Designing the Classroom Curriculum Designing the Classroom Curriculum | Page 54

Designing the Classroom Curriculum outcomes or ‘standards’. In the LMDP, benchmarking is used to ascertain a student’s readiness for instruction and as the evidence phase explains, to report student achievement. The process of benchmarking has two concerns: what the student has learned so far and to what standard. In completing a process of benchmarking the teacher’s aim is to ascertain as far as possible if each student is ready for the next stage of instruction or is requiring special consideration to reach the desired outcomes. The implication is that teachers are always faced with potentially multiple curriculum plans. Adopting an ‘At Standard’ or ‘Requiring Special Consideration’ stance, the teacher has a pragmatic organising mechanism when developing curricula in a classroom context. How the teacher will achieve the defined learning outcomes, in a context of the identified knowledge and student benchmarks, is the focus of the strategy phase. The Strategy Phase The strategy phase is concerned with achieving the learning outcomes as defined during the Outcomes phase. The Strategy phase is specifically concerned with the selection of evidence based teaching strategies that are appropriate for dealing with the selected knowledge so that the defined learning outcomes are achieved. The accumulation and manipulation of human and physical resources form a context for this process. Physical, Technological and Human Resources The process of teaching is both humanly and physically resource intensive. Schools, as the organising unit for education services, embody various physical (e.g. computers, internet, science, equipment, art supplies, books, etc.) and human resources (teachers, teacher’s aides, occupational therapists, guidance officers, librarians, etc.) that are available to support each classroom teacher deliver on their curriculum obligations. During the strategy phase, it is important to determine the resource requirements and the scope of the resources available to support planned instructional designs. We explore the role of technology in later chapters. Evidence-Based Practice Evidence-based practice means teaching practices that are supported by research findings or can be demonstrated as being effective through a critical examination of current and past practices (Hattie, 2009; Groundwater-Smith, 2000; Davies, 1999). A key theme in this book has been the notion of a pedagogic void. Traditional curriculum models have left the deciding of ‘how’ to achieve the defined learning outcomes to the creative endeavours of the teacher. In this phase of the LMDP then, the teacher makes decisions about the knowledge content to be learned by students and selects teaching strategies that are fit for the purpose. NOTE: these teaching strategies are then outlined in specific terms in the classroom curriculum for future teaching guidance and reflection. For example, cause-effect relationships such as how the solar system remains in place and concepts such as “globalisation” require the teacher to provide opportunities for the student to construct meaning, to organise 54