Getting Started
By zeroing in at the start just on the
social studies and science units, with
reading and writing to come later, th e
teachers gave themselves a manageab le
task. Decidingnottotakeontoomu ch
at one time naturally led to more buy -
in. By giving teachers classroom cove rage for the half- and full-day meeting s,
the school principal validated the pro -
cess while avoiding the usual rushed-through a er-school meetings.
A second driver for ICL integration
involved the use of a versatile online
curriculum-mapping tool that contained
a unit-planning template. at template
is structured to prompt users to add spe-
ci c instructional strategies and assessments enhanced by technology use.
Much thought went into designing
the unit-planning template, as it also
guided the Collaboration Team to
di erentiate the content, process, and
student learning products.
e template design originated
from the Understanding by Design
(UbD) sample templates provided
by Jay Mc Tighe and Grant Wiggins
in their Understanding by Design
Professional Development Workbook.
In the case of the HKIS, the online
curriculum-mapping tool is one part
of the myDragonNet virtual learning environment that also provides a
classroom management system as well
as electronic portfolios for students
and teachers. (See L&L, “Breathing
Fire into Web 2.0” by Justin Hardman
and David Carpenter, February 2007.)
In their annual review of the process, collaboration teams base their
discussions on the success of past assessments (Did students learn what
we intended for them to learn?) and
comment on how the essential questions, instructional strategies, and
assessments o en needed further
re nement and cra ing. New teachers are brought into the process to
bene t from the talents and ideas they
contribute while orienting them to the
curriculum that’s been adopted.
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KEY ELEMENTS OF THE
NEW CURRICULUM PROCESS
• Best practices for instructing
21st-century students in a
standards-based school
• Assessment-driven
curriculum improvement
• Differentiation for gifted as
well as struggling students
and various learning styles
• Integrated technology and
information literacy skills
• Curricular decision-making
documentation to meet the
needs of various audiences
(especially teachers new to
the school, administrators,
parents, and students)
• Expansion of the Collaboration
Team to include learning support, ESL, and other specialists
to further design the curriculum
to meet the needs of all students
Working Together
e instructional technologist and
library media specialist were already
versed in the unit goals because they
were on the Collaboration Team and
helped to write the instructional materials. at made it easy for them to
codesign the lessons they delivered
to the students to support the science
and social studies units.
e impact of integration and collaboration was immediate, grade-wide, and articulated from grade level
to grade level:
• ird-graders enjoyed a “Buddha-
Quest” designed by the librarian
to explore Internet-based sound-recordings, images, and text about
Buddhism while also learning terms
associated with using the Internet
(e.g., URL, menu, browser window,
server). e instructional technologist supported this short inquiry
project on Buddhism by teaching
the third graders how to use Inspiration. Students were able to record
and pursue their individual questions, capture images, credit sources, and paraphrase ndings through
their mind maps. Classroom teachers used the tool to pose probing
questions based on individual webs.
• For their nutrition unit, fourth
graders shared and compared recordings of their eating habits by
adding daily to a class wiki in their
Moodle course sites. e development of library lessons on asking
good research questions, note-taking, using subscription databases,
and citing sources tied directly to the
fourth grade’s essential questions.
• For h grade inquiry projects, the
WebQuests that were developed
integrated the next stage of ICL instruction. Teachers reinforced prior
skills instruction and added the next
layer—Web site evaluation and visual
literacy lessons—as they shot and
incorporated meaning-making images into their photo essays.
For these units, the librarian and
literacy coordinator purchased and recommended book sets for “leveled reading” in classroom readers’ workshops.
anks to the improved understanding of assessments, the media
specialist was able to supply resource
teachers with DVDs to sca old instruction to their charges.
e gi ed-and-talented instructor
conducted pull-out literature circles on
advanced-reader novels that directly
supported the themes and essential
questions explored by all students at
grade level. us, those gi ed students
received enhanced work rather than just
