SED-455:
Secondary Curriculum Development & Assessment
SED-455 is designing a
10-day curriculum unit in your content area using actual state standards. The cornerstone is designing a model
curriculum unit using the Backward Design. Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
provide a way to move from simply covering the curriculum to designing a
curriculum unit with student understanding.
Below I’ve tried to clear any misunderstandings from the syllabus
explanations, however, do not hesitate to call or post any questions you may
have. Please refer to rubric before you
start any assignment, as I will be grading directly from the rubric. Leap to any topic needed
Week 1 – The readings for this assignment
will give you a educational
philosophy of our authors. I recommend
everyone take the time to read the chapters to better understand how to
complete the assignments.
Understanding Student Misconceptions This 1,000-1,250 words essay has
three parts:
1. Part 1: Identify and describe a
common student misunderstanding from your content area (be sure to review the
misconceptions listed in chapter 2, page 51 and pages 54-55 of
our textbook (you need to identify one that is NOT in the textbook). Be
sure to include the specific name of the content area.
2. Part 2: Analyze how backward
design approach would address this student misunderstanding (at
least 2-3 paragraphs).
3. Part 3: Defend or qualify, explaining
why you would make progress in eradicating the key obstacles to future
understanding (at least 3 paragraphs). This is where the research comes
in, as you must use at least three peer-reviewed articles from the GCU Library
to support your explanation. For help using the GCU eLibrary, please visit this page: http://www.gcu.edu/Student-Affairs/Library/Tutorials.php
4. Additional tips:
·
Since this is a 400-level course, we are using APA style 6th
edition for all paper formatting; please refer to the resources I provided
on my “College Life” webpage under APA Focus.
·
Please remember that strong writing includes a thesis statement
in the introduction and tied to the conclusion.
Week 2: Clarifying Content Priorities
It's time to look at three theoretical camps regarding
curriculum design: traditionalists, conceptual empiricists, and reconceptualists (critical theorists). You will look
at the strengths and weaknesses of each camp; then you will come up with your
own personal position regarding curriculum theory. Please be sure to use
research to support your analysis; this includes our class readings and at
least THREE peer-reviewed articles from the GCU Library. Compile your
findings in a chart or graphic organizer. You will find a sample below,
or come up with your own design.
|
|
Week 3: Gaining Clarity on Curricular Goals
There are two comprehensive assignments this week. You will be using the "Key Design
Elements" also known as “Understand by Design” (UbD)
to complete Part 1 assignment and the EEI Lesson Plan Template for Part 2 assignment. Following my step by step directions below
will help you make sure you have covered everything. HINT: This assignment is
the nuts and bolt of this entire class.
Be sure to create a new folder on your computer for your unit plan
documents. For example
“finance unit plan”
1.
Part 1 – Consider what unit you would like to develop for a 10th,
11th or 12th grade.
Maybe you’d like a geometry unit or a novel, now is the time to start
developing that unit. This assignment
will be the start of your week 7 & 8 assignments so be sure this is the
unit you really want to complete. If not
this is the time to change your unit idea.
2.
Look at your state standards (be sure to look at standards for
grades 10-12) that will work for that unit plan. This part is difficult for even those
seasoned teachers so never fear I am just a click away. I really like doing this stuff so please
don’t hesitate to ask me for help.
3.
The syllabus asks for 5 Key Design Elements (UbD)
of Stage 1, however, that is confusing so we will do only ONE comprehensive
unit plan that will include Stage 1, 2 and 3 of the “Key Design Elements” or UbD. Open the
template below and save it in your SED 455 folder. NOTICE the explanation &
text page numbers in each section of the UbD to help
guide you.
a. Goals section is where you type your
standards. Please use the number and
words for each standard you plan to cover in this entire unit.
b. What understandings are desired are
your AIMS of the unit. It is important
to fully think this through from your standards as it will help you design your
assessments.
c. Essential Questions – Think of all
the questions you will be asking your students every day of the unit. Don’t worry if you haven’t covered every
question as you will have time to revise and add as we move forward.
d. Key knowledge and skills – This will
take time because I expect measurable objectives. Be sure to use either the 6 facets verbs or
the Bloom’s verbs (resources below).
e. Assessment Evidence – Performance tasks
can be a list of possible assignments students will turn in for grading. Other evidence may also be graded but not
listed under your performance tasks.
f. Learning Plan – This is a list of
your activities. Our authors encourage
the WHERETO statement. For right now my
focus is that your list of activities is aligned with your standards,
objectives and assessment.
