Curriculum and Instruction Goals
Adopted by the Board of Education
for the 2009-2010 School Year
The Board of Education has requested quarterly updates about the implementation of goals adopted for the 2009-2010 school year. To ensure timeliness the administrators were asked to provide updates with a special focus as the year evolves. For the first quarter, the English program will be highlighted with some background shared regarding the elementary schools and secondary school core subjects. The second quarter will feature math, and the third quarter will emphasize social studies, science and foreign languages. For the fourth quarter, “best practices” will be presented in terms of ways teachers and administrators took steps to ensure instructional excellence.
The Elementary Schools – Curricular and Instructional Initiatives
The Teachers College program has continued to impact the three elementary schools in a well-coordinated plan which includes conference days at Teachers College to provide a link between curriculum and guided instruction. To that end, nine sessions already have been attended. In addition, a consultant from Teachers College has made four visits to the schools for the purpose of sharing insights and demonstrating ways conferencing and editing should be implemented with the children. Other professional development activities have been grade level meetings, collegial circles, turn-key training and co-teacher training. This also included the use of videos with regard to varied writing strategies. There was attention as well to the use of leveled readers, enrichment activities for independent research, use of writing folders for children in grades 1 and 2 and the use of writers notebooks (journal/writers’ response) for children in grades 3, 4 and 5. This effort, to date, also has included the teachers’ use of flexible grouping, modified assignments, and modified tests.
To enhance the program, the teachers have been making regular use of the AV Rover machines and SMARTBoards to display literature and mentor texts as well as video clips from Safari Montage, YouTube and Reading Rainbow. They also have used PowerPoint presentations to ensure the development of keyboarding skills in the computer lab that occurred in conjunction with the reading and writing connection.
English Department – Curricular and Instructional Initiatives
At the secondary level a number of activities have been taking place with the English teachers to promote the students’ writing mastery. As a result of a collegial circle that occurred this past summer, the following will be required: For grade 9 an annotated bibliography; for grade 10 a Harvard outline; for grade 11 a short research paper and for grade 12 a senior thesis.
Curricula for Shakespeare and Great Fiction, two senior electives, the Sixties and the sophomore World Humanities class will follow the new writing expectations. These courses were submitted, approved for summer curriculum writing and are now being utilized.
There has been preliminary exploration of the creation of a writing center at the high school. The first step will be visits to neighboring high schools. Another development has been a curriculum mapping project undertaken to ensure the vertical integration of curriculum from grade 6 to grade 12 with the horizontal integration of the curriculum across subject areas. In addition there is a proposal under review to re-work the grade 12 curriculum for students not in an advanced placement literature or PigLit.
Attention also has been given to developing assessments that emphasize performance and media literacy which will be part of the new ELA standards. The approach promotes differentiated instruction and is based on performance and oral presentation.
In terms of technology, English teachers at the middle school and high school are making use of the SMARTBoard. For some this is leading to a paperless classroom. The curriculum in both buildings also has been enriched by integrating video clips from YouTube and Safari Montage into the lessons.
Mathematics Department – Curricular and Instructional Initiatives
With regard to math there has been special attention to Math 7 Accelerated. Highlights of that effort are listed below:
• Teachers are implementing strategies that they have been introduced to through the training of Nanci Smith, a highly qualified staff developer whose specialty is in Differentiating Instruction in Mathematics. The implementation of these strategies has been observed in both formal and informal classroom visits.
• Teachers of the Math 7 Accelerated Math Lab are utilizing a wide variety of strategies to ensure their students’ success. A significant new approach is to pre-teach the students thereby enabling them to participate more effectively in their regular math class. This has been made possible by scheduling the teacher of the course as the same teacher for the lab. These teachers have reported that they see more active involvement of the students as a result of pre-teaching.
• The curriculum writing project which outlines the new math 7 accelerated course is being closely followed. The three 7th grade teachers collaborate regularly on planning and implementation of this syllabus.
• Students appear to be succeeding within a much more demanding curriculum. The brightest students are not only being challenged by exposure to more enriching problems, but also are striving to meet the criteria for their selection into the Research Honors Program beginning in grade 8.
In another area the department has implemented the New York State Geometry course for the first time. All students enrolled in Math 3 or 3H will be prepared to take the Algebra 2 and Trigonometry Regents instead of the Math B Regents. This change will continue to prepare our students to earn a Regents Diploma with Distinction. The plan we have in place will enable the freshmen to pass three Regents exams by the time they graduate: Integrated Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra 2 and Trigonometry.
The non-AP calculus course is in its second year and continues to be an alternative for students who wish to pursue mathematics in their senior year without the pressure of AP calculus. There is also an exploration underway to seek a college link to a senior course in pre-calculus.
In terms of technology every teacher who has access to a SMARTBoard is making use of this enhanced technology at the middle school and high school. Some of the programs utilized are the Geometer Sketchpad, Calculus in Motion and Fathom. YouTube also is proving to be a valuable source for viewing and adopting model lessons.
Foreign Language Department – Curricular and Instruction Initiatives
In the area of languages, curricula for the language lab were developed by teachers in the middle school and high school. The department has continued to look at ways to review the curriculum and has proposed four new courses to the Curriculum Development Council. (Currently under review: Spanish in the Workplace, Spanish in Fairytales, Fantasy, Legends and the Modern World, French Film.)
Technology has been front and center in the department’s efforts during the first quarter. Every teacher attended a one hour webinar and has received extensive training on how to use Internet resources. Teachers are making use of the SMARTBoard and AV Rover and considering ways of distributing notes and handouts via the internet. The Spanish film class has access and uses a projector to view video film clips. The language teachers are making use of the language lab on their assigned lab days and are continuing to seek new ways to best utilize it.
Science Department – Curricular and Instruction Initiatives
Differentiated instruction has received attention in both buildings during the first quarter. This has been noted in lesson plans as well as in consideration of formative assessments and summative assessments as the teachers plan their lessons. It has been included for lab questions and has affected discussions in terms of cooperative learning, checking for understanding, guided practice and independent practice. The department also has taken under consideration data assessment results as they relate to prior performance and the preparation of students for test taking skills for unit assessments.
Technology – Teachers in the middle school and high school have been using the SMARTBoard for most lessons. They also have integrated video clips and videos using Safari Montage. Furthermore, the teachers have made use of virtual labs in the classroom to address different learning styles. The Pasco hand held mini-computer has been used in physics labs for data acquisition and analysis.
Social Studies – Instruction Initiatives
The curriculum mapping process has been undertaken in conjunction with the English department. It will ensure the vertical integration of curriculum from grade 6 to grade 12 and the horizontal integration across the subject areas. Guidance has been provided to the teachers by the chair; the professional development day, in part, was used to map what had occurred for the first quarter. There has been curriculum modification by the middle school teachers for the Justice elective to include components on social and economic justice.
In two other curricular areas there has been progress. The World Humanities Seminar is being prepared, and a new course proposal in lieu of Participation in Government has been proposed.
Technology – SMARTBoards have been used with frequency, a result of the training provided last year. They have been used to access YouTube for historic interviews, provide information about art and architecture and display high-quality geographic and political maps (capability to draw or trace). Use in the middle school for educational interactives such as Pyramid Challenge and Mummy-maker (grade 6) has occurred. Safari Montage also has been utilized to show relevant video clips and create playlists.
The aforementioned details represent a snapshot of what has occurred to date. It features noteworthy progress in response to the goals set by the Board of Education. Future updates will follow in kind.
For more information, please contact Dr. Frank Banta, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction, at 516-801-5010 or by email at fbanta@roslynschools.org.
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