November 12, 2013 at 7:00 PM - Bethel Board of Education Curriculum Subcommittee Meeting

 Key Points of the Briefing:

1. This curriculum had not been updated for many years, so the team worked on re-conceptualizing the curriculum and activities to make it more meaningful and relevant to students.
2. Teachers worked to align this course with the Common Core standards.Teacher further refined the Essential Questions within each unit of study.  
3. Assignments and assessments now reflect alignment with the CCSS.
4. Assessments such as the Argumentation Paper and the research projects were modified and developed to be more meaningful and to be CCSS aligned. 

Summary of the Briefing: 

The Introduction to Law and Civics curriculum was revised to update it, to make it more appealing and relevant to students, and to align the course outcomes with the Common Core standards. 

Key Points of the Briefing: 

1. The social studies teachers modified the assignments and assessments in this course to reflect alignment with the Common Core.
2. Emphasis was placed on the Gradual Release of Responsibility to Students model (GRR) and the provision of explicit teaching, modeling, and practice of the critical skills of the CCSS.
3. Time was spent and continues to be spent on the assessments section to build assessments that reflect the SMARTER Balanced Assessments and the need to ask Depth of Knowledge (DOK) 3 and 4 level questions.
4. The Capstone Project details will continue to be added into the document as we continue through this year.

Summary of the Briefing:

In order to align this curriculum to the Common Core and to include the Junior Year Capstone Project into this curriculum, the eleventh grade social studies made the changes detailed above.  

Key Points of the Briefing: 

1. This curriculum is now aligned with the Common Core State Standards. 
2. Assignments and assessments were also aligned with the Core. 
3. New units were added, and unit essential questions were updated or newly developed.
4. Pacing guide was updated.
5. Existing assessments were changed to reflect the greater rigor of the Common Core.  New assessments were developed for the new units of study.  More performance-based assessments were added to prepare students for the challenges ahead in the Smarter Balanced Assessments.
6. Teachers included practice SBAC performance-based assessments to be tracked—one per quarter—and they are refining these as a PLC throughout this year.

Summary of the Briefing: 

In order to align this curriculum to the Common Core, the tenth grade social studies made the changes highlighted above. 

Key Points of the Briefing: 

1. This curriculum is now fully aligned with the Common Core State Standards. 
2. Assignments and assessments were also aligned with the Core.  The teachers identified priority CCSS standards in reading, writing, and speaking/listening with the intention of focusing greater attention on these throughout the school year. 
3. Teachers included differentiated assignments and assessments to include in the curriculum in order to address the fact that level III has been eliminated.  (Only Honors and Level II exist now.)
4. Working with the special education department and the reading teacher, the social studies teachers updated their instructional episodes to include the Gradual Release of Responsibility to Students, explicit teaching of skills as well as content, the inclusion of modeling by teachers, and many practice assignments with the CCSS. 

Summary of the Briefing: 

In order to align this curriculum to the Common Core, the ninth grade social studies made the changes highlighted above. 

Key Points of the Briefing: 

1. This is a course proposal from the World Languages Department at BHS.
2. The course is currently taught at WCSU, and our students will be able to take the course for WCSU credit, but it will be taught on our campus by our teachers.  We are working closely with WCSU to meet all of their requirements so that we can offer it at BHS.
3. It is designed for students who take AP Spanish in the junior year, but then have no other courses to take in Spanish in order to maintain their skills before college.  It is also an appropriate course for students who want to take another high level Spanish class, but they do not want to take the Advanced Placement option.
4. The course will replace the UConn Conversation and Composition course which has very low enrollment or no enrollment in the past few years due to the constraints placed on those who teach the course (certification, special training, and degree status). 
5. This course fills a void for students and is a good option for those who love the language.