A Step by Step Plan to Create, Collaborate, and Sustain Partnerships for Curriculum Alignment

Transcription

1 A Step by Step Plan to Create, Collaborate, and Sustain Partnerships for Curriculum Alignment Linsey Cuti, Ph.D. English Professor and CCR Faculty Liaison Kankakee Community College

2 KCC s College and Career Readiness Program 2008-present Curriculum Alignment Component My role: English Faculty Liaison 2008-present English and Math HS/College Curriculum Alignment present Inclusion of Middle Schools 2013-present Science Curriculum Alignment 2015

3 Getting Started Support from VP of Instruction Identify Key Players (who become the Steering Committee) CCR Coordinator(s): to coordinate program Faculty Liaisons: to coordinate curriculum alignment Principals Student Services (ie. for Compass testing) Regional Office person Career Services

4 First CCR Meeting VP or CCR Coordinator invite all key players (we invited 23 feeder high schools and 12 accepted) Share purpose/vision for program/suggested components Curriculum Alignment Compass Testing to HS Juniors KnowHow2Go Presentations Summer Bridge

5 After First CCR Meeting VP, Deans, Faculty Liaisons need to inform college faculty about the program and encourage their participation How to sell it: Want better prepared students by collaborating with HS/MS teachers? Principals do the same for their faculty Invite as many teachers as they re willing to send (the more, the better) How to sell it: Want better prepared students by collaborating with MS/HS teachers? Want suggestions for better preparing your own students for the next grade level? Opportunity to communicate with those who teach the same grade at different schools/share resources.

6 Other selling points Curriculum alignment: Informs content and teaching practices Inspires mindset of openness and change Responds to impact of Common Core Provides professional development

7 Logistics Alignment Meetings Meet 3 to 4 times a semester Fridays 9-11am (English) and 1-3pm (math) CPDUs Refreshments At our last fall meeting of the semester (Nov.), we collaboratively come up with meeting topics for the spring sessions, and do the same at our end of spring semester meeting (April or May) for our fall topics.

8 Faculty Liaisons (liaison between college faculty and HS/MS teachers) Duties Meeting invitations and RSVPs Meeting summaries to principals and teachers Report out to Steering Committee Other requests: ie. consultant at HS staff meetings, speak to HS classes about college expectations, etc.

9 First Alignment Meeting Tone Welcome MUST be warm, friendly, enthusiastic, appreciative of participants Purpose of meetings Transition to spirit of collaboration/clarify that while the liaison is there to facilitate, this group must be a collaborative effort collaborate on focus of meetings, take turns leading, sharing expertise, etc. No preaching Every participant not only has something to offer, but also something to learn

10 First (and perhaps second) alignment meeting(s) Focus Bring syllabi, textbooks anything that will help characterize participants teaching contexts Key Question: What skills do you wish your students came better prepared with? Responses reveal gaps which can inform the focus of future meetings

11 Some Meeting Topics Common Core State Standards (CCSS) intro to college faculty Unpacking Common Core together (ie. share tips for teaching rhetoric, analysis, argument, research heavy topics in CCSS) Assignment sharing Responding to/evaluating writing Rhetoric Analysis/argument

12 More Meeting Topics Policies (soft skills) Informational text (nonfiction) suggestions Research Documentation Plagiarism Norming/creating common rubrics Creating common assessments

13 Example Alignment Meeting that Focused on Creating Effective Writing Assignments Collaboratively concluded the following Effective writing assignments include: A prompt that provides the rhetorical situation (or student must articulate) A prompt that asks them to critically think, not just report information A prompt that is ORIGINAL, can t easily be plagiarized A prompt that asks students to contribute their own knowledge/perspective, demonstrates their grappling with a topic Processed-based writing: includes all steps in the writing process: invention, drafting, opportunities for feedback and global and local revision Practice finding credible research and properly documenting it

14 Example Alignment Meeting that Focused on Creating Common Language Thesis and claim for arguments and analyses Focus Organization Transitions Development Opposing viewpoints or alternative perspectives Counter-arguments Academic voice Global vs. Local/Surface revision

15 Example Alignment Meeting that Focused on Creating a Common Rubric Used for norming sessions Focus: Has the student followed the assignment? Is the thesis/claim easily identifiable? Organization: Is there an intro, body, and conclusion? Is each main point developed in its own paragraph? Development: Are main points fully explained and supported? Is level-of-thought appropriate? Research: Are sources relevant, credible, and well-integrated? Documentation: Is everything that isn t common knowledge cited? Are in-text citations and Works Cited entries properly formatted? Grammar