CONGRATULATIONS YOU CREATED YOUR FIRST BACKWARD DESIGN UNIT
PLAN!!
Downloads for Part 1
6 Facets of Understanding Activities
1. Part 2 - Create a
chart/matrix/graphic organizer identifying and describing the Six Facets of
Understanding. Please refer to our text
and the handouts above. Remember that graphic organizers come in all shapes and
sizes. They are very helpful for your
students so now is a good time to learn how to make graphic organizers for your
students.
2. From your UbD
unit plan in Part 1 or think of three activities for each facet. This is your opportunity to ensure your
activities in your unit plan cover the 6 Facets of Understanding.
3. Create TWO lesson plans that
incorporate a total of SIX activities (3 activities per lesson) that are
represented in your six facets of understanding chart. You should create lesson plans for day 1 and
2 from your unit plan you created in part 1.
Please use the EEI lesson plan template below.
4. Write a summative assessment for each
lesson plan. Your day 1 lesson plan
should include a pre-test. A pre-test
can certainly be your final assessment.
5. Now is a good time to create your
final assessment. This is why they call
it the backward design, create the test before the fun activities. Once you have your final test in place it
will help drive the rest of the unit plan/lesson plans.
6. Day 2 lesson may not warrant a
summative assessment. If unsure be sure
to ask me for clarification.
HINT: You will have many
documents by the end of the unit. I
would create a separate folder just for your unit plan/lesson plans (week 8
submission). Carefully save and name
each lesson plan to match your unit.
Example if my unit was named finance my first lesson plan will be named
“finance lesson 1”. As a seasoned
teacher you will have several unit plans.
Start out organizing in this manner so you can easily access your units
and accompanying documents.
Downloads for Part 2
EEI Lesson Plan Instructions (take out the red font instructions
& save as a blank template for your lesson plans)
Collection
of Graphic Organizers
Prezi on the Six Facets of Understanding
Week 4: Practicum Journal 1
This is the first of
four practicum observation journals that you will submit. A few
reminders:
1.
First and foremost, find a teacher
in your content area in 10th, 11th or 12th
grade. You are required to observe this
same teacher for 20 hours. Please talk
to me if you are having difficulty securing one teacher in the grades stated
and in your content area.
2.
You will obtain your
Clinical Field Experience Verification Form in the GCU student portal to
document and verify your time of practicum/field experiences. Be sure to complete the form including the
email address of your mentor teacher as well as the school district
information. This document must have
your original wet signature. Your mentor
will sign and verify your clinical field experience. Once the form has been verified and e-signed
by your mentor, a copy will be emailed to you.
If you have difficulty obtaining the form contact me, your field
experience counselor or GCU technical support.
3.
Be sure and save a copy that is
emailed to you because you will be submitting as an attachment with your week 8
Benchmark Assessment in LoudCloud.
Missing or incomplete Clinical Field Experience Verification Forms will
follow the policy guidelines listed in the practicum/field experience manual.
Which is a 20% deduction in
addition to submitting
a GCU Practicum Early Alert. If you are experiencing problems
receiving the document, you can email COEdocmanagement@gcu.edu NOTE: Old forms will not be accepted and the hours will be
considered Incomplete.
4.
The written journal should be 600-750 words reflecting what
observations you made. Items to address
are curriculum trends, issues, lesson planning, assessments, implementation
and/or what came up in our class discussions. I would like to hear your
recommendations on how you would improve any of these recommendations.
Please be sure to include the date of observation, school and teacher observed
in your reflection.
5.
Submit ONLY the journal reflection in the assignment box.
Continue working on
your unit plan and 10 lesson plans from week 3.
Your 10-day unit plan & assessment is due the First day (Monday) of
week 7.
Week 5: Practicum Journal 2
This is the second of four practicum observation journals
that you will submit. A few reminders:
1.
