Rigorous Curriculum Design

Middle School

June 17-19, 2014

Today’s Focus

• Revisit Prioritized Standards √• Naming Units• Assigning Standards• Develop Timeline/Pacing Guide• Construct the Unit Planning

Organizer

Units of Study: Defined

A series of specific lessons, learning experiences, and related assessments—based on designated Priority Standards and related supporting standards—for a topical, skills-based, or thematic focus that may last anywhere from two to six weeks.

Naming the Units

• Name all the specific units of study for the course.

• These units will be used to assess student comprehension of content.

• Units provide a framework for the course outline.

Naming Units

1. With design-team colleagues, consider how you plan to name the different units of study for the course.

2. Identify the units according to their purpose and dominant focus, and then name them accordingly.

Naming Units

3. Draft the names of the various units of study for each grade level and course within a specific content area; revise as needed.

4. Classify the named units of study by type: topical, skills-based, or thematic.

Types of Units

TopicThematic

Skills Based

TOPICAL Units of StudyFocus on a specific portion of a larger subject or discipline

Topical Examples

Science: Solids and Liquids

Math: Estimation

Reading: Story Elements

Skills-Based Units of StudyEmphasize application

Skills-Based ExamplesConverting Fractions to

Decimals

Making Text Connections

Editing and RevisingTopical

Skills-BasedThematic

Thematic Units of StudyEmphasize connections to other topics within the same discipline or to completely different disciplines.

Thematic Examples

Science: Life Cycles

Social Studies: Impact of War

Visual Arts: Art and MultimediaTopical

Skills-BasedThematic

Let’s Name the Units!

Assigning Standards to Units1. Make the initial assignment of

Priority Standards to the units according to each unit’s focus.

2. Match related supporting standards to each unit’s focus.

Assigning Standards to Units3. Determine the appropriate number

of Priority Standards based on their cognitive difficulty – average is three or four.

4. Distribute Priority Standards across multiple units as long as it makes instructional sense to do so.

Timeline or Pacing CalendarA yearlong or course-long schedule for delivering all of the planned units of study for a designated grade level or course, NOT the instructional materials used within those units.

Timeline – continued…• Begin with Number of instructional days or hours.

• Consider the complexity of materials and range of student knowledge

• Consider the End of Year test distribution of each strand (this may change depending on testing changes)

• Calculate in a buffer week

Work on Timeline• Using the Pacing Chart, fill in the

unit title and number of days or day ranges for each unit.

• Designate “buffer days” between units. (Used to tie up loose ends, pretest, remediate, and enrich.)

• Make Copy and rename by subject and grade level.

(Cells can be added as needed.)

Consider: Give pretests in enough time to use the

results to alter instruction. You will not have 90 days to work with

each semester – remember to build in days for Explore, Assemblies, snow, workdays, etc… Think about using 75-80 days total for each semester.

Building in days for unit assessments. Review questions to think about while

assigning days – handout.

Team Time for Working on

Timeline

Review of Process

•Phase 1 -------- Final Product – Identified Units Named based on Priority Standards with developed Pacing Guide

•Phase 2–Begin work on Units of Study beginning with Unit Assessment

Continuing the Work!!!!

• Possible dates and times for next meeting? Look at the calendar with your team…discuss possibilities…

• Present to Dr. Peterson for approval (pay)