Review+Sessions

Review Sessions
Teachers should simply state the areas in which they gained information, the places where they located gaps, repetitions, potential areas for integration, mismatches between outcomes and curriculum, and meaningful and non-meaningful assessments. The important point here is that the faculty is now moving from a review mode to an editing, revising and developing mode. The review process is an active and ongoing process

Read Maps to Gain Information
If we have no working knowledge of what students studied in previous years, how can we build on their learning? If we have no insight into the curriculum in later grades, how can we prepare learners for future classes? Reading and examining curriculum maps enables us to create a database for making important decisions.

**Identify Gaps**
We frequently find gaps between goals and what is actually taught, and these gaps can have a lasting impact on a child’s learning. Vertical articulation of the curriculum fosters smoother transitions for students as they move toward secondary school programs. Maps will reveal missing pieces in vertical and horizontal articulation: years past, years to come, and in the current year. With this data, gaps in content, skills, and assessment can be identified.

Identify Repetitions
Maps can reveal such repetition, showing where the same novel or unit is repeatedly addressed. Maps reveal not only content repetitions but also skill repetitions It is the educator’s job to study a curriculum map and recommend whether the content, skills, and assessments it details are to be validated or revised.

Identify Potential Areas for Integration
When appropriate, merging concepts from two or more disciplines can make for a powerful and lasting learning experience. As individual teachers or team members look over their maps, they can determine which option best serves their learners. Another option is to reconfigure when mutually compatible subjects or units are taught so that they run concurrently. The point is that interdisciplinary designs are best when sensible, not strained, integration is planned. When groups are just starting to work in teams, the curriculum map can become a unifying agent.

Match Assessments with standards
We need evidence of learning to find out if we are effectively meeting our targeted goals for students. Focusing on assessment through the course of the year deepens accountability. Both tangible products and observed performances can serve as the basis for assessing student growth.