Curriculum and Planning

    Curricular planning has been a substantial piece of my educational journey that has truly engaged me. Personally, I find the challenge of digging through curricular objectives to create engaging lessons that bring attitudes, skills and knowledge to life, quite fun. I understand that I think quite analytically, therefore, analyzing verbs associated with each outcome suits this style of processing and plan building. I have found that starting my career in Grade 6 has pushed me to become well versed in the area of curriculum knowledge and understanding the rigorous assessment that can/should follow (Provincial Achievement Test (P.A.T.). In my first year, due to the fear of not covering a concept or goal that could appear on the P.A.T., I was driven to ask questions, be inquisitive and probe others as to why they teach, instruct and plan they way they do. I believe this aided in not only myself becoming more educated and competent, but also encouraged others to reflect on their practices and collaborate within their curricular teams. Recently, my interaction and desire to engage with the curriculum has led to the amazing privilege and great learning opportunity of becoming a curricular lead in my school. I have began to create a Professional Learning Community on a small scale, and am already seeing growth within myself as a teacher and leader, but also receiving feedback from others stating similar perspectives. 

    As a leader, it is vital that you are informed, encouraging and supportive of all stakeholders involved in the curricular planning process, especially when a new curriculum is potentially being rolled out. Although change is inevitable, it is human nature that change can lead to immense concern, anxiety and frustration. Becoming involved and supportive with/of teachers and modelling the learning process can directly impact the stress level of those you lead. The Alberta Leadership Quality Standards stated that, "modelling commitment to professional learning" is required of administrators, and this would be a brilliant place to demonstrate this skill (Alberta Education, 2018b, p. 3).  With my capstone project being centered around a PLC, I believe the research I am currently finding, decoding and implementing within my own practice, would also be impactful for preparing teachers for a new curriculum. A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is generally described as a collection of people who use data driven methods to reflect and improve their practice in a collaborative manner. A PLC is one strategy that, when introduced and nurtured in a school environment, can have a direct impact on improving the teacher in multiple areas, one being collaboration. This would be the first step an administrator should implement when providing opportunities for their teachers to acquaint themselves with the new curriculum. Drake et al. spoke to this idea as well in Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment when it was stated that, "... (teachers) take risks and out their practice under a microscope ... (when) they collaborate with their colleagues and engage in personalized professional development" (p. 153).   This can also be done district wide as teachers from the same grade subject and grade level could also be a new outlook and lens to the narrow scope of a single school community. Eaker et al. reinforces this concept in, Leading PLCs at Work Districtwide, when they provide evidence that districts improve when they encourage, "collaboratively analyzing and sharing ... school by school, grade by grade and subject by subject" (2021, p.8).

    When analyzing and evaluating my own school community, I strongly believe that of the learning opportunities we have had in the past three years, time to plan collaboratively and the encouragement of reflective practices has been the most impactful in terms of improving teaching efficacy and capacity. Which is why as an instructional leader providing time for this type of culture and practice is key to developing a solid foundation of knowledge regarding new curriculum and beginning to plan for implementing curricular goals into the classroom. Oddly enough, COVID 19 has been the catalyst for this change in style of professional development. Leaders began to see the challenges that arose in teaching online during a pandemic, and provided time for teachers to meet in a safe, collaborative setting. Educational norms began to take root throughout this process of learning to teach online, and have now sprouted into daily practice by simply encouraging learning to improve the teacher as a whole. Instructional leaders need to understand the curriculum in terms of overarching goals, attitudes and ideas, but what skill they need to possess above all is the ability to identify and empower other leaders in the school in areas such as depth of knowledge of specific outcomes, assessment practices and instructional strategies to lead from within as they navigate change together. 

Alberta Education. (2018). Leadership quality standards. Standards.

https://education.alberta.ca/media/3739621/standardsdoc-lqs-_fa-web-2018-01-17.pdf

Alberta Education. (2018). Teaching quality standards. Standards. https://open.alberta.ca/dataset/4596e0e5-bcad-4e93-a1fb-dad8e2b800d6/resource/75e96af5-8fad-4807-b99a-f12e26d15d9f/download/edc-alberta-education-teaching-quality-standard-2018-01-17.pdf

Drake, S., Reid, J., & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving Curriculum and Classroom Assessment. Oxford University Press, Inc

Eaker, R. E., Hagadone, M., Keating, J., & Rhoades, M. (2021). Leading PLCs at Work districtwide: From boardroom to classroom. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.