Curriculum and Instruction

There are many research-based models designed to cultivate curriculum and instruction decision making. This includes creating an environment where educators and students are involved in the act of learning, including: students as learners, teachers as learners, teachers as designers of student learning, personalized professional learning, and students as co-decision makers with teachers about their learning.

The curriculum mapping model, based on Dr. Heidi Hayes Jacobs’ work (1997, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010), synthesizes aspects of traditional and contemporary models that focus on recognizing and enhancing learning, assessing, and teaching. Dr. Jacobs embraced the earlier mapping work of Fenwick English by articulating types of curriculum maps, as well as the need for vertical and horizontal alignment, cyclic reviews, and ongoing curricular dialogues.

Curriculum mapping training is provided as a series of sessions based on the private and/or public school educators’ identified level of understanding. Recognizing that mapping is an ongoing process, this training supports the active engagement and collaborative participation in an organization’s ongoing curriculum, assessment, and instruction decision making. As the moral of The Tortoise and the Hare conveys: start slow and purposeful to reach sustainability. Throughout this program, educators will learn how to be purposeful in mapping for both short- and long-term educational gains.

Understanding the new direction of expository writing includes a focus on higher-order thinking questioning, answering the right questions, formal writing process, and using graphic organizers as a tool for expository writing. During this course, the Toulmin Writing Model and information writing will be covered. Also covered is how to assess expository writing with rubrics and hands-on activities, plus how to create common language for writing.

This course covers the five essential instructional shifts that emphasize mathematical practices and the content they support, emphasizing how authentic video in classrooms enhances these shifts. In addition, participants will engage with high cognitive demand tasks and learn how to support them during instruction.

Participants will also explore practices—with respect to teacher and student actions—to help them understand the norms that are supportive of student engagement in the practices. Creating a shared image of classrooms where the focus is on student engagement will also be explored.

Everyone talks about implementing college and career skills aligned to close reading in their schools, but what does that really mean at a practical level for teachers in a classroom setting? This workshop demonstrates how to address key challenges facing schools when looking at implementing college and career readiness skills in the area of close reading.

Participants will learn: best practices for aligning instruction through generating text-dependent questions, how to design close reading exemplars, and how these practices directly prepare students for assessments. Participants will also gain a clear understanding of college and career readiness skills and the teacher-friendly tools they need to successfully implement standards in their classrooms.

This workshop empowers all K-12 teachers to use standards-based instruction that integrates technology and digital tools. Participants will not only benefit from learning more about a variety of digital resources and apps, they will be able to understand how each is implemented in the instruction of multiple subject areas. In addition, this interactive presentation highlights student work and cross-curricular lesson modifications.