001And I think it's too >> which one do you want? >> YouTube. >> Yeah, we're gonna mute YouTube. >> Do you have your screen shared? >> Not yet. >> But you're going to >> Okay. Did anyone tell you they weren't attending? >> No, it's not. >> Well, the good news is three of you were here, so that's good. >> Jack is online. >> And so is great. >> Who's online? Y and um here we go. Hello everyone. We're we're getting all set up here. Just give us one second. >> Okay, sure. No worries. >> This should open like this. >> We could almost set up the table. You should >> I can't see what's pointing at us. >> Yeah. And it's going to work. That look okay? >> Yeah. >> Want me to point it
002more towards anything? >> Get to get it to see down. Maybe we can just >> me to the other room. Thank you so much for being here. >> It's weird being at the front of the table. >> Jennifer, you can hear us. Yes, I can. Yeah. Okay. So, it's called the meeting to order at 4:35. Would you like to um You guys jump in in time. You think I'm on track here, right? Uh approval of the minutes. >> So, we have a motion to accept it. >> Okay. So, we're good to have been accepted everyone. Yes. Online. Uh, I'll abstain since I wasn't there. >> That's fine. >> You want to say abstain as well? >> Yes. >> I'm abstaining as well because I wasn't there either. >> Okay, no problem. Thank you. >> Thank
003you. >> Uh, the next thing is public comment. >> Do we have anyone for public? Um so now item number four, discussion and possible action on course additions. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you so much. Um so before we we begin, I'd like to introduce um three individuals that are here with me and because this is our first um meeting with some of our new board members. Um I wanted to introduce um these three who play a key leadership role um in the curriculum development process here. Um Mrs. Andrea Drury, Mrs. Vicky Holse and Mrs. Marissa Null. Um, and they oversee and guide the work of curriculum council and they really help lead the curriculum development, revision, um, process and writing throughout the district. Um, so they'll be here pretty much every meeting with us. Um,
004thank you ladies. Um, on their own time and um, do you want to just introduce a tell a little bit about yourself? >> Sure. Um, Andre Dury. I'm district instructional coach. Um and my job in the district is to work in all three buildings, the two middle schools and the high school. Um working with all things uh curriculum um teacher capacity, the POG um MTSS, which is our support um system in the district. And I'm probably forgetting other things, but um we work really closely with the teachers and the students just to improve the overall instruction in the district. This is my 35th year teaching in my um 11th 10th year at >> I had a question. Do you oversee who oversees the instructional coaches? >> Uh Dr. Carlson. >> Okay. >> My name is
005Vicky Holse. I am one of the librarians here at the high school. I'm getting ready for our very exciting remodel uh this summer. Um what is my job? I do a lot of different things in this school, but I get to co-e with a lot of different classes and subject matters here. Um I was previously an English teacher um of seventh and eighth grade. And then I've been here for eight years now, nine maybe. Um this is my 22nd year teaching. Curriculum is my passion. It's what I love to do. Um I it's what I feel passionate about making sure that the kids are getting the right things. So when this position and this committee was created um a few years ago, I wanted to take kind of a leadership role in that. It's also
006my job to make sure all juniors get through portrait of the graduate. So it's nice because they do link together so I can see and make sure everything links up. So that's me. And I'm Marissa. I teach seventh grade social studies at the middle school in Bethany. Um this is my 16th year, I think, in the district. And um I'm here in my capacity as the curriculum co-chair with Vicki. Um but you know the curriculum uh process has been really kind of reinvigorating over the last few years to really become highly involved. It's um something I'm really passionate about as well. Um I have had the benefit of being on both sides of now the writing, the feedback, and the overseeing of the curriculum. So um that's that's pretty cool. um and it's been a
007great experience. Uh and then I also kind of the three of us sort of seem to have our hands in a lot of different things. So um I also am helping out with the port of the graduate for for this year um at the middle school. >> Thank you so much. All right. And so uh today what we'd like to do is there are two new courses we're going to be proposing um to bring to AMD and to provide to our students. Um and then we thought after um Jess presents, we're going to move on to a curriculum overview. And we thought it would be a great way to ground our shared understanding around what is curriculum, what is the process for writing curriculum. Um and this way once curriculum is brought to you, you'll
008feel confident and really comfortable um in moving it forward and recommending it to the full board. Um so I'm going to introduce now our visual performing arts. I know it's a long title. Um it's getting longer. um uh Jess Zamaha and she's going to present on the two new courses. >> Thank you for being here, Jess. >> Thank you. Um so we have Oh, good. Thanks. Um the unified arts class is a thing that I've been working on for years to try to figure out. It kind of parallels the uni PE class and uni science class that we have or atypical peers can be in that same class. The typical peers where they be the typical peers are mentors to them and they help them and almost like guide them through all the projects. Those
009typical peers will also plan lessons and activities for the kids because they get to know the atypical peers um very well. They know what their strengths are, what they really like. So they'll be able to gear projects around what their motor function is and different things. Um so the halfyear course and for both sides normally the unified is a full year course for the atypical peers and then half year for everybody else. This is all half years because that's how our course is run. The trick with this one is it will be authority in any area of visual performing arts. So it's based on teacher and what teacher is going to be needs a class or has a pre-opening in their schedule. We will so one year it could be theater one semester it could
010be theater. The next semester it could be music then it could be visual arts another year and then if it's visual arts again it might be in a different teacher. So they might do all different things. >> So it's a really interesting experience in that sense. Um I think it's going to be great. I don't think I think this helps us because a lot of times with the atypical peers in in regular classes I have them right now in ceramics too which is a little it's hard to teach them in that class with other students who are teaching at a different were at a different level. So this will give a very great opportunity for those students to really get that social interaction and the hand and motor skills and all of that that happens.
