Curriculum

Characteristics of a quality curriculum
A quality curriculum is one that facilitates learner’s understanding by helping them create
a connection between the content covered in class and their real-life experiences in their world
outside the classroom. Thus, a quality curriculum ought to be organized around important
content goals such that students are made aware of what they will be studying in a certain
discipline. That way, they are well prepared to tackle the content. Meaning and specificity help
learners break down the content into what they are able to understand easily. Secondly, a quality
curriculum is aligned with content goals, learning experiences and assessments so that students
are assessed on what they have been taught in class as well as their experiences (Sousa &
Tomlinson, 2011). Alignment ensures that students know and understand the content and the
outcomes are consequently better. Further, a quality curriculum is focused on student
understanding, and this ensures that learning is not reduced to memorizing information and
practicing skills that are out of context. On the contrary, this ensures that students are enabled to
construct frameworks of meaning around the content learned in class, and thus are able to apply
the learned knowledge in their daily lives.
A curriculum that engages students helps them find relevance in the content being taught.
Students are motivated to engage in the skills and knowledge being passed across in the
classroom (Sousa & Tomlinson, 2011). Consequently, the students are helped to achieve high-
relevance experiences of learning, and they tend to enjoy the learning process more. Besides,
relevance motivates students to learn as it opens the way for enhanced student performance.
Lastly, a quality curriculum is authentic and it positions students to be creators of knowledge and
problem solvers as opposed to being mere consumers of knowledge.

The Civil War
The topic, “The Civil War,” relates to the real world in that Americans struggled to
achieve the great land of opportunity that America is today. Thus, students should be prepared to
put in the work to achieve what they want to achieve in life, as it will not be served to them on a
silver platter.
Some of the meaningful questions that I would ask the students at the beginning of the
unit include; What did Americans gain from the Civil War? Do you think the Civil War was a
necessary war? Would America still be a land of opportunities if the Civil War had not occurred?
Do you think warring is necessary to achieve change in the 21 st century?
I would group the students into small groups and let them discuss the questions posed
before we can embark on covering the content of the unit. They will engage each other within
their small groups and share their thoughts and ideas regarding the questions posed. This activity
will ensure that students create knowledge as opposed to just consuming knowledge presented to
them. they will develop problem-solving skills, as they will come up with ways to solve the
questions given to them. As learners engage with each other, their understanding of the topic is
extended, as their brain networks are built so that they have a better understanding of the topic to
be covered. They are also motivated to want to know more about the topic, and this ensures that
their level of comprehension is enhanced.

References

Sousa, D. A. & Tomlinson, C. A. (2011). Differentiation and the brain: How neuroscience
supports the learner-friendly classroom. Retrieved from https://www.vitalsource.com/