Mastery of Program Competencies

Mastery of Program Competencies

The curriculum map shows my knowledge of the subject of math. By basing my curriculum on Florida’s Sunshine State Standards, I have developed a curriculum that is relevant and responsive to the needs of my students. According to Udelhofen (2005), this element is key in curriculum because many times it is simply based on teacher preferences. By using the Sunshine State Standards, I have shown that I am aware of the content of my state standards and am using them to guide my instruction. One of the state standards states that students will “determine the measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode) and variability (range) for a given set of data” (Florida Department of Education, 2005). This standard is reflected in the part of my curriculum that deals with having students create a poster for the PE teachers that shows a stem-and-leaf plot of jump rope data and a written interpretation of the data and central tendencies. I see now that my curriculum map would have been more effective if I would have included a list of the standards being taught rather than just referring to them when doing the curriculum writing.

The curriculum map shows evidence of effective teaching practices. Instead of just having students copy down notes or listen to lectures, I am providing them with real-word, active, connected lessons and assessments that allow them to be a full participant in their learning. My curriculum map uses the qualities of best practice by helping students connect to their learning, providing meaningful, real-world opportunities, and building on their understanding of math all based on a variety of assessment methods (Zemelman, Daniels, & Hyde, 2005). My curriculum map could be improved by using some aspect of technology. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, according to Zemelman, Daniels, and Hyde, included technology as one of the six major principles in their vision for math. I could easily accomplish this by having students use a spreadsheet program to make bar graphs and perform calculations.