Curriculum Packet

Module 12: Curriculum Writing Process and Curriculum Guidelines

At this juncture in the class, we have identified and explored numerous examples of various decision-making approaches. While you have written several examples of such methods, it is time to design a compact supplemental packet that may be used in tandem with a curriculum found within any given social studies classroom. This module is designed to get you started on your curriculum writing project. Please read this module carefully. Also, I recommend you listen to the podcast that accompanies this module if further clarification is required.

So, why write a supplemental curriculum?

If you stop for a moment and think about it, if you are teaching, odds are you have decided to make your worksheet, lesson plan or even activity at one time or another. If you have taken any methods class before, you have been subjected to the "grill and drill" approach to writing a unit. While there are merits to developing units during your methods courses, the complexities associated with a five to seven-lesson unit are not always realistic to your setting or planning. Designing and writing your lessons has several distinct advantages that professional textbook companies do not. First, you know your students, your classes, and most importantly, the textbook's influences better than anyone else. As you teach the material, you know what works and what does not, especially regarding a curriculum map and requires specific knowledge. This is where your insight becomes handy. I have worked with several school districts in the Memphis area that encourage innovative curriculum concepts. This is your second advantage. Introducing material that may be used with the vetted material can work in your favor. Why? Think about it. Most publishers provide supplemental curricula for a reason. No rigorous examination is required if they bring in additional material to "add to the quality" of instruction already established by the state or district. In a sense, this is what you are doing.

We all have probably sat through teacher workshops where one of your peers talks about "some new revolutionary way of teaching," but this is different. You will go one step beyond this. You will design a supplemental curriculum packet using the various approaches taught in class to align with and mirror material found in the required texts. In a sense, it is a win-win situation. The material is still being taught, but you are just offering new, more interactive methods to help cover it! For example: If I am teaching about the Cold War, sometimes it is bland. If you have taught it – you know what I am talking about. The same could go with World History and teaching about the Crusades, the Renaissance, etc. Sometimes you desperately want to write your worksheets, activities, etc., but you are burned out or do not have the time. So, help yourself and your fellow teachers with material that still covers the material but is different!

So, let us look at my example for the Cold War. The Cold War is over several chapters within the textbook I use. Each chapter has several (generally three to four sections) dealing with the content material. You know as well as I that we often have to condense material to stay on track. I decided to take the several approaches discussed and write material that can be used in direct relation to the text. For example:

This curriculum takes a decision-making approach to various topics associated with the Cold War curriculum. The following lessons were selected because each offers an essential way of understanding issues and historical events that align with what teachers are already teaching. The collection of decision-based lessons addresses itself to such dilemmas as:

Postwar Reconstruction (lesson #1: Lending a Helping Hand: Postwar Reconstruction – Designed in the Forced-Choice format)

Beginnings of the Cold War (lesson #2: The Spies Dilemma: A Former Ally Becomes the Enemy – Designed in the Rank-Order format)

The Nation Seeks Internal Security (lesson #3: The Red Scare at Home – Designed in the Exploration format)

Life and Adjustment in the 1950s and 60s (lesson #4: Minorities and the Road to Progress: Mrs. Webster's House – Designed in the Analyzing Public Issues format)

International Crisis Threatens World Peace (lesson #5: The Dilemma of the Divided City – Designed in the Exploration format)

International Crisis Threatens World Peace (lesson #6: Escape from East Berlin – Designed in the Rank-Order format)

Leadership in the 1960s (lesson #7: Building a Great Society – Designed in the Invention format)

The bolded words illustrate the current sections found within the book. In parenthesis, you will notice the title of the lesson I developed that also uses one of the lessons learned in class this semester. In a nutshell – this is what you will do. You will design five lessons over the content material listed below and use examples and model lessons found in the modules that may be used as supplemental curriculum in direct support of the book. It can be for any grade level within social studies.

Your last and third advantage for writing such a curriculum is purely academic. The scholarship is a must if you plan on earning your advanced degree. Why do I say this? Universities have a lot to choose from in an ever-increasing tight job market for assistant professors. Most interview candidates have at least two publications or three to four national presentations. This is important! You will notice in the course syllabus that you are also writing a book proposal over your supplemental packet and a conference presentation. This is not designed to be a punishment! I promise! You DO NOT have to submit your proposals to a conference or a book publisher. Instead, I want you to be exposed to the possibilities of doing them in the future. Think about it from a professor's standpoint – would you hire a young assistant professor with zero conference presentations and maybe one book review or a young assistant with three NCSS conference presentations and a few publications?

