R = Refer

"What did you learn today at school, honey?" asks Marco's mother.

Marco replies, "Nothing..."



As a teacher, there is nothing more frustrating than to hear my students think that they didn't learn anything. If the parent asked me this question, my answer would be entirely different. Why? Because I knew all of the learning goals and objectives for my students for that day. But did my students know what they were doing and why? This is the real question....



Looking at learning from a student's perspective, activities are what you do because your teacher told you to do them. If students are asked what they are doing and why, they usually tell you about the directions that the teacher gave but they rarely know why they are doing the activity. As result, activities become an "act of doing" rather than a true "act of learning."



If a lesson begins with explaining the goals and objectives (GLETs) to the students and frequent references are made to the GLETs throughout the lesson, this can help students begin to make connections between the activity and why they are doing the activity.



Try this experiment:

Step 1. Frequently refer to your GLETs throughout a lesson.

Step 2. At the end of every lesson, ask your students to think-pair-share the question:
What did you learn today?

Step 3. In the beginning, model this process for your students.

Step 4. Over time, monitor the quality of your students' responses and see if the students begin to make connections between the activity and the GLETs.

Curriculum Website

After working for over two years on our standards based curriculum, we are closing our eyes, keeping our fingers crossed and putting it on the web for the whole world to view...



Our curriculum documents are dynamic. Through implementation and reflection we continue to revise and refine our work. To view these documents, please go to:
http://schoolweb.acsd14.k12.co.us/curriculum

TRAP that Gap

You know how certain sayings stick with you? In standards based planning and instruction, I use the saying "Trap that Gap" to help remember the key points in all planning and instruction:



T= Targets: Begin with GLETs to plan for instruction

R= Refer to GLETs in instruction

A= Apply GLETs in student work

P= Post GLETs in the room



If instruction is intentional and students know what they are learning and can demonstrate their understanding, the achievement GAP will close.

It's all about the Grade Level Essential Targets (GLETs)

The meat of our guaranteed and viable curriculum is the Grade Level Essential Targets (GLETs). The GLETs are located in the middle column in the CFWs. When planning for student learning, the GLETs describe what specifically must be taught with regard to each standard indicator.

The GLETs should be used to plan daily instruction. At first glance, the number of GLETs that need to covered can appear to be overwhelming. The amount of necessary skills and concepts that our students need to know and be able to do to be successful in society continues to expand at a rapid pace. Considering that the amount of time students spend in school has not changed, how are we able to ensure that all of the GLETs are taught and learned?

If teachers try to teach each GLET in isolation, one lesson at a time, our curriculum is not viable to do given the pace. The only way to "get it all in" is to cluster similar GLETs together for one lesson. Recently, we began working with some teachers on the process of clustering GLETs together in a lesson. The actual process involves physically cutting apart the GLETs and grouping the GLETs under a common concept for a lesson. Clustering GLETs for a lesson enhances the viability of our curriculum.

ACSD 14's Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

I remember back in the 90's when Colorado introduced the state standards. I was a fourth grade teacher in Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8. At that time, districts across the state did away with the curriculum guides and told teachers that their curriculum was based solely on state standards. Although the standards provided teachers with a strong framework on what was essential, the standards were not specific enough to explain how they differed from grade to grade. As a teacher, I could not understand how such vague expectations could drive my instruction!?!?!?!?

Standards-based curriculum continues to drive public education today. ACSD 14 Department of Curriculum and Instruction's mission is to provide teachers and students access to a guaranteed and viable, standards-based curriculum. In order for a curriculum to be "guaranteed," teachers need explicit direction on the grade level targets they should aim for, with regards to the standard indicator. Hence, Grade Level Essential Targets (GLETs) for every standard indicator were created. Teachers in our district then created a "viable" pace for teaching the standard indicators and GLETs. This guaranteed and viable curriculum was put in the form of Curriculum Frameworks (CFWs) for every grade Pk-10. If all of our students have access to ACSD 14's guaranteed and viable standards-based curriculum, then the research supports that our students' academic achievement will increase.

Ten years ago, teaching standards-based
curriculum was like shooting a rifle at a target
blindfolded. Today, a guaranteed and viable standards-based curriculum is like shooting that same rifle looking through a scope.