At a Glance
The Fayette County Career and Technical Institute (FCCTI) offers teachers a curriculum resource that walks them through the process of lesson and unit planning in order to ensure that lessons meet school and state requirements for academic and technical standards.
Overview
The assistant director at FCCTI created a curriculum resource for new and tenured teachers that includes examples of each of the data elements/components required in the school lesson and unit plan templates. The resource aligns the Pennsylvania Core Standards for Science and Technical Subjects with literacy strategies from the Max Teaching resource. After receiving professional development on the Max Teaching strategies two years ago, teachers at FCCTI have been accountable for documenting the strategies in their lesson and unit plans and implementing them as part of the classroom instruction.
The curriculum resource, which is approximately 60 pages, is housed in a physical binder on site which allows changes to be made as needed. While an electronic version may be more cost effective, the school notes that the paper copy allows teachers immediate access to the resource alignment. This means they can review examples and data at their convenience while simultaneously preparing the lesson and units on their computers.
Origin / Implementation
The curriculum resource binder was developed in the 2014-2015 school year as the result of a newly required lesson and unit plan format introduced the prior year. The assistant director at FCCTI understood that career and technical vocabulary related to planning, preparation, and curriculum was confusing for both new and tenured teachers and that vocabulary can differ across programs and schools. For example, what one school calls a POS task, another might refer to as a competency.
The purpose of the curriculum resource binder was to make lesson and unit planning effective and efficient. For new teachers, it provides a valuable source of lesson plan examples and clear expectations for planning and preparation as required by the school and the state. Additionally, the resource aligns instructional strategies to the PA Core Standards for Science and Technical Subjects. For tenured teachers, it illustrates the new expectations for planning and preparation required by the school administration and is a source of evidence to in the teacher evaluation process.
Results / Impact
Though it is relatively new, the curriculum resources binder is helping teachers acclimate to the newly defined responsibilities in lesson/unit planning and preparation. The curriculum resource is making the new responsibilities less time consuming and more productive while also meeting or exceeding the requirements of the school administration and the state.
Contact
Fayette County Career and Technical Institute
Dr. Cynthia Shaw, Assistant Director
cshaw@fayettecti.org