CURRICULUM

PLANNING
GUIDELINES
Every child is gifted. They
just unwrap their packages
at different times.
 What are Curriculum
Planning Guidelines?
• Curriculum planning guidelines can be
defined as the guidelines followed by
teachers to accomplish what has been set
forth by the standards-based curriculum.
• When teachers make their plans,
teachers should take care to consider
such things as the need to analyze the
general curriculum to determine the
adequacy of the curriculum for all
learners, the availability of support
materials, and strategies used to teach
material to students.
 Why Use Curriculum
Planning Guidelines?

Planning guidelines should be

used in order to ensure that
students with disabilities
receive the same curricular
content as their peers without
disabilities as is required by the
Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act Amendments of
2004 (IDEA ’04).
 Curriculum Planning
Guidelines

• Help teachers to improve

instruction
• Help educators to make
placement decisions regarding
students with disabilities to
determine whether the general
education curriculum is
appropriate or whether it needs
to be modified
• Prompt teachers to actively
plan
 Implementing the Use of Curriculum
Planning Guidelines

Many teachers are concerned about helping their diverse learners

to benefit from what they are being taught. These are intended to
support the greatest possible understanding or acquisition of
content by learners. A byproduct of their implementation is that
teachers learn to be much more strategic in their lesson planning.
The table below outlines six curricular design guidelines that can
be used to make instruction as accessible and effective as
possible.
 PRINCIPLE DEFINITION
Big Ideas Ideas, values, or rules that
help students to access
and acquire knowledge
(i.e., the essence of what
all students need to learn
from the lesson or unit)
Conspicuous Strategies Explicit steps for
completing an objective or
assignment (e.g., a
paraphrasing or test-taking
strategy) taught directly to
students and built into
subsequent lessons for
maintenance
EXAMPLE
Students have different
learning strengths and
needs that we can most
easily accommodate if we
build in flexibility at the
beginning of the school
year.
Mnemonic devices
(memory aids) can help
students to memorize a list,
complete the steps in a
math problem, outline the
procedure for taking part in
a group discussion, or
specify how to create an
outline. Such devices
should be clearly taught so
that students are also able
to use them independently.
 PRINCIPLE DEFINITION
Mediated Scaffolding Instructional support
imparted by teachers,
peers, materials, or tasks,
and faded as the learner’s
proficiency grows
EXAMPLE
Your students are required
to memorize a list of
spelling words. You can
support those students
who need it by:
1. Offering the visual
stimulus (the printed
word) and a
predictable order for
calling out the words
2. Fading the predictable
order, calling randomly
on students
3. Finally, fading the
visual support so that
students must recite
the word without the
cue
 PRINCIPLE DEFINITION
Strategic Integration Weaving in key terms,
ideas, or events at
appropriate points to move
students towards higher-
level learning
Primed Background Tapping into students’ past
Knowledge experiences to connect old
information and expertise
to new learning, thus
setting them up for success
EXAMPLE
Students must discover
and describe how changing
conditions affect various
aspects of survival (e.g.,
physical, cultural,
economic, cognitive). Use
video clips, field trips, and
mini-lessons to
demonstrate changing
weather conditions.
Ask students to talk about
their experiences with
economic change or family
mobility, in preparation for
a class discussion, text
reading, and report writing.
 PRINCIPLE DEFINITION
Judicious Review Regularly creating
situations in which students
are asked to recall what
they’ve learned with the
goal of enhancing their
long-term memory or the
use of previously acquired
concepts or skills
EXAMPLE
Having taught estimating
skills in math in October,
design a math probe for
estimating skills. Use it in
word problems at least
once a month and continue
to use it throughout the
year, ending with a project
due in March.
 Remember
Curriculum planning guidelines help
teachers not just to improve their
mode of teaching but also to become
flexible and provide appropriate
curriculum to all types of students
that will meet their needs.