Apply: Getting Started

Gather Your Standards and Begin to "Unpack" Them

Before you begin to analyze and group your standards, you'll want to gather helpful resources in one place. Remember that in addition to your state standards, you can consider the Common Core Standards, national content-area guidelines like the NCTM Focal Points or the NCSS Curriculum Standards, district curriculum frameworks, and released assessment blueprints and questions. Then ask yourself the questions, "What are my students expected to know and do?," "How will I know if they have "mastered" this content and skills?," "Where can they apply these concepts and skills in life outside of school?," "Which concepts and skills are foundational or high-priority?," "What level of rigor or thinking does each standard demand from students?," and "In which cases does sequence matter and in which cases does it make sense to group standards thematically?"

Collect Information About Your Context

In addition to gathering standards and curriculum guidelines, consider the circumstances within which students will be studying this content. The information you collect can range from your school's academic calendar to a schedule of community events to curriculum maps and plans from other teachers. As you gather this information, consider how you can incorporate it into your map to make each student's learning experience more cohesive and powerful.

Review and Apply the New Tech Network Curriculum Mapping Template

While different formats work for different people, the NTN Curriculum Mapping templates are a great place to start developing your curriculum map. These templates provide space to document groups of standards and skills, potential project ideas, tentative time-frames, assessment plans, and potential partners or collaborators. You may wish to create a large version of a template on chart paper, and use sticky notes to experiment with different configurations of standards.