Leadership in Curriculum Mapping

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Leadership in Curriculum Mapping
Working with staff personalities and dynamics
Staff development considerations for implementing
curriculum mapping
Transforming Our Teaching And Learning Module 3
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Supporting Teachers through Change

• Teachers may not be team oriented and prefer the
  autonomy of their own classroom
• Teachers may be unwilling/fearful of being
  totally open about what they teach
• Curriculum mapping will identify gaps and
  repetitions that call for teachers to change what
  they are teaching
• Teachers must be willing to change if what they
  are doing does not benefit the child. The
  challenge for the administrator is to establish a
  culture that supports teachers through change.

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Consistency vs. Flexibility

• A district must determine where consistency in
  the curriculum delivered is critical for the
  success of their students
• On the other hand, a district must determine
  where flexibility in the curriculum delivered is
  just as important for the success of their
  students
• Each discipline presents different considerations
  when coming to consensus on what needs to be
  consistent across the grade level classrooms and
  what should be flexible

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Consider the dynamics of the change process on
the members of the faculty

• Determine how individual teachers
• react to or approach change
• Suggestion Use Phil Schlectys work, On the
  Frontier of School Reform with Trailblazers,
  Pioneers and Settlers.
• Identify the trailblazers, pioneers and
  stay-at-homes on your staff.
• Determine how your leadership group will support
  the various factions on the faculty

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Typical Teacher Concerns

• Is mapping the educational fad of the year?
• How will the maps be used?
• Who will see the maps?
• Will the maps be used for teacher evaluation?
• How will my peers react to my maps?
• Does my name need to be on the map?
• Where will we find the time to map?
• I already do lesson plans
• Where is the research on the impact of mapping on
  student achievement?

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Consider the dynamics of the change process on
the members of the school faculty

• Determine how individual teachers
• react to or approach change
• Suggestion Use Phil Schlectys work, On the
  Frontier of School Reform with Trailblazers,
  Pioneers and Settlers.
• Identify the trailblazers, pioneers and
  stay-at-homes on your staff.
• Determine how your leadership group will support
  the various factions on the faculty

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Staff Trailblazers are

• Motivated by novelty, excitement, risk and
  sometimes by the possibility of fame and glory
• Will go where no man has gone before
• Guided by their belief in themselves and in the
  vision
• Invaluable sources of inspiration and direction
  (both teachers and administrators) for the staff
  pioneers
• Who are your trailblazers?

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Staff Pioneers are

• An adventurous and hardy lot
• Willing to take considerable risks
• Have a considerable need for
• assurance that the trip is worthwhile
• Staff who sometimes begin their journey because
  of intolerable conditions, but will stay the
  course only if they are convinced that the new
  world is a better place.
• Who are your pioneers?

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Staff Settlers are

• Are boldbut are not
• adventurous
• Staff who need to know that
• the world they are being asked
• to move to is better than the one they are
  leaving and that the way to get there is
  knownthey do not appreciate being sent on a
  fools errand.
• Staff who want to know they are not taking the
  trip alone.
• Staff who need more detail and more carefully
  drawn maps
• Staff who need strong, constant, reassuring
  leadership that inspires them to keep going when
  they are tempted to turn back
• Who are your settlers?

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Staff Stay-At-Homes are

• NOT bad people
• Staff who dont particularly want to change but
  arent opposed to others changing
• Staff who stay-at-home because
• they truly love it
• Staff who will only move when allor nearly all..
  of their friends and neighbors have deserted them
  or when they muster the courage to come for a
  visit and find that they prefer it.
• Who are your stay-at-homes?

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Staff Saboteurs are

• Staff who will never come along,
• or if they do, they will make the
• trip as difficult as possible.
• Staff who may have behaved as
• trailblazers in the past but
• were betrayed by their leaders.
• As a result, they are cynical
• about the prospects of change.
• Actively committed to stopping change. Not only
  do they refuse to take the trip, but they do not
  want others to go either.
• Staff who want to be assured that those who are
  sounding the call to move will stay the course
  rather than turn around and go back.
• Who are your saboteurs?