011Any questions? Any question? Yes, >> I got a couple on it just because I I used to work at a school and help with the special needs. >> Are like and I don't know if you can answer this. Do we have a large special needs population? I mean like doing like the elected officials walk through not seeing a lot. >> We saw the science. They I think they were saying that about nine or 10 atypical students in the class. >> We have one program in in the middle school orange our sales program and another program at the high school on our sales program. Um and then the number of students in that that program varies depending on the needs. So it's like 10 20. It's not like 30 40. >> And so the nonatypical they're
012volunteering to be connected. They're signing up. Okay. Yeah. That's okay. >> So it's not like you're assigning like, hey, Christian gets to take care of me, which would be torture, but >> it choose it as an elective. And then my you know we actually just had where we talked to the people who are running those unified classes right now and they said they rotate those centers throughout the so we don't stay with the same kid all the time and they have all the paras in the room and everybody's there. So if there is ever a situation that we have >> and there's a criteria for those partners that are interacting like you just like you have to have some kind of a training some kind of and that they can go like in your ceramics
013class they're over here working that one onone so you can now work with the other 15 in the class. So a little more >> well this would just be for them. So this is this class won't have 15 right typical students in one. This will be separate class section. >> Oh, okay. Oh, I thought you were doing it like, "Hey, Christian takes care of me in the corner while you're over here with the rest." >> So, this class is just a mentorship, which really typical students to mentor. >> Oh, okay. That makes more sense. >> Yeah, it seems very cool. They from what I understand their main teacher comes in and does and sometimes the speech and language and the OT will come in and talk to the students the typical students without the atypical
014students to say here's what is going on. Here's some help in situations if you ever see some of this. So they kind of give them some training to help them see like >> what's going on, what they might hear, what they might encounter. What happens if you don't get enough typical kids that sign >> still run the classes as an adapted class? Okay, the oneonone instructor prepar still follows the student, right? >> They try to put as many. Well, if they're all in there, they're all in there, right? The whole time in our classes, we don't have enough. So, we'll end up without that sometimes or every other day or for a few minutes or kids just won't come to our class that day because they don't have a pair. hopefully solve all that. >>
015So who signs up for class >> any 9th through 12th grade student who wants to have this >> decide that they want to have that experience? >> I've got a lot of students. It's really interesting when you have them they end up going into specializ. Yeah, it's very interesting to see like I know a few students this year who are in those unified classes and they're gearing towards special education. >> They love >> and we also have an after school club. So there are a lot of students that are interested in working with um students in our sales program. So that starts at the middle school the after school program um and then that'll continue here. And so a lot of those students want to sign up if they're elected and we have unified PE.
016>> It's a popular class now. I do think that they've had to limit it somewhat because they've had so many kids try to take it and they're like >> we don't need that many of you to take it and then sometimes like the gym teacher will kind of not interview but like talk to kids and be like who really wants this class because maybe they're pursuing something in special education or they do a lot of work with like special Olympics sometimes so they have like or they're a best buddy yet they look for the best fit for those kids. So um >> teacher wise um who would be teaching something like this? So this would rotate between anybody. So we're all getting we're all working on we're all kind of getting figuring it out together.
