Turning Points: Chapter 3

Abstract:
This chapter was all about curriculum and assessment. When curriculum is strong, and the assessment is authentic, teaching and learning improve. The backward design method is essential to strong curriculum because it focuses on the underlying key curriculum. Standards need to be modified for a school. They should not just accept the state or local standards without exploring them further to analyze them. Focus should be put on the essential ideas of the standards, skills that should be covered, and how challenging and realistic each standard is. One of the weaknesses of standards is that they are vague and unclear, and teachers need to be aware of this. Essential questions should be formed to create unit concepts. These should be broad, interdisciplinary and relevant to students lives. Authentic assessments should be created to foster long term understanding. This assessment needs to be worked toward throughout the unit, and should have clear guidelines to help pave the way. Rubrics, portfolios, and performance indicators should all be considered.

Reflection:
One thing we all felt was very interesting was the push for each school to analyze the state and local standard and prioritize them. Normally, we hear how much must absolutely meet all the standards, and hear how stressed and overwhelmed teachers and students get in trying to reach these standards. We liked the fact the book actually admitted that some holes do exist in the standards, and that they need to be supported and supplemented. We felt it was important to sit down and scrutinize the standards to figure out what really needs to be expected and accomplished. Creating essential questions, clear goals and outlines, can all be an integral part of shaping the curriculum. The book also makes an important point that while standards shape curriculum, they shouldn't be the only thing used.
One thing we were kind of surprised about was the essential questions that they listed in the book on page 45. We were taught that essential questions should not be yes or no answers. We didn't think that a lot of the questions were legitimate essential questions, and lacked the depth which essential questions should have. Students should be able to write an essay response to each essential question, not just one word.

Posted by Alyson