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• Your organization functions and grows through
  conversations
• the quality of those conversations
  determines how smart your organization is.
• David Perkins,
• King Arthurs Round Table
• 2002 N.Y. Wiley

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Training Issues To Consider

• Pre-requisites (log-ins, standards assigned to
  courses, etc.)
• Group Size
• Hardware
• Bandwidth
• Room Set-up
• Follow-Up
• Training Settings vs. Normal Usage

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One Districts Plan Made Public

• The Principia St. Louis Academy
• http//www.prin.edu/acorn-upper/academics_common/c
  urriculum/progress_chart.htm

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Consider a range of venues for meeting the
varied staff professional development needs

• Various groupings
• Labs
• Workshops
• Work sessions
• On-line courses
• Observations
• Coaching
• Video conferencing
• Staff development days based on data

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Differentiating Staff Development Data Entry
on Maps
High
Technology Comfort
Low
High
Curriculum Writing Strength
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• Building and District Structures to Support
  Curriculum Mapping

• The building school improvement team can take on
  this leadership role for the curriculum mapping
  initiative as it is integral to the school
  improvement process

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Preparing for Success

• The site becomes the focus for the mapping
  initiative.
• Collegial support is essential for curriculum
  mapping success.
• A leadership group should be formed at the
  building level consisting of
• classroom teachers with interest in curriculum
  renewal
• teachers representing a a range of grades/
  departments
• at least one administrator
• a media specialist if possible.

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Leadership Group Ideas to Consider

• Rotate leadership group membership
• Consider having teachers serve 1, 2 and 3 years
  so no one is on the council for ever
• Determine times for meetings, lengths of meetings
• Generate agendas for all to see - meetings always
  open
• Create a job description for members
• Responsible for training new staff members on
  process of mapping, etc
• Determine how teachers will be rewarded for their
  time on the council
• The principal is a sitting member of the council

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Training options forleadership cadre

• Attending workshops from area service centers
• Attending national workshops
• Visiting school sites experienced with mapping
• Video conferencing

• Bringing in mapping consultant
• Viewing video tapes from ASCD
• Book groups that discuss readings on mapping
• Website research

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Leadership Group Activities

• Collect information on curriculum mapping
• Identify existing time frames for carrying out
  the phases of curriculum mapping
• Become knowledgeable about mapping basics
• Draft an action plan to introduce the faculty to
  mapping
• Rethink your existing support structure in light
  of your needs for successful CM implementation
• Teacher leaders
• Department chairs/grade level leaders
• Building School Improvement Teams
• District School Improvement Teams
• Technology support
• District office support

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Standardizing Input

• Determine the format teachers will use to enter
  data such as
• Abbreviations
• Referring to materials
• Columns to be used
• Contents nouns and noun phrases with
  descriptive adjectives
• Skills start with verbs higher levels of
  blooms

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Getting Buy In

• Develop a three year plan
• Clearly articulate how using curriculum mapping
  will improve student learning
• Teachers are usually resistant because they are
  fearful.so be well organized
• Get to read throughs quickly so that teachers see
  the value of the process
• Bring the union in at the beginning of planning
  and development

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Steps in the CurriculumMapping Process

• Work to create buy-in and connect with Districts
  focus
• Develop and share definition of curriculum
  mapping process
• Develop a timeline for implementation
• Develop a plan to train staff in the mapping
  process
• Develop a plan to train staff on the mapping
  software
• Select content area for district mapping focus
  for first year
• Select course each teacher will be assigned to
  map
• Complete 2 to 3 months of diary maps
• Conduct first read throughs
• Vertical
• Horizontal
• Work to resolve issues/concerns/questions that
  surface during read-throughs
• Revise individual maps or record agreed upon
  revisions in a draft Core Map
• Continue read throughs and revisions through
  remainder of year
• District-wide consensus on Core (District,
  Essential, Consensus) Maps
• Subsequent year for that content area use mapping
  process to integrate cross-curricular skills (and
  possibly work on alignment of assessments)
• Second year begin another content area for K-12
  consideration

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Assessment of Your Schools Mapping Process

• After the first year of mapping, use the Rubric
  for Implementation of Mapping to measure your
  schools progress.

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First Time Mapping Advice

• First time advice
• Concentrate on one discipline or content area
  or strand when first mapping.
• Add others in subsequent years.
• Choose initial focus based on data - identified
  student needs.
• Technology can assist in data collection.

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Rubric for Implementation of Mapping
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Rubric for Curriculum Map Entries