017Um how it goes one year it could be unified theater for one semester because my theater teacher has open we couldn't run a class right. So when the next semester it's so be a teacher that has an opening in that you that I need to fill in sense or if the teacher really wants it or >> yeah I know that you know like be really hard for my ceramics teacher because of class we have many kids who want ceramics and that's going to be a hard one to run but it could be in a different teacher. I'm just curious if you guys could hear me. Um, are there enough uh special needs children who would be interested in multiple different types of art classes? Um, how will you kind of determine, you know, art, you
018know, if it's theater, are there enough kids who are interested in theater? Or if it's, you know, a visual art, are there enough kids, um, you know, interested in the art itself? Yeah, I think based on our experience currently without having this, we know we have the students who are interested in these classes and they're currently taking classes just all separately and where this class can be geared more appropriately for them and and to have that mentorship opportunity with other students in it. We'll just set them up for more success because right now it's a lot to work with them in a regular class setting. Um, and this will give them more specialized assistance and >> and that social stuff will also really be beneficial. They really love the PE >> course. Like if you
019ever having a bad day, you go to PE, unified PE to make your like day better because it's just fun. The kids are so positive with each other, the whole group. Like it's like a family when you go in. So, um, I think unified arts is a great thing. Sounds like it's using available time also. So teacher has that time. So you're filling available not taking away from one create another. >> Thank you. >> And public speaking. >> Let's do completely. This is not for atypical. >> They're both for me. >> Well, maybe they are typical atypical students. >> They are. um public speaking it's a hole that we have in this school as far as a class we don't we have a communications class but it doesn't focus on that public speaking uh section
020completely so this was um right now I'm thinking the theater teacher would be teaching this one because he is now training other students he just went up to science research and taught them all how to speak like and present their research topics and different things he'll go he'll work with the graduation speakers right now to get them ready to speak at graduation. So, he is the person for this role. This is right now rolling out 11th and 12th grade only because we want to be careful of our hit on the 10th grade electives. We some structured changes late in the last five years. We've seen a little dip in the 10th grade. We want to not put one more thing in there. Um but I think that it' be really good for them to learn
021how to do what we all have to do very well. Um I did have a question in the council meeting confused on which name is which. >> Correct. Yes council committee. What happens when you get students who have a 504 or an IP with they can't do public like you know they don't want to speak in public? >> It's an accommodation in their plan that says they don't have to do presentations in front of the class or something like that. >> Have to figure that out. But I mean we were also saying it is a public speaking class. So your counselor should be working with you to say, "All right, you have this in your IP. Are you sure this class is a public speaking class?" The expectation is that you try to speak to
022public. Obviously, we're not going to put them in front of the 400 people at Brady Center, but maybe they just speak to five people instead if that's their comfort zone. you know, we we make accommodations in the arts all the time, so I'm not really worried about that being a problem, but I think it' be a really cool class. And I can say this class, I'm hoping a lot of 11th graders take it >> because a fortune of the graduate um one of the things we knew last year when we ran presentations for the first time is these kids don't know how to do public speaking and that's something they struggle with and how can we teach them explicitly those who struggle with it forget my theater kids who it comes you know naturally to
023them and they're like I will do a show for you for the kids who really struggle to get up in front of people that um we can build those skills And then they're going to be using them in 11th grade when they do their presentations for Portrait of the Graduate. The teacher who plans to teach this is going to be doing like a mini lesson with the juniors before they do their portrait of the graduate this year to be like here are some tips and tricks to kind of help you get through this because all 356 juniors have to do that. >> I'm a little surprised that it's not already embedded in the curriculum. So oral presentations are embedded but the teaching of public speaking skills is so unique into today's climate and like what
024does a good presentation look like and sound like. Um, we have some teachers who have embedded like TED talks into the curriculum and you know I know that's coming up senior elective year but when there's so much in the curriculum with reading literature like the class it seems like it naturally goes in is English but when there's reading literature reading non-fiction writing speaking and listening and the grammar piece something always gets a little bit on the short end and it tends to be the speaking and listening and the way we truthfully assess that in English class is through class discussion. questions more and you know seminars which is very different than >> I am up here by myself >> doing a presentation >> and not every kid in English >> correct >> so it is
025embedded it's just that this is going to be very much tailored for >> well maybe that little piece that's embedded already can really feed into this more >> possibly oh absolutely >> the presentation skills are embedded but not necessarily the active >> pacing tone, >> how to use ethos, pathos, logos in presentations to keep them engaged. Like those are the things that I think public speaking will expand on. >> Is this a half year? >> Most of our courses in visual are so that they can fit other things that are required. >> Makes it easier schedule. Do they have any questions? >> Any other questions online, guys? Any questions online? >> Nope. >> So, does anyone want to make a recommendation to move this to the full board? We wouldn't be able to do it
026tonight. It's not on the agenda, but we can put it on the full board agenda for next month. >> I think we can do that. >> Okay. >> I would recommend it. >> I'll recommend it. Sure. So, do you want to go with Donna as the next motion? >> Okay, thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you so much for staying. I appreciate it. >> So, yeah. >> Okay. So, um Donna, I think you might have heard part of this presentation um previously. Um but for our new board members, we wanted to just kind of share a quick overview of um what curriculum is, how we use curriculum here, and what the process of writing and approving curriculum is here at Amity. Um so when we're talking about curriculum, we're talking about a blueprint
