Our social studies curriculum writing institute began today. I was able to attend for a couple of hours this morning and was given an opportunity to share some of my thinking on the importance of sustainability and engaging our young people in this work. We have a wonderful opportunity to bring Classroom 10 learning alive with this content, to bring authenticity to classroom work, and to provide opportunities for problem solving and creative thinking to flourish.
The institute brings together teachers from our system with support from our Teaching and Learning Department, Gilda Wheeler from OSPI, and Kayleen Pritchard from PEI. This morning Gilda shared information on what sustainability is to create a common understanding of this fairly new and critical concept. Both Gilda and Kayleen will continue to support our work during the continuing institute days and bring a wealth of knowledge and experience with them. We are fortunate to have these resources and we are fortunate to have teachers that are committed to writing the units and supporting the work of their colleagues.
Nancy and Kristen have created this writing model as an adaptive solution to bringing the curriculum into our classrooms on an accelerated time line. It is a new model that will require further adaptations as the teachers and others continue this work. I am excited about the potential as is Gilda who sees it as a model that she may be able to use across the state. She complemented our T&L Department and our teachers for being on the cutting edge of not only sustainability curriculum, but other curriculum work we have done.
I shared two books that I may have shared in earlier posts, but will share with you again on sustainability and the importance of changing our behavior while we can. If we don't, the world that these young people will inherit will be significantly different than the one we live in today. The first is Peter Senge's, The Necessary Revolution. The second is Thomas Friedman's, Hot, Flat, and Crowded a follow up to his The World Is Flat. Both books, in different ways, create a picture of current reality and what will happen if we cannot create a vision of a better place that influences our behavior and releases our creativity. Today's youth will become significant contributors to the creative solutions that are required in the revolution that each author says is required.
It would be great to hear from anyone that attended today's institute. If you are reading, please take a moment to post a comment.
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2 comments:
I attended and participated and it was great! I think the model Nancy and Kristin are using is flexible enough to meet the teachers' and the district’s needs. One aspect of the model that really helped me become more clear about curriculum writing was the importance of creating a Lesson and Assessment Development Plan BEFORE the writing of lessons, CBAs, etc. So often, I have just jumped in and started writing the lessons without having a clear plan ahead of time and then I just get mired down in the details of individual lessons, losing track of the bigger picture and goals. Kuddos to Nancy and Kristin!
Mike, What grade levels are the SS lessons for?
When can teachers expect to see this new curriculum?
Can you define the new curriculum model so that I can anticipate the changes I will need to make in my teaching?
How will the teachers involved in writing this new curriculum keep schools informed of their work?
Will this new curriculum replace integrated notebooks?
PS I enjoyed the Chris Lehman video
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