Curriculum design

1. A School Approach to
Designing for Learning
Learning Intentions:
 To know that purposefully designing for
learning that is contextually appropriate,
strengthens a school’s capacity to create a
culture of success
 To understand how a school might use a
Designing for Learning tool to design a
learning architecture that achieves
consistency and invites collaboration from all
stakeholders
 To be able to identify an entry point for
individual schools, and to action plan for

2. Taking Stock of ‘what is’
Individually, or in school teams, use
the handout titled ‘Curriculum
Analysis Tool’, to describe the
current practices of your school, in
regards to curriculum design (10
minutes)

3. What does the research say?
Marzano’s analysis of school
effectiveness research (2003):
Empirical evidence shows that:
• a characteristic of underperforming
schools is lack of curriculum
documentation
• what is not taught is not learnt –
osmosis is not an effective teaching and

4. Marzano identifies five areas of
action for the implementation of
curriculum:
 identify and communicate the content
considered essential for all students
 ensure the essential content can be
addressed in the amount of time available for
instruction
 sequence and organise the essential
content in such a way that students have
ample opportunity to learn it
 ensure that teachers address the essential
content
 protect the instructional time that is

5. To design fair and
equitable learning,
teachers…
Identify desired results
Determine acceptable
evidence
Plan learning experiences
and instruction

6. Backwards planning
‘Backwards Design’ (McTighe and
Wiggins)
Identify
outcomes
Determine
evidence
Plan learning
experiences

7. Timperley, Wilson, Barrar, & Fung,
2007
Four important understandings arise
from the synthesis of the research
on teacher professional learning and
development, that has been
demonstrated to have a positive
impact on valued student outcomes:

8. Firstly:
Notwithstanding the influence of
factors such as socio-economic
status, home, and community,
student learning is strongly
influenced by what and how
teachers teach

9. Secondly: Teachers’ decisions …..about
lesson content and process are shaped by
multiple factors….Such factors include
teachers’ knowledge and their beliefs
about what is important to teach, how
students learn, and how to manage
student behaviour
Thirdly: It is important that schools set up
conditions that encourage teacher
learning
Finally: Professional learning is strongly
shaped by the context in which the
teacher practises.

10. A school approach to curriculum
design
 Vision for Learning
◦ Aligns contextual characteristics with the
Educational Goals of the Melbourne
Declaration, and with contemporary learning
◦ Is shared by all stakeholders; supports a
community of practice
 Includes the values that underpin the
curriculum design
 Includes 21st Century Learning
competencies
 Distributes the ownership of the Values
and key Competencies to all learning

11.  Principles that underpin the curriculum
design
 Leadership for Learning
◦ Curriculum Leadership
◦ Pedagogy leadership
◦ Assessment leadership
 Teacher professional learning
http://www.edtalks.org/video/professional-learning-makes-difference-students#.UK1NWeSyBLc

12. Reflection
Connect-Extend-Challenge
 What connections are you able to make
between what has been discussed so
far, and what you know/is part of your
existing practice?
 Have you developed any new
understandings as result of what has
been presented so far?
 How have you been challenged to think
with new perspectives, so far?

13. Curriculum Mapping
 Mapping asks teachers to reveal what they
are actually doing in the classroom during
the course of the school year, and share it
with their colleagues for the purpose of
consistency, fairness, and collaboration
 Mapping makes curriculum choices
authentic. Teachers and Teacher Leaders,
use the maps to:
◦ identify gaps
◦ look for repetitions
◦ align curriculum to the standards
◦ develop consistent and agreed practices
◦ ensure that they are ready for 21 Century

14. Mapping strengthens teachers’
professional practice
 When teachers work on curriculum
mapping, they implement the principles
of an effective learning environment:
◦ Collaboration
◦ Reflection
◦ Sharing a vision for professional growth
◦ Focus on student learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8etEUVzo2GE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsUgj9_ltN8
Heidi Hayes Jacobs Kathy Glass

15. Curriculum Maps Include:
 The topic to be studied
 The Timeframe available/desirable for
this topic (protecting instructional time)
 The Standards addressed (what
standards can be grouped?)
 The Key Skills and knowledge
addressed (what students will know and
be able to do)
 The Big Ideas (learning beyond this topic
and transferable to other areas of the
curriculum and to real life)

16. Curriculum Maps Include….
 Enduring Understandings (timeless and
general. What students will remember beyond
the individual facts. What will help students to
transfer the knowledge and make
connections)
◦ For example: Intolerance leads to
deplorable actions which can destroy a
community’s sense of compassion and
causes people to act immorally
 Essential Questions: break down the
Enduring Understandings and connect them
to the topic for study. They form the basis for

17. Curriculum Maps Include:
 Assessment decisions:
◦ Formative assessment guides the
pedagogical choices; acts as an audit
for inclusive and constructivist
practices
◦ Summative assessment: Tiered
common assessment task offering
multiple exits from the learning

18. I Used to Think..., But Now I Think...
A routine for reflecting on how and why our
thinking has changed
 Reflect on the concept of Curriculum
mapping
◦ How might this practice support student
learning?
◦ How might it strengthen teacher
professional practice and collaboration?
◦ What makes you say/think so?

19. Morning Tea
Please be back in 15 minutes

20. Unit Design
 Links Curriculum Maps to Learning
Sequences
 Helps the collegiate teams to ‘zoom in’
to the specific topic for study
 Begins the ‘Learning by Design’ process
 Asks team to clarify the summative
assessment task (tiered task)
 Starts the process of personalising the
learning by considering individual needs
and organising for moderation

21. Learning Sequences
 Make the learning intentions, the learning
process, the learning behaviours, and the
assessment clear to all stakeholders
 Helps students to:
◦ ‘experience’ the new learning
◦ equips them with tools and behaviours to learn
◦ ‘hooks’ them into the learning
◦ provides opportunities to ‘try out’ the new learning
through mini performances of understanding
◦ Allows students to evaluate their learning and the
learning of their peers, through reflection and the
use of metalanguage
◦ Maximises opportunities for learning through timely
and targeted feedback
◦ Provides a tiered exit from the learning

22. The Five Phases of the Learning
Sequence
 Phase One
◦ Set the context for the learning
 Phase Two
◦ Introduce the new learning in a differentiated and
constructivist way
 Phase Three
◦ First exit from the learning (applying the new
knowledge)
 Phase Four
◦ Second exit from the learning (increase the
complexity of the task. Add an Analysis element)
 Phase Five
◦ Third exit from the learning (students make
judgements, create new products/contexts)