(Idea Web)
Brainstorming is a powerful tool for curriculum planning. It allows you as a planner to imagine the many possible connections that your study might take and then to make strategic decisions about the areas which are crucial to get to, the areas that might be worth getting to if students’ interest is pulling there, and finally, the areas that you decide you will not pursue (cf. Dewey’s criteria of experience, p. 33). With this in mind, we would like you create an idea web, exploring the possible connections of your topic. Don’t worry about categories here--allow your list to include whatever comes to mind: concepts, skills, facts, processes, activities, assessments, or whatever.
(Final Idea Web: February 28, 2015)
The purple denotes core ideas. The pink denotes activities and books that have to do with the core ideas or standards. The orange denotes enduring understandings and ideas that I want the students to take with them. The green denotes a connection to a Standard (PA or CCSS).
The dark outlines are core ideas and activities. The dotted outlines are things that I would like to get to if possible.
The dark outlines are core ideas and activities. The dotted outlines are things that I would like to get to if possible.
(Standards Web: February 28, 2015)
Since I knew my classroom mentor develops her lesson plans to revolve around the standards, I knew that I would have to ground my curriculum in some of the PA Standards and Common Core Standards. I read through the Quarter 3 standards outlined in the guide given to Philadelphia School District teachers and selected standards that were important and interesting to me (February 2, 2015). Later on in my curriculum planning, I compiled them into a document and then started arranging them based on a logical progression of skills. Creating a diagram helped me visualize how each part fits into the larger scheme of things (February 28, 2015).
(Initial Idea Web: January 27, 2015)
The web pictured below was my first draft of my curriculum idea web. As you can see, I had a lot of trouble in the beginning trying to figure out what I wanted my generative topic to be and how I could encompass what I was seeing in the classroom from my students, what I was seeing from my classroom mentor, what I knew about the school and its vision, and what I knew about the standards.
(Feedback from Andy: February 3, 2015)
Anna, From your web, I am seeing a focus on understandings related to critical thinking, different perspectives (is multiple perspectives your central understanding?), and citizenship. You have activities and performances scattered throughout the web and I think this gets in the way of you more fully developing your understandings. There is plenty of time to brainstorm activities, but the web should focus on the connections among the understandings and concepts. Please look at the examples of webs in the other projects. Revising the web may be helpful to you.