Guest Blogger Nicole Zuerblis and Everything but the Kitchen Sink

Hello Everyone!

Today I am pleased to share a guest blog post by Nicole Zuerblis. Nicole is the sister of my collegue Donna Shriver.  Nicole specializes in  21st Century Learning, Brain & Learning, Curriculum Development, Differentiated Instruction, Literacy, Motivation, Professional Development, Response to Intervention (RtI), Standards, Teacher Leadership, Teaching Strategies, What Works in Schools. Please enjoy her guest blog post.

Everything But The Kitchen Sink?

If you’re an educational leader, you know how important it is to have teachers feel supported or be on board with new ventures. The last thing we want to hear, or want teachers to feel, is “not one more thing” or “how can we fit it all in?” But it’s not about everything but the kitchen sink; it shouldn’t all fit. Something’s got to give. If we don’t acknowledge that and help teachers modify, we’ll get overworked teachers throwing it all in, or students who need what was left out. We need to continually reevaluate and “remodel” to make room for what’s important.
Picture this: a new teacher pulls out a curriculum guide, talks to her colleagues and creates a year-long plan to include concepts and objectives. Being new at this, it looks like a lot to fit in. She decides to start small; one unit at a time. The manuals and guides are helpful. Her team shares activities for her to use in her classroom. This is all a great start...
A different picture: an experienced teacher of more than 10 years, well respected by students, parents and peers, has just been told of a new program in her curriculum. There’s now a wrench in her well-oiled teaching. There’s no room for anything else...
When we’re busy “trying to fit it all in,” it’s easy to forget the big picture. We get caught up in planning activities, teaching concepts and moving on. If we’re honest, I think this can happen to all of us sometimes. Here are some good reminders and questions for new teachers and those of us who’ve been at this for a while. It’s important to stop, reflect and remind ourselves of ultimate learning goals.
REMINDERS:

• The material = the vehicle for instruction. It just helps us get there, but it’s not the goal.
• Content ≠curriculum. Curriculum is based on varying degrees of mastery of skills and strategies that will help students transfer to other learning, not solely on mastering the facts or content of a text.

QUESTIONS:

• How else can I have students demonstrate learning?
• Am I explicitly teaching for transfer? Do my students know how what they’ve just learned will help them in a new situation?
• Am I checking for student understanding? If most students understand, it may be appropriate to scaffold further in a small group for just the students who need it. This will cut back on whole class instruction time.
• Will this lesson activity move student learning forward? If not, don’t do it.

If teachers are to feel supported, curriculum leaders need to regularly reflect as well. When presenting new or revised curriculum, leaders need to be explicit in communicating transfer as the ultimate goal. Essential questions and big ideas should drive student learning. When we open the conversation to why and how we can use curriculum, it's more likely we'll all be on the same page.

http://edge.ascd.org/_Everything-But-The-Kitchen-Sink/blog/6522846/127586.html