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Curriculum Selection
by Diane Lilleberg
Here are some questions to ask yourself as you consider available curriculum programs.
Curriculum Type
- Do I want a curriculum that fits with my values and beliefs?
- Does this curriculum limit opportunities to model my values?
- Am I comfortable modeling a world view based on my values and beliefs?
- Will this curriculum encourage sympathy toward other cultures and other world views ?
- What curricula have I seen, and what appealed to me about each?
- What curriculum have I used before, and how did it work for me and for my student(s)?
- Is the curriculum educationally sound?
- Is it an appropriate fit in other ways? (Consider answers to other questions on this page.)
- What do the other children in our entity use?
Questions about Materials
- Can I purchase part of a package?
- Am I allowed to reuse it with younger children?
- What type/how many textbooks are used? Publication dates?
- How reliable is the ordering and/or advisement service?
- What experiences have others had with the company and with the materials?
Scheduling Helps
- What scheduling helps are provided with the curriculum?
- Will such helps be an advantage for me?
- Will such helps be an advantage for my student? In what way?
- Will I look at scheduling helps as “suggested,” or will such helps put additional pressure on me and my student because I want to do every little thing so I can feel “finished”?
- How important is it to have an authority (strict curriculum or schedule) helping me motivate students for schoolwork when peers are not present?
- Do I have options available should my student accelerate through the schedule?
Teaching Helps
- What kind of teaching helps are included for the teacher?
- Are they educationally sound?
- Will they encourage my educational values for my children?
- Options? Structure? Do the helps have suggestions for dealing with students who need time and/or students needing challenge?
Educational Outcomes
- What kind of educational outcomes are expected by this curriculum? (Written assignments, fill-in-the-blanks…facts, processes, concepts, problem-solving)
Student Expectations
- Are the student expectations appropriate?
- Are tasks required of students developmentally appropriate?
- Is there task variety in the student expectations?
- Is there a variety in the levels of thought required to accomplish the expected tasks?
- What levels of creativity in product or thought are encouraged/allowed?
Additional questions
- What are my expectations of my student’s ability to independently pursue courses or course work?
- Do I expect changes in the time I have for teaching my student(s)?
- What resources will I have available to me in my location? ∆
Permission to copy, but not for commercial use.