Curriculum Development Resources

What is curriculum at its core?

Is curriculum what we teach? Or is curriculum how we teach it? Is curriculum hand-crafted by teachers or does it come in nice, neat boxes? Delve into this topic with Dr. Leslie Owen Wilson’s explanation on the different types of curriculum by clicking here.

Featured Articles on Curriculum Development

"What Principals Need to Know About Curriculum and Instruction"

By: Gene Bottoms

Click Here

"Developing Meaningful Alternative Assessments"

By: Kelly Ickes

Read here

How We Can Help The “Forgotten Middle” Reach Their Full Potential – Danielle R. Moss

Creative Ways To Get Kids To Thrive In School – Olympia Della Flora

Unit Design & Lesson Planning

We know that unit design and lesson planning can be overwhelming, even for the most “seasoned” teachers, or those teaching one level of students at a time. Add in the idiosyncrasies of Street School classrooms like individual learning plans, differentiation, IEPs, multiple learning styles, and the need to challenge some students while scaffolding learning for others and, well… we’re tired and a bit overwhelmed just thinking about it.

We have compiled a smattering of “Street School tested” resources to assist veteran and new StreetSchool Network educators with the creation and execution of lesson plan development. We hope these resources make planning and classroom execution as painless as possible (for everyone involved) so that students can receive the quality education they deserve, and you undoubtedly wish to provide.

Understanding by Design

Understanding by Design (UbD) is a curriculum framework developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe that is based off of a backwards design model (beginning with the ending standards and assessment in mind). The above link will direct you to the Vanderbilt University UbD web page. If you are interested, SSN also has a small lending library of UbD resources that can be send directly to your school.

Essential Questions

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe explain how formulating curricular units around essential questions, then supporting them with guiding questions can help lead students to become self-guided, inquiry based learners.

Visit the ASCD site by clicking the link above to read more.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Jessica Shabatura’s explanation and practcal application of Bloom’s Taxonomy, originally posted on the University of Arkansas website.

Bloom’s Taxonomy in Apps

Click the link above to see a list of iPad apps that can be used in the classroom to deepen learning and help students progress through Bloom’s Taxonomy toward critical thinking.

What Are Learning Targets?

Learning targets are instructional objectives put into student friendly language, created to encourage self-efficacy and independence in struggling learners.

StreetSchool Network is a huge proponent of incorporating learning targets into daily classroom practices. Check out some of our “vetted” resources to find out more.

Learning Target Book

Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today’s Lesson has been one of the best resources we have found to thoroughly explain what learning targets are and why they work. Visit the ASCD website at the link above for more information or to purchase it.

Learning Target Book – Sample Chapters

Visit the ASCD website at the link above to preview several chapters of Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today’s Lesson.

“Making Learning Targets Clear to Students”

Michael McDowell’s Edutopia article breaks down the practical application of learning targets in the classroom.

Tapping into the “Why?” of Learning Targets in Lesson & Unit Planning

More research on the effectiveness of learning targets in classrooms with at-risk learners will be coming to this space soon. Check back with us shortly!

Reimagining Classrooms: Teachers as Learners and Students as Leaders – Kayla Delzer

Project Zero's Thinking Routines Toolbox

Visit the Harvard School of Education’s Project Zero website to access their PZ Thinking Routines Toolbox.

These thinking routines have been proven to help students of all ages develop stronger critical thinking, communication, and text analysis skills, and can be applied in virtually any content area.

Click Here

Do you ever find yourself wanting to “rethink” homework?

You’re not alone!

Alfie Kohn, author of The Homework Myth, has done extensive research on the bounds of homework– when it works for students and when it becomes a hindrance.

You can read more of his research and work here!

Let’s Talk About The Difficult Balance Between Rigor And Relevance

At times it can feel impossible to strike the right balance between rigor and relevance in curriculum development.

Visit the International Center for Leadership in Education website here to learn more about their Rigor/ Relevance Framework, and why sacrificing one for the other does students a grave disservice.