Artifact+3+Geometry+Curriculum

= Artifact 3: New Geometry Curriculum (Field) =



Program Standards: 2, 3, 6 Program Goals: 3

With the release and adoption of the Common Core Standards, our department recognized the need to review the current curriculum and make sure it matched the new standards. This is the result of that work. To begin the process, I was tasked with creating the units and adapting our current curriculum to it. To do this, I looked at the new standards and made a list of big ideas that they covered (standard 2). I then fit the sections from our textbook into these units. Once the units were established, I put them in an order that I thought would develop the mathematics well and link ideas effectively. At this point the new curriculum was presented to the department and there was discussion on the order of the units and how some topics fit in with each unit (standard 6 and goal 3). We also determined approximately how much time we would spend on each unit.

This was a process that I feel was really needed with our curriculum. Over the past couple years we had been making minor changes to the curriculum and complaining that we could not make broader changes, especially in the order we taught things. The Common Core Standards gave us the opportunity to do that. When I went through and created the initial units and sequenced them, I had to look at the material through a couple of different lenses (standard 3). I first had to understand why the authors of the book grouped and sequenced topics as they did. Then I had to think of why I would group and sequence them in a different order. Finally, I had to take a step back and look at the material in the book and the way we would teach it with the standards in mind, making sure our curriculum covered the standards in the depth they should be covered. Since I ended up breaking up a lot of chapters and jumping around in the text, this process really helped me understand that the book is not the curriculum, merely a tool in delivering it.

The second part of the process, working with the entire team to finalize the curriculum, was also beneficial. Having many different teachers look at the curriculum allowed there to be more perspectives on its potential successes and pitfalls based on the combined experience of the entire department. This allowed for discussion about how each of us thought about the subject and teaching it, giving rise to new ideas and understandings. It also allowed for discussion of what the common core standards contained, building a communal knowledge and vocabulary that will be helpful in future discussion.

Table of Contents

Artifact 2. Artifact Summary and Evidence. Artifact 4