Since you began your teaching career how often have you participated in curriculum design? Have you been part of a curriculum committee? For what particular subject matter were you and your committee members asked to create/change a curriculum? Were you charged with creating a K-12 curriculum or were you charged with creating a curriculum for only one grade level? Was it easy? What was your experience with regard to working on such a committee? How did your committee make sure that the other teachers accepted/bought into the new curriculum?
I was involved in curriculum design and a standard crosswalk with the middle school Theatre performing arts department in Perth Amboy, NJ. It was a transitional exercise with the NJ Standards and the National Core curriculum. It was interesting in that the National was much more theoretical and broad whereas the NJ was very specific in cases, but not always on target with what needed to be implemented or taught at the middle school level. I enjoyed the collaboration with other members on my team and the discourse was interesting and lively. So we collaborated with the High School level to ensure readiness for high school theatre, but since most students take theatre as an intro elective and it is not mandated by the state as a must have course, the higher levels and advanced curriculums were not addressed. The theatre performing arts department in Perth Amboy, NJ worked quite well together.
ReplyDeleteSince I began my teaching career about 4.5 years ago, I have only participated in curriculum design once, this past summer. Although my school doesn’t currently have an official curriculum committee, I was a part of a small team (there were three of us) that started to write four curriculums for grades K-8, for implementation in the 2022-2023 school year. Each of us was assigned a particular subject area to develop a curriculum for, which we are now writing individually. Together, we helped each other develop the basic units for each curriculum after reviewing and discussing the NJSLS standards. I am responsible for writing the Science and STEAM (Computer Science & Technology) curriculums, and the other two teachers are responsible for writing the Library/Media (Technology and Career/Life Skills) and Family & Consumer Science (Financial Literacy and Career/Life Skills) curriculums. I learned that curriculum writing is a tedious process, and the best place to start is by looking at the standards and dividing them up into units. I also learned that including other teachers, particularly those implementing the curriculum, is important and beneficial when it comes to developing the lessons for the curriculum. More importantly, I found working on a team makes it easier to understand the curriculum layout, and share ideas with before finalizing the curriculum. As of right now, I am enjoying working on my team and writing the curriculums as we work well together and encourage each other when needed.
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