The students show curiosity through curricular concepts. The process begins by presenting the students with a central idea that could be an essential statement or a question (backwards design by Higgins). Through the curriculum, I review what is interesting for students, what they care about and how will it connect to students' everyday lives and how it applies to the world in which we live. Through the essential/big idea the students have already posed questions and showed curiosity about the topic.
We first focus on the personal connection to the content as a learning community to share what the students already know and learn from each other. They engage together in discussions on the big ideas and make it authentic and relevant before they set their wonderings. Frontloading is an important step for the unpacking of the curriculum after the essential question and brainstorming of ideas. The frontloading could be a set of videos, newspaper articles, library books, interviews, slides.
Before research and setting the wonderings, the students set their individual questions in teams and categorize them by topic. I present overall expectation and specific expectations of the curriculum. As a team we closely look at the expectations and what matters for investigations and apply these to our learning tasks. We closely discuss why would we need to learn this content and how does it connect with everyday life? The content becomes interesting for students who then take ownership of what they would like to learn.
Throughout the process, students listen to each other and make connections and synthesize meaning based on our daily statement "What did you learn from others and what did you contribute?".
We first focus on the personal connection to the content as a learning community to share what the students already know and learn from each other. They engage together in discussions on the big ideas and make it authentic and relevant before they set their wonderings. Frontloading is an important step for the unpacking of the curriculum after the essential question and brainstorming of ideas. The frontloading could be a set of videos, newspaper articles, library books, interviews, slides.
Before research and setting the wonderings, the students set their individual questions in teams and categorize them by topic. I present overall expectation and specific expectations of the curriculum. As a team we closely look at the expectations and what matters for investigations and apply these to our learning tasks. We closely discuss why would we need to learn this content and how does it connect with everyday life? The content becomes interesting for students who then take ownership of what they would like to learn.
Throughout the process, students listen to each other and make connections and synthesize meaning based on our daily statement "What did you learn from others and what did you contribute?".
Below is posted evidence of students' thinking on unpacking the curriculum. I will be providing more documentation this coming year to fulfill the purpose of this blog.
Grade 6 Social Studies Curriculum on First Nation Peoples.
Grade 4 Science Curriculum on Habitats and Communities
QR codes for Frontloading of the Curriculum
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