Refer to the instructions above.
2.
Please review my feedback on your week 4 observation. Address any requests or questions I provided
on the feedback on your future observations and journals.
Week 5: CLC: Curricular Decision Making
This assignment has two steps:
1. Research your school district and determine what
kinds of criteria are used to make curriculum decisions. I encourage everyone to call the district
office and speak with the curriculum director or whomever is in charge of the
district’s curriculum. Also look for the
district’s website as they will have curriculum information. Include answers to the following
questions and share your findings with your team:
·
Who makes the decision?
·
How often is curriculum revised?
·
What are the guiding questions?
·
How are the assessments devised?
Please be sure to use the GCU Library in your research, as your
group will need a minimum of six to eight peer-reviewed articles for support.
2. Be sure to include the following:
·
Summary of each team member’s local findings.
·
Details about how local findings compare to the research of
best practice.
·
Evaluation of deficiencies in the local districts.
·
Based on your research, what recommendations do you have for the
local districts.
·
Compile an essay of 1,250-1,500 words. The assignment
needs to be compiled by one member of the group with the title page identifying all group members.
Please use the SLIDE NOTES to expand on your ideas.
Additionally, include APA-Guidelines
Continue working on your unit plan and 10 lesson plans from week
3. Your 10-day unit plan &
assessment is due the First day (Monday) of week 7.
Week 6: Practicum Journal 3
This is the third of four practicum observation journals
that you will submit. A few reminders:
1.
Refer to the instructions above.
2.
Please review my feedback on your previous observation. Address any requests or questions I provided
on the feedback on your future observations and journals.
Week 6: Curricular Structures
This week’s assignment will be fun and I
want you to use your creativity. You
will create a power point as if you were asked to present to parents/community
about curricular structure (i.e., block schedule, year-round, AP, IB, gender
based). PLEASE THINK OF YOUR AUDIENCE AS
PARENTS, not giving me an assignment.
Many schools are always considering an alternative curriculum
structure to save money or as
an intervention for student success.
Your goal is to convince your parents
that the proposed curriculum structure will be the best one for the student population. Be sure to address parents versus me as an
assignment and include the following:
·
A title slide (with a welcome/thank you for attending). A references slide (using APA style). **These
two slides do NOT count towards the 16+ slide requirement.
·
Speaker Notes (please put them in the slide notes section of
each slide).
·
Supporting evidence of 6 peer-reviewed articles from the GCU
Library – this lets your parents know you have done your research.
·
Identification of the problem/question/issue.
·
Acknowledgement of context and assumptions – consider showing
your parents which schools have implemented your proposed structure.
·
Unique perspective, hypothesis, or position.
·
Integration of other perspectives.
·
Conclusions, implications, and consequences.
·
Question slide – possibly a survey to get feedback from parents
Please be sure to review the rubric
for additional grading notes. An "EXCELLENT" PowerPoint
presentation will have at least 17 slides (not including the title and
references slides) and use 6 or more peer-reviewed articles from the GCU
Library.
HEADS
UP: Please look at Topic 7 assignment it
is due in your CLC Monday!!
Week 7: Practicum Journal 4
This is the fourth and final practicum observation
journals that you will submit. A few reminders:
1.
Refer to the instructions above.
2.
Please review my feedback on your week 4 observation. Address any requests or questions I provided
on the feedback on your future observations and journals.
3.
Submit ONLY the journal reflection to the Week 7 assignment box.
A copy of the emailed Clinical Field Experience Verification Form must be
submitted as an attachment with your week 8 Benchmark Assessment in
LoudCloud. Missing or incomplete
Clinical Field Experience Verification Forms will follow the policy guidelines
listed in the practicum/field experience manual. Which is a 20% deduction in addition to a GCU Practicum Early Alert.
Week 7: Component I: 10-Day UbD
Curriculum Unit (Benchmark Assessment) Due on the first day of Week 7 (Monday)
This is our second CLC assignment which is a draft of your unit
plan. Take advantage of this opportunity
to collaborate with your peers! Submit Component I from the Benchmark
Assignment directions. You need to complete the following for your 10-day
UbD curriculum unit:
1.