027for learning that's connected to the standards, um which are often state or national standards. um takes the content from each uh department and shapes it into a plan of how to conduct effective uh teaching and learning and it is not a list of topics or the course to sort of be run. Um it it is it is more than that and includes the learning activities as well as the essential questions that students are going to grapple with throughout throughout the course. Um we have uh oh we have the universal I'm sorry understanding by design model that we that we use here at AMD. Um and that essentially means that we plan our curriculum backwards. We start with the end in mind. So um looking at three stage design process the results the evidence of those
028results and then the learning plan to get to those results. Um, one of the biggest goals of the curriculum of each course is um, we look at understanding and understanding to us means a successful transfer of knowledge. Um, so they can't they can take the what they've learned and not just apply it to the situation specific that's brought up in the class, but to other situations as well. um do this. >> I don't just to know that that we use those the state of Connecticut um standards for our things and we also use the the curriculum that they have on the state level to kind of help guide any of the work that we do making sure we're matching those expectations as well. With the exception of dual enrollment classes, we follow the university's recommended
029syllabus and plan. So the components of the curriculum that we uh directly uh provide professional development to our writers before they begin writing are these kind of components and each one of these would be reflected in our unit plans um for each unit and each course. So we have the established goals which are the content and objectives. We have again those enduring understandings. So the content of and work that are desired, what big ideas enable the connections and as I said that transfer of knowledge and then they also look at what students might misunderstand. Um because if you um the way we explain it to our teachers is that um a misunderstanding is not that they are wrong. It is that they have unsuccessfully transferred the knowledge. So they have they have to have some
030knowledge to have a misunderstanding. Um, we have essential questions that guide our learning and these are big indepth kind of grapple questions. Um, thoughtprovoking questions that they might grapple with over the course of a unit or even a whole course. Um, and then we have the knows that's kind the kind of knowledge and the skills. That's the we call them the dos. So together those are referred to as the k u ds knows understands and doses. >> You're giving a quiz at the end. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Anytime we can give acronyms, we're like all about it. >> Um, this next slide is just an example. Um, we've pulled out some things from the English grade 11 uh unit specifically about narrative writing. In 11th grade, the narrative writing unit is having them work on
031their college essay. So, these are the standards. These literally come from Common Core. So these are the standards that the English teachers when they're teaching this unit are making sure they hit so that they students can meet these uh standards by the time that unit is done. So this literally comes directly from the common core. The next slide is going to give you a little bit of snippet of the big ideas and enduring understanding. of some of the things that they'll learn in this unit. Narrative techniques such as using dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, which is pretty big in the college essay. Um, multiple plot lines and characters. Characters being themselves in the college essay. Um, how to hook a reader, really important in college essay because let's be honest, those college admissions officers are not
032reading every word of every college essay. So, really hooking the reader to begin with is really important. how to paint a picture in words is uh increasingly important. You know, 650 words feels like a lot and then they write it and they go, that's all it is. And we're like, you have to be concise and to the point. Move it. You don't have five pages to go on about yourselves, although you probably could. So, um showing them organization with that. We really push reflection, which is something we push through Portrait of the Graduate anyway. So, it's something we hope that by junior year they're feeling more comfortable with and can kind of reflect on why is this the topic they're choosing for this college essay and what do they want their readers to get out
033of it. Remember, the college essay still is all about you telling them who you are beyond what your resume and your letters of recommendation tell you. Um, a lot about writing that it's a process how to tell stories. I won't read the rest of them to you, but these are the big ideas and enduring understandings and that we want students to know that beyond the college essay. This is all good techniques for telling stories and we communicate through stories, whether written or verbally, these components don't really change. So, it's making sure students really understand that right now it feels like you're writing the college essay to write the college essay, but these skills are actually used and applicable throughout life, too. And then the last little thing is here's the essential questions. So in 11th
034grade, it's a unique English course be in the sense that they use the same essential questions all year long throughout all of their books, but they do um tie these into the um learning throughout all of the units. So here they are. What is the nature of truth? Are human beings inherently good or evil? What governs a person's actions? And what is the nature of power? So throughout the literature and the college essay, everything they do junior year is kind of foundational in these essential questions as well. And then you can see the dos are here. Dos all start with verbs. You'll notice determine the central theme, analyze the narrative techniques. So they do pure editing with this as well, but these are all the things that students would do to accomplish that narrative unit.
035So just some small things there for you to see in practice what these pieces look like. >> Okay. And when we talk about backward design, um we talked about um we use the UBD format for that. And what that really means is we start at the very end. Um for us, that's the portrait of the graduate. What are we looking for students to be able to do by the time they finish the courses that they have here at AMD? Um we look at that and what do students need and then we look at a particular course um across you know grades 7 through 11. what are the things that students need? Um, and then we work backwards from there. So, every time that we are writing curriculum, we're looking at that end point and then
036working backwards. And once we're writing for a particular course, we look at what we want students to know by the end of that course. Um, what are the units that are going to get us there? And at every point along the way, we're just kind of working backwards um to make sure that we know where we're ending um and it brings us back to that beginning point. So um that for us is knowing that clear destination of what we want students to be able to do um by the time that they finish. I have >> a question. So um once you decide where you want a student to end up whatever arena that is like writing or you know reading whatever >> um then you start backpedaling and in and designing like what has to
