Chief among the many initiatives for the 2018-19 school year is “Understanding by Design,” a curriculum development process.
The purpose of the initiative, a curricular framework being adopted by the Westmoreland Central School District, is to create a common understanding among instructional staff so all teachers are planning with the same ideals in mind.
“Every teacher’s lesson plans won’t necessarily look the same, but they will eventually be structured in the same way to allow for every teacher, regardless of grade level, to speak about essential questions, transfer goals and the integration of skills, content and knowledge in the same way,” Superintendent of Schools Rocco Migliori said. “We really want to start speaking ‘one’ language as a district.”
“Understanding by Design” is being implemented in three phases:
Phase 1 – Establishing transfer goals, or the purpose of teaching specific material and how students will be able to transfer that material to other purposes in life. Why do we teach what we teach?
Phase 2 – Designing performance tasks using the transfer goals. How do we know that students understand, not just recite knowledge?
Phase 3 – Integrating instructional strategies to help students understand and utilize the transfer goals. How do we get students to that level of understanding?
Phase 2 training for all district instructional staff took place during Superintendent’s Conference Day on October 19. It followed Phase 1 training, which took place on September 4.
The second training kicked off with every instructional department working collaboratively on its department vision to determine its specific purpose and how it affects what they teach, ultimately coming up with ways to instill the same common goals, no matter the grade level. In the afternoon, instructional staff either worked independently or in small groups to develop performance tasks, specially designed to make sure students actually understand what is being taught to them.
Kevin Healy is the Director of Pupil Personnel/Curriculum K-12 for the Westmoreland Central School District. He is overseeing trainings and the implementation of “Understanding by Design.”
“This curricular design process allows teachers to ensure that they are all teaching to the same common goal,” Healy said. “Often, as teachers, we get caught up in the content we have to teach in order for our students to be successful on tests. While important, it’s not our only job or our only end goal.”
The next and final training for the 2018-2019 school year is scheduled for March 15. All trainings are being led by Andy Greene, retired principal from Candlewood Middle School in Long Island, New York. Greene has presented at numerous local and national conferences and specializes in cooperative learning, instructional strategies, assessment and observation/evaluation.
“Understanding by Design,” part of the Westmoreland Central School District’s Strategic Plan 2016-2021, is a three-year process and will be fully implemented by the 2020-2021 school year.
“This is an extensive and thought-provoking process for everyone involved, but will ultimately be done for every grade level and subject,” Healy said.