16 Sample Meeting Facilitated by HS/MS Faculty: Unpacking the Common Core Rather than typical 2 hour meeting; this one was 3 hours Ashley Clifton, English teacher/reading Specialist, Central High School Interpreting the Standards and Practical Applications Kyle Corlett, Curriculum Director, Iroquois West School District The Six Steps for Aligning to the Common Core Standards- Power Standards, Curriculum Mapping, Formative Assessments, Planning Instruction, Evaluating Data, and Reteaching Matt Gorski, English teacher, Central High School Implementing Informational Text in the High School Classroom Jodi Latham, English teacher, Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School Strategies for Implementing the Common Core and Aligning Them to Curricula Jennifer Stevenson, 8th-11th grade English teacher, Donovan Jr./Sr. High School Activities for Implementing and Aligning the Common Core

17 Other Alignment Efforts: Writing Seminar Requested by HS faculty Because of gaps in teacher education curricula, many teachers of English (at all levels) don t receive much education or training in the teaching of writing. As a result, they aren t privy to some of the fundamental beliefs and practices of effective writing instruction. With my doctorate in composition/rhetoric, I was able to help fill some of those gaps. Hybrid. Met for an additional hour and a half after normal alignment meetings or in some cases, on separate dates. Used Canvas for online discussion posts based on readings from NCTE s Designing Writing Assignments.

18 Writing Seminar Calendar Sept. 28: Introduce Writing Seminar. Homework: Read pgs and post in Canvas Discussion Forums: NCTE Guidelines 1-3. Oct. 5: Discuss Process and Revision. Homework: Read pgs and post in Canvas Discussion Forums: NCTE Guidelines 4-7. Oct. 19: Discuss Writing to Learn, Purpose, Grammar. Homework: Read pgs and post in Canvas Discussion Forums: NCTE Guidelines Nov. 2: Discuss Technology and Feedback. Homework: Read Chapters 1 and 2 and post in Canvas Discussion Forum: Designing Effective Writing Assignments. Nov. 16: Discuss Designing Writing Assignments. Homework: Read Chapters 4 and 6 and post in Canvas Discussion Forum: New Tasks for Standard Writing Activities. Nov. 30: Discuss Research, Plagiarism, and Citing.

19 Other Alignment Efforts: Illinois Community College Faculty Association Grant Funded Workshop Participants received $50 stipend for attending Focused on expanding their understanding of rhetoric/the teaching of it (again, based on the fact that the CCSS includes a lot of rhetorical concepts)

20 Other Alignment Efforts: Writing in Non-English Classes Requested by principals; for HS/MS teachers Topics covered: Why assign writing? Writing to Learn assignments: short, often impromptu, and informal writing tasks that help students think through key concepts or ideas Longer papers Evaluating writing Plagiarism Provided sample social science, history, business, math, and science writing prompts

21 Other Alignment Efforts: University Outreach Vertical Alignment Continued I reached out to the 6 universities KCC students most transfer to in an effort to gather data on student success. Helped us assess ourselves as instructors, along with the focus and rigor of our program. The university feedback, along with the CCSS and our curriculum alignment efforts, inspired a revision of our Fundamentals, English 101, and 102 courses. Especially at a time when college completion is a hot topic, it s the right time to reach out to the universities your students are transferring to. You may be pleasantly surprised as we were. Or, it may be a good wake up call that your program is in need of redesign/increased rigor, etc. Also, at a time when most colleges are re-designing their developmental courses in efforts to keep up students momentum/lessen their time in such courses/save their financial aid money, it s a good time to revise/update courses.

22 What s Vital for Sustaining the Program? The right leadership and participants: Liaisons who won t point fingers or allow others to do so, are committed, enthused, diplomatic, willing to coordinate rather direct or take over, and help the program evolve by having their fingers on the pulse of CCR efforts. Participants who: Believe in the mission of the work Are confident in their own work and open to suggestions to improve student success Are collaborative

23 It s Worth the Effort My colleagues will tell you we all see that students from CCR participating schools are indeed better prepared. We don t have to explain what we mean by things like analysis or the rhetorical appeals any more. Now, 82% of entering students test into one or more developmental courses, down from 93% in See our online scorecard for individual CCR participant statistics ie. 49% of CCR participating students tested into English 101 in 2013, down from 37% in 2009.

24 Questions? Thank you for attending!