Curricular Models

A curricular model is a framework for establishing class content, pedagogy, and learning. As a person who values organization and strong foundations, I see curricular models as the necessary outline for creativity and adaptation of curriculum. Curricular models do not tell us what to teach but rather offer us methods of implementation and planning. Efficient and effective curriculum planning is best achieved through collaboration with practicing educators and through observation of fellow educators’ practices and methods. For this reason, I plan to draw pieces of several curricular models, namely abolitionist teaching and backwards design.

Bettina Love writes, “Abolitionist teaching on a wide scale requires the willingness of teachers and school administrators to address systemic racism and its effects on dark children while loving Blackness enough to see its assets so the dark children matter” (2019, 70). In my future classrooms, I plan to draw from Love’s emphasis on explicit incorporation of Black students into class curriculum. Abolitionist teaching is a method of education that necessitates recognition and acknowledgment of systemic racism that exists within school systems and also outside of the classroom. This curricular model is crucial in teaching BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students that they are important and have valuable contributions to make to their world. I plan to use Love’s model to create curriculum that directly involves the lives, interests, and funds of knowledge of all students, and especially of BIPOC students. For too long in the education system, BIPOC students have been neglected and excluded from their classes’ content. My goal is to create curricula that explicitly addresses my students so that they may learn about themselves and their power in the world. The content I include in my curriculum will always be implemented with the goal of teaching students more about themselves than about fictional characters or authors. Everything we study will be a reflection of the students themselves.

I plan to use methods of UbD (Understanding by Design, also referred to as backwards design here) and differentiation to logistically plan this kind of curriculum. Backwards design is a curricular design model that allows for an emphasis on the intended goals and takeaways of each unit and lesson. Planning begins by deciding the outcome of the unit/lesson, then the method of assessment of those goals, and finally the activities and tasks that will be completed (Tomlinson and McTighe 2006). This method of curriculum planning ensures that every activity and lesson is relevant and useful in the bigger picture. By solidifying the overall goals of a unit first and foremost, it is easier to plan lessons, activities, and assessments that all address the same end. This method also allows for gradual adjustments to plans without neglecting the intended outcomes within curriculum.

These adjustments are best done through differentiation, which is an instricutional design models that allows for tasks and assessments to be modified to meet specific students’ needs. There are many parts of an English curriculum that can be accommodated based on needs while still meeting the intended outcome. For instance, students may have the choice between a graphic novel version of a novel rather than the traditional prose, or papers may be written using dictation rather than traditional typing/writing. These small changes do not change the curriculum but make it more approachable and less intimidating to students. I think choice is a crucial part of any curriculum, and so my future students will always have flexibility within our set curriculum. It is nearly impossible to achieve a differentiated instruction that fits the specific needs of every single student; the purpose behind differentiation is creating a learning environment that accommodates as many students as possible (Tomlinson and McTighe 2006). UbD and differentiated instruction are best used in conjunction under the support of strong instruction and curriculum.