1. Curriculum Needs Assessment<br />By: Mande Taylor<br />July 1, 2008<br />EDLD 520<br />Dr. McCree<br />Section I. Vision and Mission<br />The mission statement for my school is “Our pride makes us warriors and our determination makes us fearless”.<br />Section II. Context and Methods<br />My Curriculum Needs Assessment involves departmentalizing the four second grade classes for four subjects with children of different ability levels. The problem we experience now is that the teachers teach the same group of children all day for all subjects and can sometimes experience frustration and a lack of variety in the activities for the lessons. Also, some teachers feel more comfortable or experienced teaching certain subjects rather than all subjects. <br /> I interviewed the second grade teachers at Winbourne Elementary about problems concerning self contained classes which are listed above and behavior problems. I spoke with the Dean of Students about the time of day when behavior becomes a problem for second graders by looking at the number of behavior referrals and TOR sessions that occur during the day. A possible solution to the problem would be departmentalizing the second grade classes so both teachers and students can get variety and attempt to improve behavior and teaching methods to lessen frustrations. Teacher A and Teacher B would be paired up while Teacher C and Teacher D would be paired up. Teacher A would switch students with Teacher B while Teacher C would switch students with Teacher D.<br />III. Personnel/Instruction/Resources<br />Personnel who would be involved in this departmentalization would be the principal, assistant principal, dean of students, and all four second grade teachers. Resources needed would be lesson plans, needed textbooks and workbooks, manipulatives for Math, Science, and Social Studies, and the Comprehensive Curriculum for all subjects. Instruction would be as follows: all four teachers would teach ninety minutes of Reading Block to their homeroom students. After Reading Block and lunch, Teacher A would teach her class Spelling and Math while Teacher B would teach her students Science and Social Studies. Teacher C would teach her students Spelling and Math while Teacher D would teach her students Science and Social Studies. These would be ninety minute blocks. Then the teachers would switch classes. (See schedule to avoid confusion). The schedule would be made to fit around lunch, recess, and ancillary times (Physical Education, Music, Art, Library, Computer). The instructional strategies include lesson plans, comprehensive curriculum, classroom and school rules, and educational websites (technology).<br />IV. Evaluation<br />Formative Evaluations that could be used consist of weekly test scores, the amount of students who received behavior referrals or TOR sessions for the week to see if behavior issues were affected, teacher observations of classwork, and student journals.<br />Summative Evaluations that could be used consist of pre and post tests for each subject at the beginning and end of each nine weeks, total number of behavior referrals and TOR sessions for each nine weeks, and report card grades for each subject for each nine weeks.<br />I am confident that this departmentalizing could work. The third grade teachers at my school tried this the last nine weeks of the recent school year and the teachers were pleased with the schedule and the fact that they didn’t have the same students all day. They chose the subjects they felt most comfortable teaching. I would like to see this approved for the 2008-09 school year for the second grade students and teachers.<br />Sample Schedule for Departmentalizing Second Grade<br />8:30-9:00 Attendance, Bathroom, and Calendar Math<br />9:00=10:30 90 minute Reading Block (each teacher would teach her homeroom class at this time).<br />10:30-11:00 Lunch and Recess<br />11:00-12:30 Teachers A and C would teach Spelling and Math to their homeroom students while Teachers B and D would teach Science and Social Studies to their homeroom students. (90 Minutes)<br />12:30-1:00 Ancillary time for second grade<br />Teachers A and B would switch classrooms while Teachers C and D would switch classrooms.<br />1:00-2:30 Teachers A and C would teach Math and Spelling while Teachers B and D would teach Science and Social Studies. (90 minutes)<br />2:30-3:00 Journal Writing and DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) <br />3:00-3:15 Homework/Clean Up/Get Packed<br />3:15-3:25 Dismissal<br />