Supplemental Curriculum Guidelines

You will write a supplemental curriculum packet using the decision-making material discussed in class. The packet is worth 122 points. Please use the following guidelines as you design your packet.

Please note that if you elect to use or incorporate elements of previous lessons (i.e. rank-order, force-choice, invention, negotiation, or exploration) and you did not correct ALL track-changes and suggestions, the assignment added to the module will receive ZERO credit. Please fix ALL suggestions and changes.

Step one: Decide what area within the social studies you wish to write your decision-making curriculum. The goal is to provide materials for your fellow teachers. You will ultimately decide on the content because the lessons are designed to improve students' decision-making abilities. If you are currently not teaching and need a textbook to aid you in this decision process – I will be happy to help you and loan you a book. If you are teaching, use your materials.

Step two: One size does not always fit all. What I mean is that please do not force the new approaches learned in class into the first sections of a chapter. For example, I mentioned writing a curriculum during the Cold War. Well, that is one large chunk of time. If you notice, I will space my supplemental lessons out in the small case or chance a teacher might use one now and then. You will also see that I attempted to use a variety of approaches. Why? This is designed to help teachers a) allow students to make decisions based on historical events and b) provide additional types of lessons other than ready-made worksheets. I ask you think about your content vs. the preferred characteristics of each lesson discussed.

Step three: Design a title page. Remember, the goal is to use this in a faculty workshop or even a presentation, so it needs to look nice. Please use the following guidelines/steps when you design your title page

1. Insert either clip art or a picture representing an image within your unit ( 2 points)

2. Using 48 font, please select a title for your unit. This should not be the same title found in your textbooks. This may result in copyright issues. Terms such as "critical thinking," "decision-making," "content-centered," or even "student-centered" are efficient and factual terms that may represent your work. Subtitles will be in 26 font ( 2 points)

3. Project/curriculum developer (i.e., YOU) and your affiliation. This will be in 26 font. If you currently work at a school and wish to identify your employer, you can. If you are not currently teaching, plan never to teach, or have additional graduate-level coursework to complete – you can say "Graduate Student, the University of Memphis" ( 1 point)

This section of your curriculum packet is worth 5 points.

Below is an example of a title page . . . .

Critical Thinking and the Cold War

Decision-Making Lessons for Teaching

Cold War Curriculum

Developed by Dr. Jeffrey Byford

University of Memphis

Step four: design your Introduction to your curriculum page. This is an important step. This page tells the reader the rationale for your material, why the curriculum was developed, and the material's structure to traditional textbooks. This section in your curriculum packet is worth 10 points. Please use the following guidelines/steps when you design your introduction page

1. The title "Introduction should be right-justified and 26 font ( .5 point)

2. Your name should be 14 font, and then your affiliation should be 12 font ( .5 point)

3. In one paragraph, explain to the reader a) why such a supplemental curriculum was designed and its potential benefits for classroom use ( 3 points)

4. Your second paragraph should be titled "Structure of the Curriculum" using 14 font. Explain why the following lessons were developed in conjunction with your decision-based materials in two or three sentences. You will provide a total of five (5) lessons that are aligned with material located in the traditional textbook. In this area, is it acceptable to use the title of various sections found in your textbook. As you will see below, I selected several parts found within the two chapters dealing with the Cold War. These are in bold. In parenthesis, I have the title of my lesson (which is decision-based) and the style of the format used ( 6 points)

Below is an example of an introduction page . . . .

Introduction

Jeffrey Byford, Ph.D.

University of Memphis

I am writing to introduce "Critical Thinking and the Cold War." This supplemental curriculum was designed alongside the many challenges of incorporating efficient and exciting material and lessons into the social studies curriculum while meeting the requirements for local and state tests. This supplemental curriculum packet was written to provide teachers, curriculum directors, and students with analytical insight into various aspects of the Cold War. Such a curriculum is designed to deliver practical lessons that may complement existing materials. Since most traditional classroom textbooks provide little formative assessments or activities dealing with Cold War events, such a curriculum fosters reflective inquiry and discussion over historical events often overlooked by textbook companies.

