The artifact that I am showcasing is Curriculum Mapping. If I incorporate these beliefs about teaching and learning into my K-6 classroom on a daily basis, I truly believe that I will become a more effective teacher.
Improvement in Teaching Practice
Currriculum mapping will help me improve my teaching practice by allowing me to share and examine other curriculums. It will let me focus on the balance between what I actually taught in my classroom to what I planned. (Udelhofen, 2005) It also allows me time to build personal ownership in the mapping process, which will empower me and subsequently improves student learning. According to, Teaching Today: A Curriculum Mapping Primer, (2005) Curriculum maps cover a wide range of important curricular activities. Typically, they attempt to
· address the total education of the students in a building
· create a "word snapshot" of the educational activities of every classroom within a department, school, or district
· capture the content, skills, and assessments taught or administered by every teacher within a school building or district
· organize this information into an easily accessed visual that presents a timeline of instruction by teacher and course
One of the most important features of curriculum maps is that they are geared to the school calendar, and each teacher's timeline is precisely displayed on the map. There are two groups of people crucial to the creation of a curriculum map: the teachers who provide the information and the curriculum team who organize the information.
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I love the fact that our curriculum map follows our school calendar. However, each time I look at it and I am a day or a week behind the prescribed timeline, I cringe. I hate giving up the teachable moments that may arise and there is little or no time allowed for topics or skills that need re-teaching.
ReplyDeleteI love how you talk about what we planned to teach, versus what we do. It seems that whevever we plan something we think that we will not be faced with assemblies, fire drills, snow days (depending where you live) etc. I always seems to have the best intentions, but sometimes they are not realistic.
ReplyDeleteLeontyne,
ReplyDeletePlanning for instruction is often more of a guide....it's our road map to follow. Sometimes we have to veer off of that map, but eventually we get back onto the right road again. Curriculum maps are much the same way...we have to make a detour from time to time, but we get back on the right "road" eventually. Thanks for your great comments.