TOWAMENCIN- Whether one has been teaching for two, twenty-eight, or thirty years, one characteristic is needed: flexibility. Having this trait allows educators to efficiently tackle inevitable changes, much like the continual changes in curriculum.

When introduced to new curriculum, teachers must prepare in various ways for instruction. Mrs. Lisa Wright, both a teacher and department chair for Math at North Penn High School, explained that one must develop a framework for the curriculum.

“This framework is structured around the ‘big ideas’ within that course that you need to teach,” said Wright. “New assessments (like the midterm and final exam) need to reflect the enduring understanding we want students to have with the concepts in the course and then a syllabus is created within in each unit that contains the big ideas.  A teacher needs to know the content conceptually as well as procedurally and then develops individual lessons that are executed in class.”

Mrs. Nancy Craig, Social Studies teacher at North Penn High school, explained that a new curriculum often requires new books.

“The cycle of selecting books always happens in ten years, so this is exciting because we’ll be getting newer books, sooner than we normally would. If we still like the book we’re using, we can get the newer edition. For example, my AP European History book: I’m now using the eighth edition, but I will probably be able to order the twelfth edition. It adds some more history at the end, so I get the more updated version, which is nice,” expressed an excited Craig.

When weighing the positives against the negatives regarding curriculum change, Mr. Ryan Gutsche, History teacher at North Penn High School, Wright, and Craig shared similar thoughts.

“Positives are it is just an update, and it’s a revamp. [In my] personal opinion change is a good thing,” stated Gutsche. “Now we’re sitting down and creating the class, so now is the time for our input and how we think a course should look.”

“A positive of a change in curriculum would be that it prevents teachers from falling into a rut, teaching the same things the same way all the time,” explained Wright. “Even though math has changed little since we learned it ourselves, teaching in a manner that is sometimes very different from how we learned it ourselves it difficult.”

Craig expressed that adjusting to a new curriculum can prove to be challenging as it requires one to be extremely flexible.

“Well it’s always more difficult to figure out the pacing because you’ve never done it before, and you have to figure out what to do by certain times in order to get everything in for the final exam,” said Craig. “So, pacing becomes an issue as well, and you’re focusing on different parts of the curriculum. In the American History, you may not be an expert in early American History, and now, all of a sudden, you’re going to be teaching the 20^th century Vietnam War. Sometimes it does take a little shifting of expertise in order to be able to teach a different part of maybe even the same course.”

Craig also explained that having curriculum changed every year isn’t beneficial, as it doesn’t allow the teacher to become an expert. However, after teaching a course for a long time, adding a new curriculum with new information widens a teacher’s perspective and makes one a better teacher.

As teachers receive updated curriculum, it’s important for one to understand the reasons that cause such changes.

According to Wright, the reasons vary throughout the math department. She explained that the adoption of new textbooks cause teachers to adjust instruction in relation to the textbook’s strengths and weaknesses, and teaching a different level of the same course creates differences in curriculum content. In some instances, course content must be realigned.

“The most recent example of this is the Keystone Exam process in the state,” said Wright. “PA defined what content would be included on the Algebra 1 Keystone exam, and NP had to change in what course a few things got taught to be sure it got covered for the Keystone.  At one time, the state proposed a possible Geometry and Algebra 2 Keystone, on which students would have to score proficient or above on 2 of the 3 to graduate, also, so we realigned all the courses through PreCalculus to accommodate the possible change.  As a result, every teacher has modified and changed their curriculum over the last few years.”

Additionally, the Social Studies department is experiencing modifications as the World Cultures course is currently being pulled for changes and updates. Gutsche explained that this process requires teachers who teach the course to attend sessions at the ESC in order to basically rewrite the curriculum. Next school year the World Cultures teachers will be teaching American Cultures, and the following year, they will return with a World History course.

“It’s up to the teachers to essentially design those new curriculums, so we’ve really been starting with looking at different textbook resources and trying to figure out which would be potentially a good, new textbook for the course,” said Gutsche. “Then, after that, we sit down and look at the curriculum framework [by] basically laying out the framework for the units that we’re going to talk about throughout the year. Not necessarily the actual unit plans or the lessons, but figuring out just the framework of those ideas.”

During this process, Gutsche explained the group of teachers decided the best way to cover all of the history was by looking at trigger points in the past that caused the modern day to exist as it does now.

Not only is the process of creating curriculum for a course tedious, but also the scheduling of courses for teachers. Mrs. Amy Linn, assistant principal at North Penn High School, explained that the process begins in the fall when the Program of Academic Studies is updated. Late January, early February marks course selection for students, and during the month of April, administrators will review students’ requests in order to determine which courses will run and the number of sections being offered for a particular course. Linn noted that after this is accomplished, Mr. Burt Hynes, principal of North Penn High School, works with department chairs to identify who will teach each course.

One department chair that Hynes collaborates with is Wright. She explained that after Hynes receives the count of students registered in each math class and decides the sections needed for each course, she begins to create a math schedule that assigns teachers in her department enough classes to give them a full schedule.

“This is often a puzzle since math classes can be 6, 7 or 8 periods per cycle, and we have some minor classes offered in the department as well,” said Wright. “I try to give each teacher at least 1 course they want to teach, but ultimately each of us is certified to teach any course we have to offer, so they are assigned up to 3 different ones in total.  Of course there are always special circumstances, such as some teachers [who] ‘specialize’ in certain branches of mathematics.  Mr. Kolb, for example, is our expert in Computer Programming, so he always teaches the AP class. Statistics AP and Calculus AB and BC are also courses that have seen the same core teachers as they attend summer institutes offered by the College Board to prepare them to deliver that particular content.”

The scheduling completed by department chairs leads to the intricate process that administrators must accomplish. Linn provided some insight into the immense undertaking.

“In regards to the actual scheduling, that is a complex task that takes all summer,” explained Linn. “For me, the summer months are very busy and much needs to be accomplished. We begin by printing a 500-page report called the conflict matrix. This is what is used to build the schedule for the high school. It identifies a course and what other courses students are taking in conjunction with that course; this allows us to try to minimize the number of conflicts. We build one department at a time and must consider room constraints, as well as the schedules of co-teachers. There are also little things that I keep in mind: trying to avoid teaching 4 classes in row, keeping same subject courses blocked in a teacher’s schedule and room assignments. Realizing that this can’t always happen. This process will take all of July to complete- it might even go into the first week of August. As each department is built, the information is entered into the computer system.”

Once finished constructing the schedule, the process proves to demand more evaluation. Linn indicated that administrators further analyze reports by considering factors regarding the number of sections for a course in a certain period, elimination of sections, and reasons why a class isn’t attracting students. After the major factors of the scheduling process are accomplished, Linn explained that minor details are taken care of, including ninth period assignments, study halls, and lunches. Additionally, she noted that teachers’ requests to teach a course are reviewed, and administrators try to honor them when possible.

Linn also spoke of the history of the scheduling process.

“The scheduling process really hasn’t changed in the thirteen-fourteen years that I have been scheduling for the district,” said Linn. “It has become a little more challenging with budget cuts, but our focus has always been to schedule for the students.”