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6: How to Plan Effective and Meaningful Curriculum and Instruction

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    One of the highlights of being a preschool teacher was setting up my classroom environment at the beginning of each new school year. There was so much anticipation and excitement as I thoughtfully organized my classroom, stocked the learning centers with new materials, and planned curriculum activities. I especially enjoyed purchasing a new lesson plan book and writing activity plans each month. I gathered ideas from various teacher resource books that primarily focused on seasonal themes and kindergarten readiness skills—like language arts and math. As I carefully considered topics for each month, I planned for indoor and outdoor activities, music and movement activities, along with a variety of play opportunities. I thought about creative art projects and planned for engaging circle time discussions. I created quiet corners, learning centers, decorated the walls with store-bought posters, and strived to make the classroom environment safe and welcoming. Some twenty years later, as I write this text and reflect on my own experiences as a preschool teacher, a few questions come to mind:

    • Who was I planning curriculum and instruction for—me, the children, their families, or my program director?
    • How could I possibly have planned meaningful curriculum and instruction if I did not know the children who were being placed in my care?
    • How could I have been intentional in my teaching practices if I did not know the children’s individual interests, abilities, and needs?

    Above is from: Gina Peterson and Emily Elam (Original authors of the OER).

    In this chapter, we will examine how observation and documentation are used to develop effective curriculum and instruction. We will explore what curriculum is, and we will discuss the benefits of planning developmentally appropriate curriculum and instruction. Additionally, the teacher’s role will be examined. Lastly, we will discuss how to plan effective and meaningful curriculum and instruction using observation, documentation, interpretation, and reflection as best practices.

    By the end of this chapter, students will be able to:

    1. Define curriculum, content, pedagogy, and assessment as they relate to early childhood education.
    2. Use baseline data (observation and documentation) to develop curricular experiences and plans.
    3. Identify and align developmentally appropriate learning standards with measurable learning objectives that include: learner, target behavior, timeline, criteria, and context.
    4. Distinguish between formative and summative assessments and their roles in planning for curricular experiences.
    5. Reflect on assessment outcomes to revise curricular experience plans and support ongoing learning throughout the school year.

    Contributions from

    Michelle Sands, Northern Illinois University

    6: How to Plan Effective and Meaningful Curriculum and Instruction is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Michelle Sands, Northern Illinois University.

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