Curriculum+Mapping+Institute+2011


 * Event Title: Curriculum Mapping Institute 2011**
 * Date: July 2011**
 * Location: Saratoga Springs, New York**
 * Name(s) of Attendees: JAK**

Description of Workshops, Classes, Institutes, Etc.:
Despite the name of this conference, the focus was not as much on "curriculum mapping" as it was on ways to think about curriculum, questions to ask about curriculum, and how to study and explore curriculum. I was disappointed at first, becuase there didn't seem to be a lot of take-aways after the first day, but I realized that the point was more provocation and reflection than it was to send attendees back to school with very specific applications. That said, I attended several sessions on leadership, essential questions, globalizing the curriculum, using curriculum maps, and thinking about the future of learning. Notable keynote speakers included Heidi Hayes Jacobs (on ways to think about meetings and conversations), Jay McTighe (on backwards design and assessments), and Alan November (on technology, creativity, and globalization).

How I Hope to Apply What I Learned At Ransom, and/or, What My Colleagues Might Try at Ransom:
I certainly came away with a lot to think about. Two or three examples for now. One is that I am thinking about ways to make my AP World History class a little bit less rigidly structured, letting students sort of set learning goals and objectives for big units, but kind of acheive those goals making their own choices and within certain parameters at their own pace. The demands of the AP curriculum make this difficult, but at least for one "big era" (typically a 6 week unit or so) I might just give it a short. Second, department chairs and I have been thinking a lot about our curriculum maps this summer, and I hope that I learned a bit that will help all of us make our maps more useful as we move forward. One relatively simple idea is really to think about the essential questions, content, and skills in a unit on the one hand, and the assessments in that unit on the other. There is a basic question that we should ask ourselves--do the assessments actually assess what we are teaching? Thoroughly? If not, what do we do--did we not teach that content, or should our assessments look different? I also spent a good bit of time with out ATLAS consultant, and we talked a lot about the next steps for RE in curriculum mapping, and as we work on those steps together, I hope that my coversations in Saratoga Spring will be valuable.

Important Links, Resources, or Contacts:
There are a lot of interesting things on the Curriculum 21 website itself (though it is a bit clumsy to navigate). A good place to begin is the "Clearinghouse" which focused on web 2.0 resources. More Coming Shortly