C urri c ul um Ba se d o n Sta nda rds an d S cal es | 25
about determining the central idea of a text. We will call it ‘Determining Central Idea.’” 2.
Determine the language of score 3.0. Again, teachers following this process might think, “The language of the standard is fine, except it might be helpful to make it more concise and use our usual bulleted format. Reformatting it in this way would make clear the most important skill— determining the central message, lesson, or moral.” •
Determine the central message or moral of stories, fables, and folktales.
3.
Determine vocabulary related to the target content and record it in score 2.0. Again, teachers considering the important vocabulary terms might think, “The standard provides some important terminology, but we should add a couple of terms that are important as we teach this skill. They will need to recognize or recall specific terminology such as central idea, fable, folktale, message, lesson, moral, hero, heroine.”
4.
Determine basic knowledge and skills and record them in score 2.0. In considering what must be in place for the students to work on the standard at score 3.0, teachers might think, “Students will definitely need to be able to retell the text in question, and they will also need a process for identifying central message, an important stepping-stone to determining central message.”
5.
•
Accurately retell stories from diverse cultures, including fables and folktales.
•
Understand a process for determining central message from a text.
Identify an example or two of how a student might demonstrate a score 4.0 performance. Again, the thought process might go as follows: “There are numerous ways a student could demonstrate going beyond proficiency. What if we gave them multiple texts and asked them not only to determine the central messages of the texts but also to account for similarities and differences in the messages?”
The proficiency scale in figure 1.8 (page 26) is a product of the five-step process.
Summary In this chapter, we have discussed the underlying curriculum work that enables teachers to begin planning and instructing based on standards. While standards prioritization and proficiency scale development may occur at the school or district level, it is important for individual teachers to understand these processes. With a viable set of standards and high-quality proficiency scales in hand, you can now proceed to the next step of the planning process: determining the sequence and timing of instruction throughout the learning period. As such, developing curriculum maps based on standards and scales is the subject of our next chapter.
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The student will:
