I am thankful to have had the privilege on more than one occasion to be invited as a guest lecturer in graduate college courses. My most recent visit was so thought-provoking and challenging that it inspired me to share how to be a curriculum leader in your current environment.

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Ever planned a vacation? You get brochures, research things to do, read reviews, set a budget. The same is true for curriculum and teaching. Understand where students should be at the end of each grading period and at the end of the year. Set your budget. Determine how you need to get them there.

You’ve decided the vacation will be a road trip. You need a roadmap. You study the roadmap and evaluate and decide the best route to get where you are going. You can’t go somewhere without knowing how to get there. Enough said.

In planning the vacation, you know where you are going, but there are challenges to get there. Date conflicts, budgetary considerations, etc. You know the trip will be good for everybody and everyone is depending on you to make it happen. Without your planning, there is no trip. Be the one. Analyze the challenges. Create solutions.

You’ve planned the trip from the beginning. Identified challenges, analyzed contingencies and created solutions. Naturally, you’ve conducted extensive research on each attraction and place you will visit. Your family expects to depend on you for guidance and direction as they walk in unchartered territory. Students can’t do it without you.

You have been analytical, assessed potential outcomes, & developed solutions based on what is best for your family. When you analyze and process curriculum and standards to make informed decisions, you are standing on pedagogy & good teaching.  You are doing what is best for your students.