By: John Binnert

In comparing the methods of curriculum development employed by ourdistricts with those outlined by Glatthorn, it seemed that no one felt as ifhis/her district would make Glatthorn proud. Everyone was able, however, tomake some important connections and distinctions between the curriculumdevelopment methods of his/her district and those outlined by Glatthorn inthe text. On the next slide, you will see a continuum representation of howclosely aligned I feel we are as individuals from reading the responses. Onthis slide, I’d like to simply provide a few interesting (and rather profound)quotes from our cohort:

Grace: “We do not follow Glatthorn‟s policies as outlined, but we do capture the „spirit‟ of his

suggestions.”

Becky: “Seems like we suffer from institutional ADD; everything is important, therefore nothing is

done well.”

Mary (but similar sentiment shared by pretty much everyone): “…building level

administration participation is not at the level it should be…”

There was a lot of agreement amongst the group about the importance of therole of the administrator in the curriculum development process. Manypeople acknowledged a shortcoming in this area for their school or district,and gave very reflective ideas about what they would do in the situation. Icreated a Wordle using most of the capture-able text in response to thisquestion and similar ones posed by fellow cohort members (see next slide).This is a nice visual, but here are some of the most common (and intriguing)ideas:◦ Book Studies

◦ Salary Credit Courses Taught by Teacher Leaders

◦ Restructuring PD for Short Term AND Long Term Curriculum Development

◦ Cross-Curricular Planning

◦ Lots of Listening

◦ Improve the Monitoring & Evaluation Practices of the School or District

◦ Formalize Innovative Practices For Improvement of the Taught and Tested Curricula

And what overall consensus does this lead to for seemingly EVERYONE?

We need to promote a positive school culture for effective curriculum development!

Over the course of the discussion, Lisa asked two very interesting questions about therole of the leader. There were some other hot-button topic questions as well. I haveposted her inquiries here for you to look at, which should help you find the fulldiscussions in the blog if you’d like to find out more/add to the discussion. Somemembers of the cohort also shared some similarly engaging inquiries, and I wouldstrongly encourage you to read back through the blog to find them. All of thesequestions led to some amazing threads of discussion, and I’d like to see them pursuedin discourse! I synthesized them all into some “Unanswered & Essential Questions” onthe next page…

How do we ensure that established policies and procedures for curriculum development are easy to understand and utilize?

How do we pull administrators away from distractions into curriculum development work?

How do we motivate our teachers to want to better understand curriculum guides?

How do we effectively integrate disciplines? Particularly at the Elementary level…

How do we best compensate our teachers for summer work or other outside-contract-hours work?

How do we get kids to write in math and the performing & visual arts?

What does it mean to focus on STEM education, and what resources are necessary for effectiveness of its curriculum guides?

As a school-based administrator, how do we ensure that there is adequate time for teachers to do curriculum work within the realm of their work schedule?

How do we prevent the textbook selection process from overtaking legitimate curriculum development efforts?

What is the future of digital textbooks and eReaders for classroom use? How do we ensure equitable technological access and adequate content complexity through the curriculum development process if digital textbooks become the norm?

How will the Common Core Standards impact textbook development and selection?

As you can see, there are a LOT of unanswered andessential questions that beg to be discussed. Whilesome or many of them will undoubtedly come upagain in the context of this and future courses, itmay not be enough for us. I highly encourage you,as your present and future colleague, to share yourthoughts about an answer to at least one of thesequestions on your blog. After you have writtenabout it, share that fact and your blog link in thisELC thread. Look for one from me in about a week.Go team!

Here are some resources that we felt should be mentioned in the context of the discussion:◦ Visit Michael W’s blog: http://mwjhuisteblog.bloodspot.com/2010/12/action-team-december-8-

meeting-with.html

◦ Understanding by Design (multiple mentions)

◦ Grace brought up a resource for problem-based learning, and others are hoping she’ll share!

◦ The book Results Now, shared by Lisa and loved by me (and probably others )

◦ Journal called, “Science & Children,” shared by Kelly

◦ “Engineering is Elementary” curriculum, shared by Kelly

◦ St. John’s College

◦ “Swun Math” & “FOSS kit,” both shared by Karen

◦ Great article about iPad use at Stanford, shared by Karen: http://www.fiercemobilehealthcare.com/story/new-class-stanford-med-students-receive-ipads-digital-texts/2010-08-10

I probably missed some resources…please feel free to add to this list in the ELC after you have viewed the presentation!