Structure of the Curriculum

This curriculum takes a decision-making approach to various topics associated with the Cold War curriculum. The following lessons were selected because each offers an essential way of understanding issues and historical events that align with what teachers are already teaching. The collection of decision-based lessons addresses itself to such dilemmas as:

Postwar Reconstruction (lesson #1: Lending a Helping Hand: Postwar Reconstruction – Designed in the Forced-Choice format)

Beginnings of the Cold War (lesson #2: The Spies Dilemma: A Former Ally Becomes the Enemy – Designed in the Rank-Order format)

The Nation Seeks Internal Security (lesson #3: The Red Scare at Home – Designed in the Exploration format)

Life and Adjustment in the 1950s and 60s (lesson #4: Minorities and the Road to Progress: Mrs. Webster's House – Designed in the Analyzing Public Issues format)

International Crisis Threatens World Peace (lesson #5: The Dilemma of the Divided City – Designed in the Exploration format)

International Crisis Threatens World Peace (lesson #6: Escape from East Berlin – Designed in the Rank-Order format)

Leadership in the 1960s (lesson #7: Building a Great Society – Designed in the Invention format)

Step five: Lesson format descriptions. This should be the third or possibly the fourth page in your curriculum packet. I have done this for you. Please copy and paste the information below into your curriculum packet. If you elect not to use one of the below formats, please delete it from the information below.

A Summary of Lesson Formats

The Rank-Order format emphasizes a hierarchical view of one's options, preferences, possible solutions, likes, and dislikes. This format enables students to consider and use the personal, internal, and hierarchical values and belief systems each holds. To respond to specific situations, students need to be able to select among choices regarding relative goodness and badness. The rank order decision strategy requires students to consider an entire spectrum of values, beliefs, or feelings while simultaneously using the value beliefs they hold as priorities.

The Forced-Choice format allows students to examine and focus on situations in which students must choose from among some equally attractive (or realistic) alternatives. In this model, students must accept one option and automatically exclude the unselected alternatives.

The Negotiation decision-making format stresses the weighing of choices and the criteria for selecting such options. Negotiation's essential function is to aid students in developing how to make decisions where they must surrender or give up options to gain or obtain options they believe hold a higher value. This format can be used to provide students with practice coping with situations in society where an individual must accept certain negatives to avoid more excellent negatives.

The Invention decision-making format stresses making a decision in situations where one's choices are not restricted; hence, students can invent a decision that seems appropriate at the time. This format helps students learn that the situation in which a decision must often be made influences how the decision is made and the decision itself. The invention strategy enables the student to take charge of their freedom to invent new alternatives to make critical decisions, even though it may appear at first glance that no satisfactory conclusion is possible.

The Exploration format serves as a regular exploration and reaction task that enables students to consider a situation, themselves, a set of data, or textbook materials by framing responses to a set of questions. These are questions students can learn to ask themselves to explore other situations on their own in the future.

So, using the curriculum packet I designed, I used the following types of decision-making lessons. You will notice that I did not use the NEGOTIATION lesson, so there was no need to have it in my packet.

Step Six: design a table of contents page for a fast and easy reference. This is worth a total of 1 point. Please reference the example attached to this module.

Step Seven: Develop five (5) lessons discussed and practiced in class. This section of your curriculum packet is worth 100 points. Each lesson is worth 20 points. The rubrics assigned to each particular lesson design will apply to this section. You must have at least one of the following lessons in your curriculum packet: forced-choice and rank-order. The three remaining lessons can be a combination of the following: rank-order, force-choice, negotiation, invention, or exploration. Analyzing Public Issues will not be used. One significant and helpful hint is to have the information for the teacher (essential dilemma, relation to the textbook, etc.) separate from the actual lesson. Why? This is done so a teacher can have the complete directions and non-teaching-related information separate when copying the experience for students.

Please design all lesson directly based on the examples provided in the course modules.

Step Eight: Develop a PowerPoint presentation illustrating your curriculum packet. This does not have to be a laborious task. This section is worth 6 points. Using roughly ten slides, attempt to summarize the following:

1. The Introduction and structure of the curriculum and summary of the types of lessons used ( 2 points)

2. A sample lesson ( 4 points)

Readings and Guiding Questions:

Information located in Module 12

REQUIRED ASSIGNMENTS FOR MODULE 12

There is no online discussion for this week.

Assignment #1 – Curriculum Project: You are required to construct a supplemental curriculum project using the criteria found in Module 12. The Dropbox for this assignment will open on 1 April at 9:00 a.m. and close on 22 April at 7:00 a.m.

Assignment #2 - Exploration Assignment: You must construct an Exploration lesson following the examples provided in module 11. Please refer to the appropriate lesson's scoring rubric. This lesson is due no later than 8 April in the drop box labeled "Exploration Lesson" by 7:00 a.m.