagues' toes or make waves, teachers need to work together to improve instruction—promoting good practices, techniques and strategies and discarding bad ones—instead of operating solely on their own. A classroom is just one part of the overall system yet some teachers expect to captain their own ship. When did the rights of teachers to run their classes as they please override the rights of students to receive the quality instruction they need and deserve?

YouTube: Did You Know?

Clearly, advances in technology influence and shape virtually everything we do and what our world has and will become. Technology’s impact is almost unimaginable—even with the little things. Who would have thought a phone would also be a camera and a word processor? Soon it will work our television and microwave (it may already do these things).

While technology has revolutionized every facet of our lives—usually to our benefit—the “warp speed” pace at which changes occur leaves us with little time to integrate and adapt to them before we are bombarded with the next wave. At times, it is overwhelming to say the least—especially for the technologically challenged among us. Sometimes you just want technology to slow down so that you can catch your breath.

Although every generation can point to the technological advances that were introduced during and defined their childhood, it does seem that more is happening now than ever before. How do we handle and plan for changes that occur everyday when the only certainty we know about change is that it is inevitable? What will educators teach children today so that they can be prepared for tomorrow and all the tomorrows that follow?

To keep pace with change and, more importantly, produce and sustain it, students must be taught to think, analyze and problem solve while being encouraged to dream, imagine and create—skills that must be applied to many domains of functioning. Is it a tall order for educators to fill? Yes! But that is what they have been asked and expected to do up to this point—helping to foster and engender in students the kinds of skills that have given rise and contributed to the explosion in technology that we experience today. Still, education needs teachers who recognize the need for and embrace change and are willing to discard what does not work and grab hold of what does. With no simple script to follow, teachers must possess and display the very skills they must build and nurture in their students. Not every teacher needs to master or even use technology, at least not yet, but each must understand its impact. While school is a place where foundational skills and complex ideas first collide and then work in tandem to inspire students and keep the world moving in whatever direction society wants its citizens to travel, it also has the power to support and shape the talent and vision of all students—many of whom possess the skill, drive and world view that will make the unimaginable a reality and raise the educational and technological bar for the next generation to come.

Technology is here to stay and will always be part of what we want students to use and master in the service of their education and to better the world at large and not just as a means by which they entertain themselves. Maybe the Department of Education and Nintendo can form a partnership so that the power of technology can be used for good and not evil.

Can there ever be too much technology? Maybe, but we know technology has crossed the line when it supplants humanity and turns people into robots.

No Child Left Behind: Leaving Every Child Behind

Congressman Rothman:

As you know, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is in the process of being reauthorized. Enacted as a means by which to make states, school districts and schools more accountable for the academic progress of all students, the legislation called for the establishment of rigorous academic standards, the implementation of yearly assessments at certain grade levels, the employment of highly qualified teachers and the provision of sanctions and more for underperforming schools.

While the intent of NCLB was and continues to be noble and important and meaningful changes have occurred in its application, it may have created more problems than it has solved. To be sure, standards have become more challenging, teachers are expected to be highly qualified in the areas they teach, statewide testing allows for across the board comparisons between and among school districts throughout the state and the promise of sanctions for failing districts has made districts stand up and take notice of what they do in their classrooms.

But in its attempt to raise the bar and the quality of what happens in the classroom, NCLB has undermined its true purpose. At times, the breadth and scope of classroom instruction has been compromised, even sacrificed, as it focuses on preparation for the test at the expense of most other instruction—the kind of instruction that fosters creative problem solving and reasoning and other higher order thinking skills. While it attempts to level the playing field by expecting all students to make Annual Yearly Progress (AYP), the diversity among students makes doing so very difficult and places districts in the very tenuous position of having to produce change in certain students for whom significant gains may never happen. While Alternate Proficiency Assessments (APA) are used to assess the gains of the most disabled students, limitations on its use impact a school districts overall performance and gains as well. Although underperforming schools face decreased funding and the migration of students to other schools, how does either lead to real, meaningful change?

If it is to be reauthorized, the bill you co-sponsored is moving in the right direction. Some of the better provisions include:

Allowing for additional types of assessments for assessing AYP provides a clearer view each child—particularly with respect to disabled students who are too disabled to take the standardized test in any important way but not disabled enough to qualify for Alternate Proficiency Assessments;

Enabling school districts to state that schools meet AYP when a subgroup does not meet the anticipated target as long as the number of students in the subgroup who fail to meet the AYP standard does not extend beyond 10% of the total number of students counted for the assessment; and

Calling for sanctions to be applied when the same subgroup fails to make AYP in the same subject area for two or more years in a row

School districts must be held accountable for what happens in their schools and some version of NCLB must be in effect. But in its current form, No Child Left Behind may be leaving Most, if Not Every, Child Behind.

Sincerely,

Hillary S., Psy.D.

Reading Don't Fix No Chevys

What motivates people to learn—or do most things for that matter—has often been the focus of research and is a topic that is well understood in the psychological literature. While people are often motivated to perform by the tangible rewards they hope to receive, the lure of extrinsic rewards does not come close to the appeal intrinsic rewards—reflected in a sense of accomplishment, mastery and self satisfaction—hold for people following a job well done. After all, one component of self-esteem is a feeling of competence and a belief that one can master his world.

Although many believe people are good at what they like, it is more the case that people like what they are good at. It is the rare person who willingly pursues activities with which he has experienced little, if any, meaningful success. To become absorbed in an activity, invest emotionally in a task and experience “the flow” that motivates, people have to have a reasonable, but not an absolute, expectation of success.

Education places a multitude of demands on students, all of whom have their own strengths, talents and passions that present day instruction does not necessarily address. How do teachers reconcile what they need to teach with what their students bring to the table? While educators talk about tailoring instruction to meet the needs of diverse learners, it is unclear how much differentiated instruction takes place. Traditional in its approach, education looks to foster in students strong reading, written language and math skills—as well it should. Still, what happens to the nontraditional students who demonstrate poor verbal and math skills but display well developed nonverbal skills? How does education help them experience “the flow?”

While instruction may need to be differentiated, the result should be the same—a sense of accomplishment and success experienced by all.