Do you want to help your students learn even more? One way you can do this is by leveraging your unit maps on an ongoing basis. How can you do this? Try the 4 Rs:

1. Review your unit map before starting each unit.
2. Reflect on how each unit went.
3. Revise each unit map, based on your reflection.
4. Regularly talk about your unit maps.

Let me explain further:
 
(1) Review your unit map for 5 or more minutes before starting each unit—this will help you focus on what you want your students to learn:

1. Look at your learning targets, enduring understandings, and essential questions. Ask yourself, "What do my students need to learn?"
2. Look at your content and skills. Ask yourself, "How are the content and skills connected to my learning targets and enduring understandings?"
3. Look at your assessments, noting which learning targets a given assessment addresses. Ask yourself, "To what extent do these assessment give high quality evidence for student achievement of the learning targets?"
4. Look at your resources, making sure you know where all of them are. Ask yourself, "How helpful are these resources?" and “Do I use anything that is not documented in my map?”

(2) Reflect on how each unit went. Do this as soon after a unit finishes as you can. You might want to consider the following questions:

1. What did your students learn during the unit?
2. What is encouraging/discouraging about what your students learned?
3. To what extent did you carry out your unit plan?
4. To increase student learning, what changes could you make to your unit map?

(3) Revise each unit map, based on your reflection. I like to make changes immediately, and others like to make changes right before teaching the unit again. The important thing is not when you make the revisions, but that you make the revisions before teaching the unit again.
 
(4) Regularly talk about your unit maps—this is fun and will keep you focused on your unit maps. Each year, talk through at least 4 units with a colleague. As necessary, talk through various parts of your unit maps, for example, enduring understandings, essential questions, and assessments.
 
To find out how you and your colleagues are using the 4Rs, rate each statement below. Use the following scale: 4: Strongly Agree • 3: Agree • 2: Disagree • 1: Strongly Disagree 
 
___ Before starting each unit, I take 5 or more minutes to review the appropriate unit map.
___ I reflect on how each unit went, noting possible ways to improve the unit.
___ I revise each unit (as appropriate) before teaching the unit again.
___ I regularly talk about my unit maps with colleagues.
___ Before starting each unit, my colleagues take 5 or more minutes to review the appropriate unit map.
___ My colleagues reflect on how each unit went, noting possible ways to improve the unit.
___ My colleagues revise each unit (as appropriate) before teaching the unit again.
___ My colleagues regularly talk about their unit maps with others.
 
Now, ask yourself 4 questions about the data:  

1. How many 4s, 3s, 2s, and 1s are there?
2. What excites/concerns me about the data?
3. What can I do to increase the practice of the 4 Rs (review, reflect, revise, regularly talk)?
4. What will I do?

You're at school, and you want to help others grow. Instead of giving advice or suggestions, ask questions that fit the DRAW protocol:

• Define: Get the facts defined.
• Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.
• Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.
• What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

 
Here's a set of DRAW questions you can use for a faculty meeting conversation about science-related issues:
 
Define: Get the facts defined.

1. What do the following 5 terms mean: creationism, theory of evolution, common ancestry, microevolution, and evolutionism?
2. What questions do students, parents, staff, and board members ask about these 5 terms?
3. What are your students taught about these 5 terms?
4. What’s the school’s position on these 5 terms?

Respond: Get the facts responded to in terms of feelings/experiences.

1. What excites/frustrates you about these 5 terms?
2. What positive/negative experiences have you had related to these 5 terms?

Analyze: Get the facts, feelings, and experiences analyzed.

1. Scale of 1-10 (10 being high), how important is it for your school to address these 5 terms?
2. What helps/hinders students as they work to learn about these 5 terms?
3. For your students to learn about these 5 terms, what do teachers need to keep doing? start doing? stop doing?

What’s next?: Get next steps considered.

1. What action steps will you take?
2. What resources will you need?
3. Who’s responsible for what?
4. How will you hold each other accountable?

You’re planning a workshop for an organization. You’re talking to the contact person about the objectives, and the contact person keeps talking about skipping the application so there’s more time to cover more content. I’ll be you’re frustrated.

I’ll bet you’re frustrated and that you feel like a basketball coach who’s been given the following choice: during the season you can have your players either practice or play, but not both.

I’ll bet you don’t like the choices.

Why? Because you want practicing and playing. You want to do training that involves understanding and applying. You want “and” learning, not “or” learning. So, you choose:

• Rehearsing and performing.
  
• Attitude and behavior
  
• Using head/heart and hands.

Use “and” learning, not “or” learning. Work smart. Today.

Tom Postema, department chair coordinator at Christian Academy in Japan (CAJ), describes how curriculum mapping helps CAJ:

CAJ department chairs think curriculum mapping helps us increase our CLASS:

• Collaboration
  
• Learning
  
• Accountability
  
• Strategic planning
  
• Sustainability

To find out why, read on.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Collaboration?

• I am in more discussions about curriculum now and this has resulted in me collaboratively developing unit plans.
  
• I can get ideas for lessons from colleagues' maps.
  
• We can work together cross-grade level or cross-departments on specific units or projects.
  
• As a result of curriculum mapping, principals are increasingly talking with each other about curriculum and are increasingly working with teachers on unit plans.
  
• Curriculum mapping helps me see that curriculum development is a together thing.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Learning?

• It helps me plan instruction more effectively, and planned instruction increases student learning.
  
• We can modify our maps in response to assessment in order to promote student learning.
  
• It helps me increase alignment between the content and skills I teach and the content and skills I assess.
  
• It helps us use common vocabulary across divisions and departments to reinforce student learning.
  
• It helps us compare what we thought we were teaching and what we actually are teaching–and then we can go ahead and plug the holes.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Accountability?

• I'm glad that I can see colleagues' unit plans and they can see mine. "Going public" helps me be accountable for my unit plans and helps me support their work.
  
• The curriculum coordinator can see the overall picture, and this helps him provide the accountability departments need to work effectively.
  
• Curriculum mapping helps the administration hold itself accountable to reach its two goals of developing an exemplary curriculum and meeting curriculum related accreditation standards.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Strategic planning?

• We use mapping data to determine what the professional development topics for next year are going to be.
  
• We use mapping to implement our plan to get the curriculum done.
  
• We use mapping data to determine curriculum goals for next year, including having units with accurately mapped content and skills.

How does curriculum mapping help CAJ increase Sustainability?

• A new teacher can come in and quickly know what their curriculum is.
  
• You can find it; you can adapt it; you can use it.
  
• You can determine what resources you have and what resources you need to sustain a program.

Working smart means mapping curriculum. And the good news is that mapping curriculum can help you increase CLASS:

• Collaboration
  
• Learning
  
• Accountability
  
• Strategic Planning
  
• Sustainability

Here’s how:

• Collaboration: Mapping facilitates collaborative dialogue about what is being taught and assessed.
  
• Learning: Mapping requires planning for student learning. Planning for student learning results in increased student learning.
  
• Accountability: Through mapping, a school demonstrates accountability to best practice.
  
• Strategic planning: Mapping data can be used to develop and support strategic plans.
  
• Sustainability: A new teacher can be given the mapped curriculum.

Work smart. Map curriculum. Increase CLASS.