January 9, 2014 at 6:00 PM - Bethel Board of Education Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting

Key Points of the Briefing: 

1. The social studies teachers modified the assignments and assessments in this course to reflect alignment with the Common Core.
2. Emphasis was placed on the Gradual Release of Responsibility to Students model (GRR) and the provision of explicit teaching, modeling, and practice of the critical skills of the CCSS.
3. Time was spent and continues to be spent on the assessments section to build assessments that reflect the SMARTER Balanced Assessments and the need to ask Depth of Knowledge (DOK) 3 and 4 level questions.
4. The Capstone Project details will continue to be added into the document as we continue through this year.

Summary of the Briefing:

In order to align this curriculum to the Common Core and to include the Junior Year Capstone Project into this curriculum, the eleventh grade social studies made the changes detailed above.  

Topic: Curriculum Updates for Algebra II 31, 32, and 33

Key Points of the Briefing:  The major changes in these documents are the following:

• Algebra II curriculum was revised to reflect changes in the Algebra I curriculum, brought about due to the ongoing work on a model Algebra I curriculum at the state level which now includes quadratics as a unit (up until now it was suggested to be left out of Algebra I even though the CCSS included it in their Algebra I outline).

• We significantly increased the rigor within the Algebra II curriculum. The old documents included too much time spent reviewing Algebra I topics, so Algebra II topics could not be completed. We will still have to address holes and weaknesses as we progress through the year until students come to us with more Common Core background, but the concentrated review in the fall as part of the document is gone.

• The model curriculum for Algebra I was released in August of 2013 which included the quadratic unit and gave teachers a clear idea of what would now be taught in Algebra I, since we’ve adopted it, and we adjusted the Algebra II curriculum accordingly. The new documents also include how the eight Mathematical Practices were woven into the curriculum. The model of the Algebra I curriculum published by the SDOE helped guide our teachers who were writing these documents to incorporate them in our Algebra II documents. 

• The curriculum for all three levels of Algebra II were done at the same time to ensure that the required CCSS were included in all three documents and the extensions within the standards for Algebra II were incorporated within the honors level especially.

• The textbook pages in the curriculum documents reflect the textbooks we were using. We received new Common Core editions of the Algebra II textbook this fall. Teachers went back through the new books after school to complete a scope and sequence for this year for all three courses reflecting the new texts. That is why there is an additional document included.

Summary of the Briefing:  These revisions make the Algebra II curriculum closely aligned with the Common Core, the Mathematical Practices, and the Mathematical Shifts in instructional emphasis and delivery. . 

Key Points of the Briefing:  The major changes in these documents are the following: 

• The focus of the work was to align the Plane Geometry curriculum fully with the Common Core State Standards.

• In addition, the Mathematical Practices are fully integrated into the curriculum document.

• Due to the end of the CAPT testing in sophomore year and practice testing in freshmen year, we were able to reorganize the curriculum conceptually so that one unit leads into another in a smooth and logical fashion to improve students’ ability understand why geometric concepts are connected to what they’ve learned previously in algebra, and to see connections from one topic to another within the course. Real world applications also are woven within the curriculum throughout the year rather than being crammed in before March testing whether or not they fit there.

• Materials and resources now include those in the new Common Core Edition Geometry books purchased last year.

Summary of the Briefing:  These revisions make the Plane Geometry 21 curriculum closely aligned with the Common Core, the Mathematical Practices, and the Mathematical Shifts in instructional emphasis and delivery. .