Module 1 - Reflection
About Me: I have served in public education for eleven years. Five as a high school mathematics teacher and six as an administrator/instructional leader. I truly enjoy what I do as my roles and responsibilities require me to stay up to date with technology, laws, and the diverse needs of students. As a mathematics teacher, I sat in professional learning communities (PLCs) and attended many professional development sessions to improve instruction and student learning. As I reflect, not much thought went into who actually created or adopted the curriculum or even the political side of it all. I would like to learn a little more on this process. I am extremely enjoying this class as it resonates with me.
It was somewhat challenging to come up with a curriculum definition as curriculum can be defined in a variety of ways. However it is defined, it must include several components in order for it to be effective. Navigating through the specific historic periods was also interesting. The way the Chapter 2 is laid out (“The Predominant Trends” & “The Exemplary Leaders”) in Curriculum Leadership inspired my definition of curriculum to include preparing students for a technological world. Most of what we do now requires an electronic device and the internet. This year I served as the testing coordinator and noticed that most students test via the online version, whereas maybe five years ago, most students took a paper version. When I was in school all students took the paper version. Per the Texas Education Agency (TEA), all students will have to test via the online version unless students are given prior written permission to test on paper. Same thing with the SAT through College Board, the organization will start transitioning within a year. Scores come in much sooner, which is a positive when teachers are trying to analyze date over the summer to prepare for the upcoming year. The time it took for scores to get back used to be something to consider in terms of providing timely feedback. This was also mentioned in an article including a conversation with Marzano back in 2001 – “We need a monitoring system that allows us to track student progress on specific standards. State tests aren't effective feedback mechanisms. Those tests are given once a year. Schools and teachers don't get the results back for months”(Marge Scherer, 2001). Now scores are returned within days.
“What is the relationship between the knowledge embedded in the curriculum and those enacting the curriculum?” - Was the question that really resonated with me in terms of what I do on a daily basis as an instructional leader. The curriculum is set, but yet every teacher has a unique method of delivery. This at times can cause students, based on the actions, delivery methods, and teacher interpretation of the TEKS, to miss out on what the curriculum has been set out to deliver. I enjoy working with teachers as they sit and work on lesson plans and truly dive into the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). Our state standardized scores were recently received, it was interesting to see that out of the four Algebra I teachers, one had a significantly lower number of students passing. Over the summer the scores will be looked at closer to pick up on patterns that will assist the teacher in different aspects.
I work at a high school with a 7am start time for students and 6:30am start time for faculty and staff. The “Value of Later School Start Times” paragraph allowed me to ponder on the benefits found by the three-year research study by Wahlstrom (Glatthorn et al., 2018). Would my district see a gradual increase in scores with a later start time? 
References
Glatthorn, A. A., Boschee, F. A., Whitehead, B. M., & Boschee, B. F. (2018). Curriculum leadership: Strategies for development and implementation (5th ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
Marge Scherer. (2001, September 1). How and Why Standards Can Improve Student Achievement: A Conversation with Robert J. Marzano. ASCD. https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-and-why-standards-can-improve-student-achievement-a-conversation-with-robert-j.-marzano

Module 1 Reflection