Turning Points Chapter 3 curriculum and assessment to improve teaching and learning

Turning Points Chapter 3 curriculum and assessment to improve teaching and learning

This chapter dealt with how to create a solid curriculum and different forms of assessment that can help students learn and still meet the standards set by the state. When it comes to planning lessons, it is important that you do it using backwards design – in other words, you plan your lessons starting with the things that your students need to learn; once you have done that, you can then think of activities that will help you get there. It is also important to remember when designing lessons to make sure that the information covered is relevant to the students. Teachers need to get away from covering every topic in a given area, such as history, and focus on the depth of information. The rest of the chapter deals with how to create good assessments. Assessments are key because they can let a teacher know which students understand the materials, which ones do not, and what materials need to be covered more in depth. It is important to use a mixture of assessments and end the unit with a large “project” that connects the information learned to a real-world application.

This chapter was really nothing more than a refresher of practicum. I have been taught how to design lessons using backwards design, and I also know the importance of both formative and summative assessments. I think that the biggest problem with trying to do backwards design is that the standards are not always very interesting or well worded, and it makes life more difficult. The one thing that I did not like about the chapter was the talk of linking the standards to things that are on the state standardized tests. I think that there is enough emphasis on trying to take “teaching” out of the classroom and replace it with “studying or teaching for the test” – in the end, the kids might be able to get a hundred on a standardized test, but the real world is not one giant standardized test – we need to make sure that our students are getting the information, learning it, and are capable of using that information in real-world situations; if not, then we have failed them.