037happen in the end of 12th grade, the middle of 12th grade you go backwards. Correct. Right. Where do where does the um materials come in? Is that where you decide, well, in order to get this, we have to look for materials to support this. >> We actually are starting with um what we want students to know, understand, and be able to do, right? >> Um that what the materials are, what we're actually going to teach >> tools for getting there >> is is the last step in that process. Um so when we talk about um UBD has like a three part sections to it and that that last section is the learning activities and that's what it's really hard for teachers when we go to write curriculum to say >> we know you want to
038jump to like what are your lesson plans going to be right what the day-to-day things are but we really need to focus on what do we want students to be able to do by the end of this unit um and we work backwards with them and then we talk about >> the learning activities which is you based on where you want them to go. That's where you decide on what materials and tools are going to support you. >> Yeah. And then meet in meeting we we try to really make sure that all of the teachers of that course. So English 11 when we wrote that um curriculum all the English teachers that teach 11 were sitting around the table. Um and we had came up with what were the required activities, what were the suggested
039activities, what were the required tests um etc. And how do you go about get um deciding on like how do you like you know if you're needing new textbooks or you need new software to support it? How do you where does that exactly come in? >> Yeah, it's it's all part of this process that we're you know when we talked to you about curriculum council um and the process that we're going through kind of everything feeds through Dr. Carlson's office ultimately but um we have a lot of structures and systems now in place to say um like we have a five-year textbook forecast. So, if if we're thinking that we're going to be rewriting a certain curriculum a few years down the line, you know, that that's in the textbook forecast that that might be
040something that comes up. Um, you know, there are there are things like if it's just a few copies of a book, then we we can work that into our budget for yeartoyear things, but something really big. >> And who has input in those decisions for materials? Like is that something that teachers start generating? I can tell you from social studies, we um got new state standards that were finally approved in I think it was 2023, 2024 maybe that they they were approved and what we did is they were quite different standards than what we had previously had. Um, so we we came up with kind of a scope and sequence of of what we would be addressing over the year and then we found three textbook options um that would all fit that curriculum and
041we piloted them um among students and then at the end of I think we did half a year pilot we uh surveyed the students, we surveyed the parents, we surveyed uh the teachers themselves and we we picked you know we we gave input and Then from there, of course, there was a budget process and things like that. Yeah. >> And then just to add on to what Mrs. Jury said, before curriculum even comes to this committee, there is so much leg work behind the scenes that you guys don't see. Um, as M. Jury said, there's a very clear protocol and process in place that teachers go through first. It starts with them and then their department their department head then their building administrator and then it comes to me and then we bring it to
042I we we discuss it and then we bring it to curriculum counsel and then it comes to you. >> So it's very intentional. It's very thoughtful. Um and it's it's a really lengthy process because we want to get it right. >> Um and it's and it's expensive too, right? Like very budgetary. That's the other piece to it because you know if you don't get the materials that support it then you get your phone out the door and buy new materials. >> Right. Right. >> Thank you. >> Um >> yeah you can move to the next slide. Um so in a general this is one of our favorite slides because we um just so you know um every teacher who writes curriculum in our district and and Vickiy's going to talk a little bit about curriculum
043council in a minute but um we have trained every teacher the three of us um who's currently writing or has written curriculum in the last few years. We do a training and we talk to them about the whole process. Um we we make sure that they're very supported on those initial days. we provide support as they're writing. Um, but this is one of the things that we tell our our um teachers when they first come is that when you look at written curriculum, and you'll see a lot of it over over the next um few years, Donna can kind of speak to that. Um, it looks it's very linear and it looks wonderful on paper. Um, but the actual writing of curriculum is an incredibly messy process. Um, and there is a lot of um
044there's a lot of discussion, there's a lot of consensus building. Um there is a lot of revision, there is a lot of feedback and a lot more revision. Um and just like students who want to like hand in the paper and be like, "Okay, I'm ready to be graded." We have to tell teachers from the beginning like this is not a oneanddone situation. You're going to write, you're going to get feedback, you're going to go back and revise, you're going to write some more, you're going to get more feedback. And it and it's a very cyclical process um where we are are working to make sure that um ultimately that the the written curriculum um is is looks great. Um but it's also something that everybody has consensus around as being the taught curriculum as
045well. We want to make sure that those two things are very much in line. Okay. So just so you know how what the curriculum council is. So, it's the group that Andrea um helps Marissa and I facilitate because there are some things behind the scenes as an instructional coach that she knows. So, really the three of us work and collaborate along. We lead the curriculum work at Amity. It's not just though the three of us. There are 18 people total on curriculum council. We are represented by all three buildings. So, we have middle school teachers from AMSO, from AMSB and the high school. um all different content areas too are represented. So that we are our goal is to make these teachers on the curriculum council the leaders for curriculum for the district. Um so
046all of them have been initially trained in UBD principles. We've done feedback methodologies with them. We've had some support from ACES um as an educational specialist who works with us and gives us training so that we can train the trainers and the trainers can train so that it's really becoming more of an in-house system for us. Um, it is ultimately our goal to make sure that the curriculum council process is making sure that the curriculum itself is rigorous, inclusive, equitable, that there are true shared experiences, that everybody feels like their voices have been heard and that everything aligns with Pog and Portrait of the Graduate. So, we're not feeling like these are very separate things. They shouldn't. Um and that's why this process does take a while when a person starts a group starts writing
