Curriculum Mapping: What You Need to Know
Curriculum mapping is the process of outlining a curriculum to identify academic gaps to improve the student learning experience. Educators build a roadmap for teaching students to make sure their students are progressing with the content at hand.
Distinguishing Between Curriculum Maps and Lesson Plans
A curriculum map differs significantly from lesson plans, although they function based on the same principle. A lesson plan is an overview of what must be taught and in what manner it will be taught. In addition, the resources that the educator uses to teach that chapter or concept will also be mentioned.
Curriculum maps differ from lesson plans as they delve into what the expectations are for the course and the standards that a student should reach once it is completed. In addition to this, it is also an overview of what the student will be taught throughout the year. The curriculum maps also span longer periods, usually a year, whereas lesson plans consider shorter durations like a day or a week.
How Does Curriculum Mapping Take Place?
As a teacher, covering a curriculum in its entirety can be a challenging task, especially due to the complexity of accounting for the learning needs of students and the responsibilities of teachers who teach multiple courses a day.
Educators generally have a systematic approach to curriculum mapping in order to cover all the subjects. This involves ensuring the curriculum map possesses the following features:
Horizontal Alignment
The curriculum must be horizontally aligned, meaning that the same material is being taught in a given grade level or section, regardless of the teacher, and the material aligns to state standards. This means that a curriculum in one school should be comparable to the same course and at the same grade level as that of another school to ensure equity for every child.
Vertical Alignment
For the curriculum to be vertically aligned, it must follow a proper sequence. The information presented in any grade must build upon the knowledge gained in the previous grade as well as serve as the building block for the student as they enter the next grade, thus reinforcing the knowledge of the subject for every student. As a result, at the end of the year, the student will have a better understanding of the subject for their respective grade level.
Aligned to Subject
The curriculum is said to be aligned to the subject when the learning outcomes remain the same irrespective of the teachers that teach a particular concept. For example, a single subject like 8th grade math, has several teachers teaching classes throughout the week. In spite of this, the students should be able to have a better understanding of the subject at hand.
Interdisciplinary Alignment
When all the teachers of a particular grade, regardless of their discipline, teach the students important cross-curricular skills, the curriculum is interdisciplinary. This can be seen when teachers are able to impart skills like critical thinking, logical reasoning and in some cases, the development of soft skills.
Therefore, through the process of curriculum mapping, all these aspects are brought together, making it possible for all the shareholders in that respective district to identify, evaluate and finally, enhance.
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The Benefits of Curriculum Mapping
Given the labor-intensive task that it entails, curriculum mapping provides a range of benefits to the building administrator, the classroom teacher, and most importantly, the student. The benefits of carrying out curriculum mapping include:
Fosters Organization
Curriculum mapping makes it possible for educators to determine the starting point from which they can begin each child's instructional journey. Schools use curriculum mapping to better understand the steps each student takes, beginning in kindergarten and concluding in high school. By going through this process, education leaders can better plan and organize their curriculum year over year.
Increased Student Agency
As the curriculum mapping process clearly outlines learning standards, it provides a collaboration point for teachers and students. Along with their teachers, students can use voice and choice to better understand their curriculum and subsequently master it.
Enhances Student Progress
Not only do these maps identify a starting point, but they also ensure each student is progressing throughout the years they are in the school district. Together, administrators and teachers can form the necessary partnership in order to keep student learning on track. This partnership ensures students will orient their efforts towards academic success by creating the necessary collaborative learning and growth environment, guaranteeing each student's success.
Room for Reflection
Curriculum mapping can also be used to make assessment more effective and also more meaningful. This is because of its ability to encourage reflection on the teacher's side to understand what learning outcomes the students could master and which learning outcomes took longer to master. In this way, curriculum mapping will contribute to the reflective mechanism that benefits a student's present teacher and the future one as well.
Improves Communication
Curriculum mapping provides the gateway for collaboration among a school district's staff from kindergarten through the uppermost levels of high school. The mapping process paves the way for collaboration between teachers and other educators as they are encouraged to work together while creating the map but also as they continuously monitor their students’ progress using assessments. Curriculum mapping becomes the living, breathing document which propels the school district's students forward as they leave the district having mastered the district's curriculum.
Adherence to Standards
The current education system requires teachers to help their students reach a particular standard. These standards are usually achieved when educators and students are able to reach learning outcomes. Curriculum mapping provides the roadmap to meeting those standards but also provides reliable data that a school or school district is teaching the required standards.
Introduction of Automation into Curriculum Mapping
With the release of curriculum mapping tools, like Embarc (formerly BYOC), institutions are better equipped to tackle the laborious process of curriculum mapping. Curriculum mapping tools automate creating maps while editing, searching, and uploading the required data. Therefore, the software will make it possible to accurately index and analyze the information at hand. Here are some additional useful features:
Space for Customization
Curriculum mapping software makes it possible for educators to customize the mapping process according to the needs of each school or classroom. While formally documenting what is being taught in the classroom, the process also celebrates each school, each grade or subject matter, and each teacher's unique way of teaching the curriculum for the success of its students. Thus, it can be used to create personalized maps to meet the needs of a diverse group of students.
Increased Security Measures
Administrators and teachers need not worry about sensitive information falling into the wrong hands as this software has a variety of security measures. The most notable measure in place at the moment is the authentication requirement. Users are required to disclose their identity to access the records stored in the system.
Better Accessibility
The cloud-based software also makes it possible for teachers to access the curriculum or lesson plans from wherever they may be. This is because the teachers can upload documents and files that support their curriculum map beforehand and even grant students and parents access to view the content of the public website as set up by the district. The level of accessibility also provides school administrators with the ability to better serve students in the case of a long-term absence of a teacher.
Improved Instruction Delivery
Teachers can introduce various well-defined learning targets to ensure the child's overall development. This is primarily because of the Reports and Analytics feature that is available on the software. Through this feature, teachers and administrators will be able to meet the standards and carry out best practices when it comes to instruction delivery. In addition, the software also displays these specific learning targets to parents and students on an online public portal to make the teaching more transparent.
Encourages Collaboration
Communication between teachers is critical to the success of any curriculum. Curriculum management software focuses on creating an environment that can foster collaboration. Teachers are empowered to compile and share their best practices and resources to support curriculum and instruction. In addition, educators can also base their curriculum maps on other maps developed by more experienced teachers, which can be shared within the platform.
