Chapter 3

Concept-Based Curriculum and Instruction
Chapter 3

“Academic standards are not a curriculum; they are a framework for designing curriculum. A curriculum is a coherent, teacher-friendly document that reflects the intent of the academic standards. When teachers mistakenly think that state academic standards are a curriculum, they may start checking off benchmarks one by one, which can lead to pellet-gun teaching.
If you examine the performance indicators across academic standards in science, social studies, and mathematics, you will find that science is generally concept based, social studies is fact based, and mathematics is skill based.”
There is a large section on math in this chapter. She begins with “the student uses place values to represent whole numbers and decimals”, and changes it to “the student understands that place value can be used to represent whole numbers and decimals.
She points out that the lead-in phrase “understands that”, gives us a generalization sentence - two or more concepts stated in a relationship”

If we expect to develop and shape conceptual minds, curriculums need to be revised from objective driven documents to idea centered. Even though Bloom designated specific verbs for different levels, such as the lower cognitive level of knowledge, and the higher cognitive level of synthesis, she feels we should strive for ideas and issues.

There is a large chart with samples of enduring understandings for certain specific grades and disciplines, as well as a visual arts framework. These are too big and too specific to add here, but worth looking at for your specific grade or subject.

She suggests that we provide teachers with three clear categories of information:
“What we want students to know (topical, factual knowledge)
What we want students to understand (the conceptual transferable understandings of the discipline)
What we want students to be able to do (the specific processes and skills of the discipline)”

She goes on to explain the difference between skills and activities.
“Skills transfer (analyze primary and secondary source documents to compare historical perspective)
When you attach a skill to a particular topic, you have created a content objective or an instructional activity.”

She has included a rubric: teaching to standards. It was similar to our end-of-year reflection, although shorter, and the categories included novice, practitioner and expert.

She discusses bringing district-level coherence to standards, but it could also be used as we develop our curriculum.
1. Unit development approach
“this method shows teachers how to address the standards using their content, and clarifies the link between what students must know, understand, and be able to do.

2. District framework in a “Landscape Design” Approach
She says one could create a landscape framework using just standards and textbook/curricular material, but feels designing the units first is much stronger.

Reflection (questions from the book):
1. Academic standards are improving academic achievement. In what ways?2. Academic standards still need revision. In what ways?