047curriculum from beginning to end. Um because it goes through so many rounds of feedback and the curriculum council people are the people giving the feedback. That's their primary responsibility. Um they are reviewing the drafted curricula. So after teachers will write for usually between two and three sessions. They'll say I'm ready for feedback and they will reach out to curriculum counsel. will know that and then we can say to our feedback teams, we have our curriculum council divided up into teams. They will review the curricula together and give written feedback. We do all this in Google Drive. So the way students often get feedback, we give teachers the feedback too. It seems to be the friendliest platform for us to do that. Um we answer clarifying questions. So again being the leaders in the district we
048know so many people are writing uh curriculum that if they have any questions generally there's somebody in their own department they can go and ask so that they don't have to just look for Andrea myself or Marissa although they do that as well so they know that um and that you know the goal is that currently we have 195 staff trained in the UBD um curriculum writing process and all of those people are people who have either written curriculum and are done or are now in the process. That still leaves us some more people to go. But as more people begin to write, as certain groups begin to finish and we start coming into the next group's writing, those people will receive the training. We did a training in November, November. >> Yeah, in the
049fall, we'll do one in the spring as well for the people who are definitely going to write this summer. Um, and anything they need, they know the curriculum council can support them with that. >> So, I have two questions. Uh, one is, um, how often does the 18 people said, how often do they meet as a group? >> Once a month as a group in person. >> Middle schools as well. >> Yes, they come here 2:45 here. We meet here after school. We're here till 4:30. Um, we the meetings can look different monthto month. Sometimes they are we are just giving feedback at this meeting because we've got a lot of that stuff to do. That was what happened last month. Sometimes we're providing professional learning for the curriculum council members. We're in consultation. We
050did some work on Pog and Portrait of the Graduate to make things a little bit more sensible for staff and students. So, it really just depends on coming in and presenting new courses to us first before coming to you. >> Um, >> so we try to build in professional learning to grow the capacity of our curriculum council to be instructional leaders. um and so they can give even more robust feedback when they're reviewing curriculum. So together we sit down and plan it um and it looks different every single month and then in addition to that they are giving feedback on the to their colleagues who are writing as well. So this question maybe but how many teachers are in the district roughly >> 253 you know a good involved >> at this point. Yes. >>
051That's pretty cool. The next thing is those other teachers that are involved with this. How does it get in you know how do you approach them in terms of the new curriculum and so forth? >> They will be trained um as they're in in a few minutes. >> You'll see a cycle. you'll see the cycle eventually we'll have everyone in the district trained um as their curriculum comes up and what we're trying to do right now is making sure that if you're teaching that course you're sitting around the table working on curriculum for that course um so that we have the buy in so it's not Vicki and I write curriculum and then we come back to the rest of the people our department say here's the curriculum we wrote and now you're going to
052have it um we want to make sure that the the everyone who has to be involved in teaching that curriculum is involved in writing >> I think I think too. In looking at this group um of teachers, what makes curriculum council so meaningful is at its core it's teachers. It's teachers giving teachers feedback. That's not an easy thing to do. No. >> Um that's really it's really it's really hard work. >> Um and so it's colleagues collaborating, colleagues reviewing, giving each other feedback, and I think it really speaks to the culture here that they've cultivated around a culture of professionalism um and mutual respect. and um and you have some really difficult conversations, I think, and feedback to your colleagues. Um it's it's really commendable. I'm coming from a district where that didn't happen. You
053know, it was kind of here's your curriculum. And so, this is really really commendable work that they're doing. Um and it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort. And as Murice said earlier, um there's a lot of consensus building. You said that so nicely, by the way. There's a lot of debating as you can imagine because teachers are very passionate about their craft. Um and so it's really commendable just the work they lead and this council the work that they lead and I think our goal ultimately is to build the capacity within the district. We do you know we've worked with um outside consultants over the last few years to build our capacity um but as time goes by you know we we feel more empowered to do this work um for
054the people in the district and for our students. So that is an ultimate goal that this council kind of supports the work of curriculum in the district. >> Is this collaboration that you're having with um the middle schools is hopefully that is helping with streamlining the alignment to the subject areas coming up from elementary schools at all is able to I know it's a different ball game we're talking about here but >> so part of the work that Dr. Carlson has been leading as well is this uh we do articulation with our department chair at the high school and the content leaders at the middle school inhouse but then also across boa. So we have meetings and we have some coming up really soon with almost every department with the elementary. So if we meet
055with math, we meet with um representatives from every district um elementary school as well as teachers in our district and leaders of that department. And we sit and talk about what that vertical um alignment looks like and making sure that we're taking what we're receiving and then building our curriculum from that. >> I would say that would be a really strong um target. >> Yes. taking that elementary, fifth to sixth grade, you know, coming through middle school. So, >> absolutely the vertical articulation I think just in the systemic kind of thinking um and seeing that through line of the curriculum only makes our curriculum even better. Um so, absolutely. So, last year it was two times, this year is three times, we hope next year, four times a year. Um but yeah, teachers coming in
056together around the table um and really just talking, you know, just looking at each other's curriculum, looking at pacing guides, looking at scope and sequence. Um and I know in ELA, um I'm just thinking last our last meeting, uh the the seventh grade teacher started sharing that a book that the sixth grade was doing is one of our core texts and they didn't know it. And so it was, "Oh my god, no problem. We'll pull that right out." You know, just right there, right on the spot. Just very collaborative, >> like you said. You start here where you want to end up and you keep going back and building that. So, we're just looking forward to the back. Any questions for everybody else? >> Yeah, I was curious how you integrate the curriculum writing with
