Mr Maher's List: Curriculum Writing & Development

• An effective instructional practice loses effectiveness if the curriculum isn't strong enough.
• Curriculum and instruction are interdependent, and curriculum work needs to be approached with this important precept in mind.
• First, a common curriculum with clear, intelligible standards that are aligned with appropriate assessments is critical to school improvement (Fullan & Stiegelbauer, 1991; Marzano, 2003; Rosenholtz, 1991)
• The lack of a clearly articulated curriculum hinders improvement efforts and, according to Mike Schmoker (2006)
• riting curriculum isn't just about producing a guide
• The first phase, planning and development, is used when an in-depth curriculum revision is needed; the second phase, review and evaluation, can help a team manage the curriculum after it is developed and ensure that it is implemented effectively.
• Simply having representative administrators from the central office on the curriculum team is not enough.
• Figure 1.1. The Planning and Development Process
• The tools and processes outlined in this book are designed so that sustained improvements in achievement happen not only at the building level, but also at the district level. If long-term, sustained student achievement is the goal, district-level professional learning communities are not optional. Second, a district-level professional learning community can establish a model for developing curriculum for building principals and help them understand how to establish curriculum development teams in their schools.
• Don't assume that all the members on the curriculum development team know enough about the topic to complete all the tasks at a high level. It is impossible to form a team where every member comes to the table with sufficient curricular and instructional knowledge. Some team members may need more experience or more opportunities to reflect on the topic from a different perspective. Savvy and successful curriculum leaders recognize that serving on a writing team is a high-level professional development task. These leaders know how to carry out the critical role of developing and training members of the writing team. Thus, professional development for the writing team must be embedded with information regarding what the data mean, strategies for including the most effective instructional practices in the content area, and data about the gaps in the current curriculum.
• if the mission of school is learning, then writing curriculum for teaching and learning and ensuring its implementation warrants top priority in budget allocation. To do otherwise slights the integrity of instructional leadership.

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• In fact, the construction of curriculum by teachers—within their classrooms and within the political context of their school systems—is a goal in many curriculum movements associated with the “constructivist philosophy” (Lampert 1988)
• Teachers can and should be trusted to make decisions that are based upon the individual needs of learners in the classroom, because the idiosyncratic nature of learning requires both flexibility and responsiveness (Huberman 1983, McDonald 1992).

• Still, developing curriculum takes more time and resources than most schools provide to teachers. Even in the best of circumstances it goes slowly, because the work takes place on many levels at once, from the most deeply personal to the most broadly systemic.
• Though few schools would risk going into a year without lesson plans in hand, many educators argue that involving students in developing curriculum is crucial. "The question of what should be at the center of the curriculum should be at the center of the curriculum," declared Deborah Meier, Jay Feather-stone, and Bill Ayers at a 1991 meeting of their North Dakota Study Group.
• Typically, teachers develop curriculum one unit at a time, often in teams that attend workshops or summer institutes
• If teachers see developing and trying out curriculum together as part of strengthening their own teaching practice, they are less likely to leave it to outsiders, Cantrell believes. "Imagine a team of teachers sharing their results, then giving each other steady feedback during the year as they tested out ideas in their classrooms," he says. "When you've helped to shape other people's work, you understand their train of thought better and are more able to draw on it. That's why people who develop curriculum in central offices often don't see it used by teachers."
• Kellogg's educational foundation gave Michigan's Caledonia High School $450,000 to develop a ninth- and tenth-grade curriculum integrating science, technology, agriculture, and natural resources. The experience challenged the seven teachers who spent over three years on the project, using an extra daily planning period, release days, and paid weeks in the summer.

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• In order to create a strong curriculum, teachers must play an integral role in every step of the process.

• Development  of an innovative curriculum, however, requires the input  of exemplary teachers who can see beyond what has been  done to what could be accomplished.