Post a copy of your 10-Day UbD
curriculum unit in your CLC discussion board by the first day of Week 7 along with a 300-400 word
personal reflection of the strengths and weaknesses of your unit.
2.
Provide a description of the students for which the unit is
planned. Include a course and a unit statement. This helps the reviewer
determine if the unit is the appropriate academic level (Grades 10th,
11th or 12th).
3.
Unit plan done in the UbD Template
followed by 10 Lesson Plans in the EEI template. Each element in the templates need to be
addressed.
4.
Be
sure to include a pre-assessment, which can be your summative assessment so you
can compare data from both tests. Your lessons should have a variety of
formative assessments and at least one student self-assessment.
5.
In
your CLC assigned group post the strengths and weaknesses of each person’s
curriculum unit based on your learning in the previous weeks of study. Things to consider are:
a. aligned standards, objectives and
assessments.
b. Measurable objectives
c. Facets of understanding
d. varied formative assessments
e. varied instructional strategies
f. Differentiated instructional statement
align with the activities
g. What changes (if any) are needed in order
for the unit to meet the needs of diverse learners?
6.
Provide
3+2 feedback – offer three positive points/strengths and two suggestions for
improvement to each member of your CLC group.
7.
Compile
your 3+2 feedback data you have received from your CLC group members into one
document.
8.
ONE group member submits a continuous document of everyone’s
feedback data by the end of Week 7.
EXAMPLE
FEEDBACK
Strengths
·
You
have provided good information in which student’s use creativity to understand
the lesson.
·
You
provided good group activities in which the students develop problems to help
clarify the unit.
·
Your
full lesson plans maximize the students time.
·
You provided
essential questions to estimate student learning.
Weakness
·
In
your lesson plans you have not applied the information taught in the standards
to the guided practice of the independent practice.
·
I did
not see a pre-test, self-assessment or a variety of formative assessments.
·
Do the
students understand the objectives?
·
All I
see are your lesson plans. Where is your
unit plan?
·
I
cannot tell if you are following the state standards because your objectives
were not well developed.
·
You
did not name the textbook or page number the information can be found. It is important; the students will need the
reference for independent practice.
·
A
substitute may not be able to follow the lesson plans as there weren’t enough
details.
Just
so you are aware, peer review really does happen with teachers https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/better-common-core-lessons-equip
Week 7: Assessment Design
Create a
summative assessment for your 10-day UbD curriculum
unit. Be sure to include:
·
a variety
of question types (multiple choice, matching, short writing answers)
·
at least
20 questions – If your assessment is an essay we can adjust with a rubric
·
an answer
key
·
focus on
the higher levels of Bloom's Taxonomy – See the chart on this website https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/alignment.html
Please see my assessment page to help you design
your summative assessment - http://www.scbraves.org/Assessment.htm
Convenient Downloads for Week 7
Benchmark Assessment Directions
Week 8: Benchmark
This is it folks, your unit plan you started in week 3 should
now be finalized which is component III of the benchmark assignment. You
will submit the following in LoudCloud:
·
A title page
·
Your strengths/weaknesses reflection that you provided for your
CLC along with a description of your changes.
·
Unit, student and course descriptions
·
Your REVISED 10-day UbD unit plan in
ONE CONTINUOUS DOCUMENT – You want to fine tune your unit plan as you will be
able to use in the future as a student teacher or when you have your own class.
·
The copy of your Clinical Field
Experience Verification Form that was emailed to you
·
Your assessment and answer key
This course requires 20 hours of observation
practicum. You must spend 20 hours in a 10th, 11th or 12th
grade high school class with the SAME TEACHER. Begin calling potential sites
for fulfilling this requirement prior to week 4. Some schools require a letter
from the university before a student can complete their practicum hours. I urge
you to find this information out "early on" because you do not want
anything to keep you from getting your forms signed at the end of the course.
The Teacher Education Specialist can provide a letter that confirms that you,
the learner attends Grand Canyon University and states the degree program, the
class in which the learner is completing practicum hours, and the number of
hours required for the practicum. However, in order for the Teacher Education
Specialist to complete this in a timely manner, you may be asked to provide the
following information to them in an email.