057um whatever technology or AI tools uh that are available for the teachers to use. >> I could talk about the AI tools because it's been interesting. When we first started curriculum writing a few years ago, the English teachers are pretty angry about this because AI was not a thing and today it's a thing. Um, so we are having the teachers and we are setting some kind of things that they need to consider the existence of AI and if it is a not a durable task anymore. In other words, something that AI could easily do for students, then we need to challenge ourselves to up the rigor and change that assignment. Now, here's what's really nice. They can use AI to their advantage. In that case, you can feed AI your assignment that you've loved giving
058for years and everybody agrees on and say, I acknowledge this is not a durable assignment. How can I make this a more durable assignment moving forward with the existence of AI and I AI will coach and be a thought partner and help the teachers refine those performance tasks to make them more robust, more rigorous and AI resistant. So we've had a lot of teachers experimenting with that. We just went to a professional development on Friday literally about AI and how to use it to leverage your curriculum writing. So we are starting to see that the AI is being embedded in curriculum as teachers are using it and um playing with it to enhance their lessons to really increase that rigor. Um >> what else? >> As far as the technology um it's embedded anyways. vetting
059that >> as we write and and offering, you know, we just have such great supports in the district to be able to um look at different programs, look at how that might be helpful um to what we're doing with students on any particular kind of unit. So we are looking really closely at AI as a benefit to the students in particular areas in particular courses and particular units but also making sure um at our conference on Friday basically was saying that um you know if if AI is interfering with the curriculum you need to look at the curriculum. >> The curriculum is the problem not the AI was kind of the big takeaway. I took a picture of the slide and it was like if kids are using AI to do the assignments the problem
060isn't AI the problem is the curriculum and I was like oh fascinating you know I think people think is the essay dead we've had the English teachers you know have a huge philosophical about that and we're like no but we need to change some things and kind of adapt things um so that we are responding to the changes in the world right now um so we've been undoing that um I think and I I think also like with technology and AI, you don't use it just to use it. There needs to be a purpose behind using that tech tool or that AI tool. Let's establish that. Let's make it clear. Don't just use AI because it's cool because first of all, our kids don't like if we if they feel somebody's using AI, >> you
061know, not with a clear purpose. They'll call teachers out on it, which I personally love because I'm on the AI council and I'm like, well, they told you. or I think that, you know, we want our kids to question why are we using AI for this assignment. Is there a valid purpose or is there really not? And let's have that discussion because we're all kind of navigating this new stuff together and figuring it out. And part of us as teachers using it, not so much as the curriculum writers, but in the classroom, um is to also teach the students the skills of how to navigate AI in an ethical, responsible, um way. Uh so, so when we use it, um we try to demonstrate the use as a thought partner versus a >> do my
062work for me. >> Um in the interest of time, right, I'm just going to show you really quickly. Um this is our e mini curriculum writing template. So we have developed a template that all of our departments use when they're writing curriculum. So we have a common format. We've had to make little changes based on departments of like world language has certain standards and science has some things but overall this template will look the same. Anytime you get curriculum in front of you it will follow um this template. Um I think we'll skip through Marissa some things about specifically that are in there. we can um over the next few months that we're together we can answer some more questions but I think you probably want to just quickly talk about the um revision cycle
063>> that task next month when we come through the >> some of our um courses that are up for um writing and yes >> see how about how is new curriculum written and revised >> graphic yeah so um part of the process. We've kind of talked you through this whole process, but you can see we train the teachers, they write, and we talked about this over and over again of submitting units for feedback with through curriculum counsel. Eventually, we make our way through um after this feedback is continually written, um resolved, and revisions are made. Um when we think a course is ready, um the three of us will do a final look at that course eventually. um it is presented to Dr. Carlson and then to curriculum council ultimately to you and then to
064the full board. So um it it may take us certain courses may take quite a while for us to write um and we try to kind of group a bunch of them together to come um when we're ready to come forward to you with you to you. Okay. um writing status. Um as you some of you who were on the board previously have seen some of these completed and approved in 23 24 25. Um and um the next one is kind of the big one. What's coming? I know you could say what isn't coming. Um however, we uh we have some courses left in English that are mostly at our of our electives. Um we are doing that deep dive into math right now. Um kind of we had algebra one that has come before
065you already but now we're going backwards to the middle school and looking at our seventh grade um pre-alggebra course, our eighth grade math, our seventh grade math eventually. Um and then um also at the same time moving up and looking at our geometry course, our algebra 2 course and um some of our uh dual enrollment courses in math um social studies. they got their new standards a few years ago and we are nearing the end of writing for just about every course um in social studies in grades 7 through 12. So that has been a huge undertaking. Um world language is our huge um we have a probably the most curriculum approved by the board in that department but there are still some courses that need to be written. Um, and we're just starting um
066to kind of get into science um right now and in various BPA and CTE courses as um as they kind of come up as a need to have the um curriculum revised in those departments. Can we show you this so you are aware of the work that's going on behind the scenes? Um and this way as we bring it forward to you and then hopefully recommend it to the full board um you're kept in the loop throughout the process. Um and again it we did have 2526 originally. We changed it to 2527 um because it is taking more time um because we we do want our teachers to be as involved as possible. Um and it just takes a lot of time. >> You said the social studies uh standards were changed. How often does
067that happen? >> When they feel like sometimes it's like a 10 year >> it's not. >> Yeah. So >> it's right. It really depends. We were in draft. >> We were in draft for how long? >> Pretty much my sorry my whole career pretty much until they were approved was in draft. So from that it there wasn't much changes but from the previous approval was probably 10 years. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So fair amount of time. >> A fair amount of time. >> No. No. And I don't think if you looked at um their their standards go 6 8 912 um the state standards, but I don't think if you looked at them as a whole things change too much. Like I don't think there's anything too brand new taken in or put put
