2nd+presentation+Group+2

Kish Russell, Emily Lund, Valerie Rabadan.
To determine the philosophy behind the 6th Grade Scope and Sequence, we must first reflect on Dewey’s Three Fundamental Factors of curriculum theory (Hlebowitsh, 2005, p. 29): 1) nature of the learner, 2) aims and values of society, and 3) world of knowledge and subject matter. In the Curriculum Focal Point, the Scope addresses the nature of the learner by stating the prerequisite skills students will be utilizing to be successful with the subject matter as well as the skills that will be applied for the instruction during that time period. For example, “Students apply their understanding of equivalent fractions to create equivalent ratios” (NISD Scope and Sequence, 2010, p. 1). The aims and values of society are presented in the College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) (p.1) and the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) (p. 2). CCRS identifies the strategies that are needed to help guide students to success in higher education. These standards specify the expectations that our society anticipates students to know in order to be ready for college, and the workforce. However, there is little evidence of promoting the values of a democratic society within the Scope. World of knowledge and subject matter are evident within the TEKS/Student Expectations section. The 6th Grade Scope and Sequence provides fundamental knowledge and skills that are required for students to be successful. These minimal skills are important for students to build a foundation upon in order to utilize future lessons which require more difficult levels of thinking. The philosophy that pervades the Scope is Essentialism. Math by nature is dependent on skill development and understanding of relationships and patterns that emerge in numbers, however the scope is very subject matter focused. Although, the essentialist philosophy refers to the importance of democracy, the Scope does not overtly address democracy, but instead provides a broad list of student expectations that allow the teacher freedom to address democracy in his/her own instructional methods. This acknowledges the professionalism of the educator, which results in greater fidelity to implementing the curriculum. Cultural literacy is minimally addressed in the CCRS and the ELPS. These two philosophies provide limited understanding of cultural literacy, but at the same time acknowledge the needs of learners, which exist within the environment of the school district. The format of the Scope begins with the overarching goal (Focal Point) for Unit 1: Proportional Relationships. The CCRS and ELPS are included immediately after in order to support the Focal Point. The focal point covered all objectives of the scope, which helps a teacher easily identify the focus of the next unit and to clearly understand the expectations. The CCRS were written to where there could be no misunderstanding of what was being taught and how it related to college and career standards. This provides adequate information for teachers to understand and be aware of how Unit 1 will help teachers and students to achieve college readiness and support English Language Learners. The broad nature of the curriculum design allows for teachers to incorporate other activities for the specialized needs of the students and various classes that they teach. For every daily lesson, the objective was clear, which in turn could be taught clearly to the learner. Next the TEKS/Student Expectations provide a focused instructional strategy with the knowledge that students will be held accountable for learning by assessing students’ progress on a bias free and equitable basis. NISD resources are listed to support the instruction along with the page number from the Holt curriculum guide. NISD’s curriculum adequately prepares all 6th grade students for 7th grade by empowering educators with necessary materials and a clear and teacher-friendly guide. These resources allow the completion of objectives and flexibility to assess students’ progress on a bias free and equitable basis. An easy to follow pacing guide is included in each section and provides teachers with an understanding of the number of days each section will require. The general lessons for the teacher to follow daily throughout the unit were clear and the daily objectives of the lessons were easily identified. Assessments and evaluations are provided electronically if teachers have the desire to revise them to meet their student’s needs. All resource ideas provided also informs the teachers where in the electronic files they can be found. This makes the scope user friendly to all teachers. It’s important that the instruments of teaching, assessing, and evaluating are used appropriately (Hlebowitsh, 2005, p.212), and this scope and sequence makes it possible for the teacher to take advantage of the whole curriculum.The last section; Underlying Processes and Mathematical Tools, spell out the specific TEKS objectives that are addressed in Unit 1. NISD’s scope meets state-mandated content standards, which are clearly stated within each of the “TEKS/Student Expectations” and within the same row show how NISD plans to teach those to the student. The curriculum, which covers appropriate standards and learning objectives while it, is useable over many years as it prevents future vertical articulation issues by establishing developmentally appropriate horizontal articulation by covering appropriate standards and learning objectives throughout the school year. The curriculum content is patterned after the “principle of sophistication, which gives justification to arranging or sequencing content by using a simple-to-complex or a concrete-to-abstract” pattern (Hlebowitsh, 2005, pg 134). Additionally, the pervasive skills outlined on page 2 show how language content is relevant to comprehension of mathematics instruction and is shown within a vertically articulated model. Curriculum standards and learning objectives help ensure that all students receive the opportunity to learn the core of subject matter (2005, p. 16). NISD’s mathematic unit covers a majority of the standards presented in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills and the CCRS as stated in the Scope. Notably absent are activities with learning objectives on the subject of Statistical Reasoning. Both in the TEKS and the CCRS, there are no objectives met for “patterns and departure of patterns in a set of data” or analyzing “data sets using graphs and summary statistics” (NISD Scope and Sequence, 2010, p. 1). The only objective met from the TEKS section on probability and statistics is 6.10 C which states “sketch circle graphs to display data.” Solving problems by collecting, organizing, displaying, and interpreting data is not an objective found in the Scope. The Scope also misses the opportunity for the student to “use experimental and theoretical probability to make predictions” (TEKS 6.9 A and B). There is only one objective missed covering the topic of Measurement Reasoning in which the student “determines the surface area and volume of three-dimensional figures” (NISD Scope and Sequence, 2010, p. 1). While the Scope covers plane or two-dimensional figures, three-dimensional is not mentioned. Since the teacher has the liberty to incorporate other activities to meet the needs of the individuals in his or her class, there is the opportunity for the teacher to cover some of the noted missed objectives. The usability of the curriculum provides an opportunity for the teacher to be able to spend less time planning and put more effort into teaching the learner. However, not all teachers would take the initiative to do so. Nor would a teacher expect that the lesson being provided by the school district not cover the state-mandated objectives. It is up to the educator, the team of grade-level professionals, and the school administration to ensure that objectives are being covered and that instruction of the curriculum is differentiated to meet the needs of each student. When a scope is clear for all to understand, teachers are able to focus on teaching and help students to be successful.

**References **

Hlebowitsh, Peter S. (2005). Designing //the School Curriculum//. Boston, MA. Pearson Education.

Northside ISD Scope and Sequence (2008). Retrieved from Northside ISD’s website: @http://www.nisd.net/instruction/