Impact on Student Learning

The impact that a curriculum map would have on a student's learning is not seen directly. In fact, the student may not even be aware of the map at all. The curriculum map will impact the student by forcing his or her teacher to be very cognizant of everything that is being taught and how. The teacher has to complete a task analysis of the standards to discover what needs to be taught in order for the student to reach the desired end result. The students are going to be taught better because the teacher will be reviewing what has worked successfully for a subject and making any necessary alterations. The students just get the benefit of knowing that their teacher is going to be working at helping them to know the most important aspects of the content and will be teaching them broader concepts, which will lead to more knowledge.

Master of Program Competencies

In completing a curriculum map, I have showcased two of the program competencies set out by the Kaplan University curriculum designers. Depending on which phase of the mapping process a teacher is in, a curriculum map requires that a teacher know the content to be taught, commit to making creating the best possible learning environment for the students, and to reflect over what has been successful and unsuccessful. In showcasing competency #1, as dictated from the Kaplan University Conceptual Framework, the curriculum map requires that a teacher study their content standards very carefully. One method that forces teachers to look carefully and create a strong map is by using the backward design model. They must find how different standards in different content areaa fit together and they must discover the essential questions that will lead the students into a greater understanding of the content material (McTigue and Thomas). An appropriate, successful map cannot be created by a teacher that is not committed to his or her students' learning.
Another way that a curriculum map showcases the competencies in the framework through competency #2. This dictates that the teacher must know the content that is being taught. Without knowledge of the content, a teacher would not be able to create a map that would lead to success in the classroom. The essential ideas and key questions that McTigue and Thomas suggest are based on the idea that the map developer knows how the standards of the content fit together. If there is no connective tissue between standards, students will not be able make the learning connections rendering the map useless.

Reflective Journaling on a Curriculum Map

As a student of Kaplan University, I gain knowledge of ideas that are extremely helpful to myself and the students that I teach. One idea that has been brought to my attention again after a few years is the idea of curriculum mapping. When you curriculum map, you look at the "content, skills, and assessments for every course taught"(Udelhofen, 2005, pg. 28). With this curriculum map, you strive for the goal of not only improving test scores, but developing critical thinkers. As I began my curriculum design course, I did not think about just how important deciding on an exact curriculum was for students, and for all teachers in the school. By creating a curriculum map at the school site, teachers can ensure that they don't repeat the same content year after year, and that there are no holes in necessary content standards. Relearning about curriculum mapping excited me into looking into how I can better teach my students. The goal, after all, of curriculum mapping is to "create an authentic, consistent, standards-aligned, and student based curriculum" (Udelhofen, 2005, pg. 40).

Reference:
Udelhofen, S. (2005). Keys to curriculum mapping: strategies and tools to make it work. Corwin Press. Thousand Oaks, California.