Monday, July 30, 2012

DESE's Model Curriculum Units Roll On: Year Two


Four Model Curriculum Units – Now Available (1/16/13):

ESE has released four units, located at http://www.doe.mass.edu/candi/commoncore/, as prototypes for district use: Grade 3 ELA/Literacy: Whose Story Is It? The Craft and Structure of Writing about History (Topic – Plymouth); Grade 6 Mathematics: Ratios and Rates; Grade 8-10 History/Social Science: US Constitutional Rights; and Grades 9-12 Science and Technology/Engineering: Energy-Physics. 

Older News:
At Devens July 30, 2012, DESE Associate Commissioner Julia Phelps unveiled plans for a second year creating Model Curriculum Units.

In year two, participating teachers will pilot 35 units in 62 districts; they will also build 50 new units. Many Cohort I teachers have returned, and they're joined by 75 new teachers. Design teams will include a mixture of Cohort I and II teachers. And for the first time, a Voc-Tech team (creating a culinary unit) is on board.

Today Cohort I teams received feedback and revised year one units, while the new teachers work with Jay McTighe and Understanding by Design. On Tuesday teams begin work on new units. Friday brings an Educator Evaluation System presentation, especially as it relates to MCU work.

Science: only one unit from year one is moving forward! In order to catch up with the other content areas, teachers will study existing units that are in the public domain. Teacher teams will apply three different rubrics to these existing units before selecting a unit to revise.

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