Conway, C. (2002). Curriculum Writing in Music. Music Educators Journal, 88(6), 54-59.
In her article Curriculum Writing in Music, Colleen Conway provides ideas and principles to keep in mind when writing curriculum. She doesn't say how to write a curriculum, rather explaining that there can be no one way to write a curriculum given the variations present in music programs and schools nationwide. However, there are common principles to be aware of to ensure that there is somewhat unified music instruction across different schools. Written curricula should include teacher/program philosophy, program goals, skills benchmarks (drawn from the standards if applicable), resources, lesson plans and strategies, assessment strategies, and curricular resources such as method books. Having a sequential yet flexible music curriculum is beneficial for a teacher to not only have a plan for each lesson, but for each student.
What I began to realize through reading this is how much time it will take to develop a music curriculum as a teacher in the field. It's not realistic to build a curriculum the summer before your first year of teaching and then implement it, since you don't know the characteristics of the students, and it may take a full rewrite to adapt the curriculum to your new findings. Rather I think the best course of action would be to diligently write lesson plans throughout the first couple of years and build an accumulation of activities, repertoire, policies, and practices in the music program from which to build an established curriculum.
Questions for Dr. Conway:
Should curricula be written separately for each class within a program or program-wide?
Which lesson plans should be included in the curriculum document?