How to Develop Curriculum

Create templates. ^[6] The curriculum is usually arranged in the form of a diagram that includes a separate space for each component. Some schools will require teachers to use standard templates, so you should determine what rules you must follow. If your school doesn’t have a template available, you can find it online or design your own. This method will help keep your curriculum organized and neat.

Identify each lesson in the curriculum. ^[7] The lesson, or topic, is the main theme of the curriculum. You should organize your thinking or the state’s standards into several unified pieces that follow a logical sequence. Lessons will often include big ideas like love, planets, or equations. ^[8] The amount of lessons will vary from program to program and can last from one to eight weeks.

• The lesson topic can be a word or a short sentence. For example, a lesson on character development might be called “Deep Character Formation”.

Get ready for a tailored learning experience. Once you’ve organized your lessons, you can start thinking about the type of material, content, and experience that students will need to gain insight into each topic. This may include textbooks you use, passages you plan to read, projects, discussions, and trips. ^[9]

• Think about the audience. You should keep in mind that there are many ways for students to acquire certain skills and knowledge. You should try to select books, use multimedia technology, and activities that can engage students.

Write down key questions for each lesson. Each lesson requires 2-4 general questions that need to be explored once the lesson is over. Essential questions will help students gain insight into the more important part of the topic. This type of question is often quite extensive and cannot be answered in a single lesson. ^[10]

• For example, a question for a high school student’s fractions lesson might be, “Why does using division not necessarily make every number smaller?”. The key question for a character development lesson would be “How do a person’s decisions and actions reveal this aspect of his or her personality?”.

Set learning goals for each lesson. Learning objectives are specific knowledge that students will have to grasp and be able to apply at the end of the lesson. You’ve thought about it a bit when you’ve been thinking about the lesson idea, now you need to go into more detail. As you write about your learning goals, you should keep this important question in mind. What knowledge does the state require students to master? How do I want my students to think about this topic? What will they be able to do? ^[11] Usually, you can form your learning goals from a common state standard. ^[12]

• Use the SWBAT method – Students will be able to (Students can). If you feel stuck, you should start each learning goal with the statement “Students can…”. This is a measure of both skill and content knowledge. For example, “Students can write a two-page analysis of the potential causes of the Indochina war.” This will require students to know about information (the cause of the Indochina war) and use that information source (write analysis).

Includes assessment plan. You need to evaluate student achievement. This measure will help students know if they have mastered the knowledge, and it will help teachers find out if they are successful in delivering the content. In addition, the assessment will help teachers determine if they should change the curriculum in the future. There are many ways to measure student achievement, and an assessment process needs to be conducted for each unit.

• Use the process assessment method. Process assessment is often a trivial, non-serious measure that provides feedback on learning progress. While these methods are usually part of the lesson plan every day, you can add them to the lesson description. Examples include journaling, quizzes, photo stickers, or short written responses. ^[13]
• Use summative assessment. Summative assessment takes place once the entire topic has been taught. This assessment is well suited at the end of a lesson or course completion. Examples of this approach are exams, presentations, plays, reports, or student portfolios. ^[14] This type of assessment will revolve around focusing on specifics to answer a key question or discuss the larger topic.

Use the curriculum to create lesson plans. Lesson plans are often separate from curriculum development. Although, many teachers prefer to write their own curriculum, this is not necessarily the case. Sometimes, the person who writes the curriculum is not the person who will teach it directly. Either way, you should remember to make sure that any elements outlined in the curriculum are used as guidelines for lesson planning. ^[15]

• Transfer essential information from the curriculum into the lesson plan. Include the title, key questions, and lesson objectives that you are teaching during the lesson.
• Make sure that the goals of each lesson will help students achieve the lesson goals. Each lesson objective (called an objective, or “SWBAT”) is similar to a lesson objective, but needs to be more detailed. You should keep in mind that students will have to be able to accomplish their goals by the end of the lesson. For example, “Students will be able to explain the four causes of the Indochina war” is specific enough to tackle in one lesson.

Teach and observe lessons. Once you have developed the curriculum, you should implement it. You will never know its effectiveness until you use it with real teachers and students. You should pay attention to how your students react to the topic, teaching methods, and lessons. ^[16]