068in or taken out, but where they fall within the within the bands changed a bit. >> Okay. And um on the screen you'll see we developed this I want to say end of last year but this is a full curriculum writing cycle and timeline and this is really instrumental to the work that we do. The reason we developed it is because as we I think we've shown you throughout is that curriculum isn't something that can be written once and then left untouched for years. Um high quality curriculum requires consistent and a predictable system for review, revision and improvement. And this cycle really allows us to be proactive and not reactive. Um on the next slide, you'll notice this is a quick shot or a quick glance at our middle school and then we'll show you
069in a minute. Um the next slide is our high school. This is kind of our guide. I know it's kind of hard to see, but you'll see year one is the program review. Um so for example, I'm just looking at middle school right now. um >> math >> um pro so yes program review and then year two is the curriculum writing so this is when the curriculum is formally written or revised year three is the initial implementation so the curriculum is introduced into the classrooms and we begin to collect feedback and we identify any needed supports or changes that we want to make that happens um over the course of a year and then year four and five is that systemic implementation and that's where it becomes consistent across the classrooms and the schools and
070we continue to get feedback and ongoing um changes mostly to what Mrs. Jury was speaking about before and that's stage three those day-to-day lesson plans or development of performance tasks um and then the next slide is high school um and it's the same thing and this this is really for a couple of a couple purposes. one is keeps us on track kind of of where we are because it can be as you can see very overwhelming but also there's tremendous budgetary implications because it costs money to write curriculum. Um the district has saved a lot of money last year and this year I think and going forward as um Miss Hul said earlier we're really pulling away from outside consultants as we're growing the capacity internally with in-house which is wonderful. Um and even having
071teachers write our own curriculum as opposed to buying programs um re speaks volumes to the work that the district is doing. And then last but not least supporting implementation. I think that was you. I think you spoke to a lot of this. >> So, a lot of this is just telling us like how do we really make all of this happen? This is it. So, this is where we make sure our administrators, it's really their job to make sure the written curriculum after it's approved by the board is the taught curriculum so that um they receive training on what the curriculum is themselves, they have access to it and everything. And then in their evaluations and in their observations, they can have questions and have conversations with the staff about these things. Um, we have
072a lot of professional learning built around this. We have a lot of help from our instructional coach in this manner. We have those ongoing curriculum articulation meetings whether it's just 7 through 12 or also including BOA in the these conversations. We've learned a lot through doing walkthroughs. Um, the administrators and the teachers have all participated in walkthroughs where we get to go watch other teachers teach something and we collect data on that. Are we seeing the Pog represented in the classrooms is one of the big things we're really asking. and what does it look like? Um, we've collected really excellent data out of that. So, we kind of know from the portrait of the graduate standpoint, what professional learning is needed in that regard. >> We're also looking at through those walkthroughs like depth of
073knowledge. How how often are students participating in the level three or level four tasks that require the higher higher level thinking skills? >> And the curriculum council is really the goal of all of this is that their goal is to support the teachers throughout this whole process. So, nobody's aloe. Um, this one is just in who we've worked with in the past. I'm stepping on your toes. This is your slide. >> That's okay. That's all right. We just wanted to make sure that >> So, these are the people who we wanted to give credit where credit is due. These are the outside consultants who we've worked with, some of our teachers have worked with, some continue to work with. Um, these are the people who we know we can go to if we are stuck
074on anything and can ask questions to. We are finding we don't need them as much anymore as we've really worked through this process. >> They've done their job well. So, we can do it too. >> And then looking ahead. >> Yes. I think this is a >> this is a repeat without the math. This just really represents the active work >> and the things that are in bold are the next things we anticipate will come in front of the board >> before the end of this year or >> soon will come to the board. Yep. >> So, I'm curious um the two possible um classes that you mentioned today um and then I also know with the new middle school schedule um you have some new world languages. How long does it take from a
075decision like that, like a schedule change decision or the board saying yes to, you know, a a new class from that point to having a curriculum prepared? >> It's a process. So, they're going to begin teaching the class with as they are writing the curriculum, they're going to exist at the same time. So, I can give you an example for a class that was new this year, which was one of the dual enrollment um you know, if you love it, teach it classes. Um was not a class that had ever existed here before. We did we were able to look at Yukon's and use their syllabus as a reference, but the teacher hadn't ever taught it. She wrote the curriculum as she was lesson planning and designing it and doing it simultaneously. And now that
076that class ended for the semester, she can really kind of reflect on what she did, tweak what she did, rework things, things that worked stay, things that didn't work, go. >> We make sure that there's a scope in >> there's a scope in sequence first, >> and that's what we'll we'll start with. So, for instance, um French is is is one of those courses that's um part of uh the budget for this year. if that is something that gets passed, we will look to develop a scope and sequence for French um and begin the preliminary process of writing it. But that teacher would probably be using the scope in sequence and writing as we kind of went through that first year. Um so any new course always starts with a scope and sequence of what
077we might be teaching and then working through those units. >> And I can't speak in absolutes, but that's the case for most courses. even when they're not new. Um, teachers are often writing and piloting the new the new activities, the new performance tasks as they're writing and then going back and adjusting them themselves in addition to getting the feedback from the curriculum council and others. >> So, when the board >> Yep. >> Sorry. When the board approves