A Simple Approach To Writing Curriculum
As a consultant, I’ve had clients and potential clients reach out to me to write a curriculum. After our initial conversations or emails, I realized they described unit plants. Likewise, I’ve had folks request unit plans, but after a few probing questions, I realize they need a curriculum for a course. So today, I want to help you differentiate between the two and give you some tips on writing a curriculum.
What is the difference? A Curriculum is a standard base course of study that combines instructional practices, learning experiences, and student performance assessments. It’s a macro document. Its primary purpose is to provide an overview of the course, content, and intended learning. Unit plans get a bit more specific and exist within the curriculum. The unit plans outline the particular lessons, and activities students will engage in for a particular topic of study. So a curriculum will explain the intended learning for the entire course, while a unit plan will detail specific lessons and activities for a topic/subject in the curriculum.
Writing a curriculum can be a daunting task for any educator, especially if you’ve never written one. So if you’re thinking about writing your own curriculum, here are the basics:
The first part of figuring out your curriculum is deciding your goals for the course. What do you want your students to know or be able to do by the end of your course? To do this, think about your course as a whole, how you’d want it to function and how students' life can improve with the knowledge they gain from your class. An example might be students will learn to distinguish the difference between a reliable source and an unreliable source. Thinking about your goals can also help you figure out the purpose of your course. What need does your class fill in your school or education as a whole? Will it prepare students for something in the future? Is this knowledge a prerequisite for something bigger?
Once you have your course goals sorted and written, you should identify all the things you will need for yourself and your students to teach the content. For example, you might need textbooks, visual aids, composition notebooks, and anchor charts for your course. Consider also if you or your students will need to use technology in any way. The materials you decide to teach your content will tie in with the strategies you want to use in your classroom. For example, do you think you will lecture, use differentiated instruction, stations or group work, etc.? There are pros and cons to all of these methods. Don’t be afraid to mix it up. You might consider using both lectures and cooperative learning for your course. That’s perfectly okay. The point is to choose the teaching methods you think will best fit the content or subject you are teaching and your students' needs.
Next, you should decide how you are measuring student learning. You can choose to utilize formative assessments or summative assessments—examples of formative assessments including things like quizzes, quick writes, surveys, etc. Examples of summative assessments include exams, projects, presentations, reports, etc. I suggest utilizing a mix of both in your curriculum. Formative assessments are a great tool because they can give you a quick idea about where your students are in their learning journey, and you can decide whether or not you choose to grade them.
The most time-consuming part of your curriculum writing will be your standard alignment and creating your course syllabus. Standard alignment is time-consuming because it can take a while to find your state's standards on their education website. Then when you do find them, it may not be very clear. My suggestion is to always check with your department head or your administrators first because they might already have a copy that you can use. And make sure you are using the updated version of your state’s standards because periodically, states update what they think students are required to know and what is optional. However, standards alignment is an integral part of the process because you have to ensure your content matches what your state is expecting of students. Once you’ve found your standards, you can begin to use them to create a curriculum map to ensure that you are teaching the required information. When done correctly, your curriculum map should detail what you will teach, when you will teach it, what materials you need, and what assessments you will use.
This information will also be helpful for you when you create your syllabus. Now, I mentioned that the syllabus could be a time-consuming document to create. However, that’s completely dependent on you and how much detail you choose to include. Essentially your course syllabus should provide information about the lessons you will teach, the timeline for the lessons, the homework assignments and projects you will assign, and the learning expectations for your class. You should also include as much information about any exams or major projects you incorporate into your curriculum. Explain why they are important and how it proves students’ learning or progress in your classroom. In addition to all of this, some people also choose to include information about class policies, grading procedures, and the use of technology. You decide how much or how little detail goes into your syllabus.
These parts make up the essential required components of a good curriculum. When you sit down to write one, it’s not something that you’ll produce in an hour, especially if it’s your first time writing Curriculum. Though it is time-consuming, if you’ve covered all of these parts, you can be confident that you’ve created something with a strong foundation. It will essentially serve as a roadmap and guide for your entire year and provide anybody interested (I.e., administrators, parents, and students) with the necessary information about your course.