·
Learner's full name
·
Course prefix, number, and full
course title
·
Number of practicum hours to be
completed
·
Name of the school district and
the contact person's name
·
E-mail address or fax number
where the letter is to be sent
Fingerprint
Requirements Announcement
Fingerprinting is required by all students
prior to the beginning of their student teaching assignment. As such, a
reminder to students to begin the process is recommended: It is strongly
recommended that students entering a teacher education program submit a
fingerprint application to the Arizona State Education Department ASAP, and
before the start of any courses that involve a field experience. Copies of this
documentation should be faxed or scanned/emailed to the Teacher Education
Specialists in the Office of Academic Counseling.
Clinical Field Experience Verification Form
You will obtain your Clinical Field Experience Verification Form
in the GCU student portal in order to document and verify your time of
practicum/field experiences. Be sure to
complete the form including the email address of your mentor teacher as well as
the school district information. This
document must have your original wet signature.
Your mentor will sign and verify your clinical field experience. Once the form has been verified and e-signed
by your mentor, a copy will be emailed to you.
If you have difficulty obtaining the form contact me, your field
experience counselor or
GCU technical support.
If a student is unable to complete the
requirements for the Benchmark Assessment Assignment a 20% deduction must be
applied for that entire assignment.
Writing Assignments
If you haven’t noticed yet, this course has some writing
assignments. Don’t stress! You’ll find lots of details about
APA-style in my instructor add-ons and the Student Success Center. My College Life
webpage is packed full of plagiarism and citation resources http://www.scbraves.org/college%20life.htm Also, don’t forget that I am
just a click away and at your disposal!
Rubrics
You will find the rubrics for each
assignment in the appropriate Loud Cloud assignment link. Be sure to look
at the rubric before during and after completing each assignment, as it
provides details about how to go above and beyond the basic requirements of the
assignment directions in the Syllabus. Frankly
as future teachers you should get in the habit of using rubrics for your
assignments and teaching your students
Participation
Please review my slide show on my participation
expectations
CLC (Collaborative
Learning Community)
We have two CLC group assignment due for week 5 and 7 of this
class. You may already know that student
teachers are evaluated based on the teaching standards developed by InTASC. The following standards relate to a teacher’s
ability to collaborate with families, communities, colleagues and other
professionals. Furthermore, teachers
consistently participate in committees within a school.
Evaluation Standards that Include Collaboration
Standard #1: Learner Development: The teacher
candidate collaborates with families, communities, colleagues, and other
professionals to promote learner growth and development.
Standard #6: Assessment: The teacher candidate
works independently and collaboratively to examine test and other performance
data to understand each learner’s progress and to guide planning.
Standard #9: Professional Learning and Ethical
Practice: Independently and in
collaboration with colleagues. The
teacher candidate uses a variety of data (e.g., systematic observation,
information about learners, research) to evaluate the outcomes of teaching and
learning and to adapt planning and practice.
Standard #10: Leadership and
Collaboration: The teacher candidate
uses technological tools and a variety of communication strategies to build
local and global learning communities that engage learners, families, and
colleagues.
Standard #10: Leadership and Collaboration: The teacher candidate advocates to meet the
needs of learners, to strengthen the learning environment, and to enact system
change.
·
Week 5 - I will post an announcement at the beginning of Module 4
with your groups for the week 5 CLC.
Week 4 has a light assignment load so my suggestion is for everyone to
start working on the week 5 project early.
·
Week 7 – This CLC is quite unusual because your 10-day unit plan
is due on MONDAY (the first day of week 7).
Turnitin
Each assignment will let you know if your assignment needs to be
turned into “turnitin” please be sure to turn in your
assignments into the “turnitin” program before you
submit as the final submission. If not,
I will submit to “turnitin” and must grade
accordingly per GCU policy.
Thank you for a wonderful journey! Your
self-learning starts from here! "It
is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in
the end." --Ursula K. LeGuin
Updated 1/9/2017
Email Address: Cindy.Barnes@my.gcu.edu
Phone Number: (928) 792-8252
Postal Address: Grand Canyon
University