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May 5, 2014
Inquiry-to-Curriculum Part III
By: Kristin Davis, Kadie Henry, Ashley Jacobs, Jillian Kelley and Rachel Sauer

Abstract:
Teachers across districts feel overwhelmed with state and local mandates. This creates a
disconnect between the curriculum and engaging instruction. Our C.O.A.C.H. Workshops focus
first on deeply understanding the standards in order to develop the knowledgebase of how the
standards can be integrated into inquiry-based learning. Teachers will then have the opportunity
to collaborate with multiple teachers in neighboring districts to share ideas and apply their new
understanding of effective teaching together.
Rationale:
One of the major tensions we have commonly observed in classrooms across districts is
this disconnect between teachers knowledge and understanding of mandates or standards at the
state and local level and engaging curriculum. Teachers are tending to rely on worksheets and
scripted curriculum guides as their primary source of instruction in order to ensure that they are
meeting the mandates they have been given. For example, many districts in the state of Ohio
have recently adopted Race to the Top and the Common Core Standards. These programs are
not the problem itself, the issue is in that teachers are not understanding the reasoning behind
these programs and how to develop meaningful instruction around them. There are
consequences to not deeply understanding and applying these mandates. Some examples include
lack of individualism, passively relying on curriculum-made materials, and an imbalance among
subject areas that are being tested. Teacher instruction should be engaging students in student-
centered learning as opposed to instruction that is driven by a curriculum package that is created
by an outside company. These problems impact student learning, which is the main reason why
this is an issue in our schools.
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The first tension within this issue is the lack of communication between state, district,
and teacher levels about the mandates enforced. This is not a new deficit in the education
system. The article, How State Mandates Affects Curriculum, which was published in 1979,
discusses the effect of mandates in classrooms across the nation. The article states, we do not
know to what extent mandates filter down, but it appears that educators are not systematically
informed of them, (Henning, 1979 p. 334). Teachers were also quoted about where they
received their information about mandates. Many had no idea where the information came from
and whether this was a reliable source. When asked how he became aware of the mandates, a
California teacher told us, Ill be damned if I know! We have also seen this lack of
communication in our schools currently. One of our cooperating teachers was unaware of the
absence of science and social studies standards in the Common Core State Standards. She
believed the Ohio Department of Education Standards for science and social studies were also
Common Core Standards.
This example leads us to explain the second major tension within this issue, which is a
lack of understanding by teachers of how to integrate the standards in a meaningful way. Thomas
Poetter (2013), a Professor of Curriculum Studies in the Department of Educational Leadership,
describes five steps for teacher leaders to use the Common Core Standards effectively. First and
foremost, teachers need to be educated as much as possible about what is required by their
school district for implementing Common Core Standards and how assessments are related to the
curriculum. Teacher leaders should collaborate with their colleagues to develop their own
curriculum instead of relying on pre-packaged curriculum materials that are scripted and not
engaging. In this era of high-stakes testing, teachers need to fight for as much instructional time
as possible instead of using time to teach to the test. In order to develop relevant and meaningful
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lessons, teachers need to understand their students prior knowledge, and include them in the
planning process. Finally, introduce a topic with engaging activities based on meaningful and
relevant content that utilizes students interest and talent. With all of these elements combined,
teachers will be able to meet the standards if [they] engage students and the topics at hand,
(Poetter, 2013, p. 233-234).
This disconnect between mandates and teachers has led us to develop a curriculum that
addresses the tensions discussed. By focusing on teacher understanding of standards as well as
improving communication between educational professionals, we can begin to see changes in the
way student learning is affected by mandates. Ultimately, our hope is that by teachers becoming
more knowledgeable about state and local mandates the students will benefit through higher
engagement, resulting in greater student growth.
Description of the Curriculum:
In order to address these tensions described, we have created a curriculum that focuses on
professional development and collaboration for teachers. Our curriculum, C.O.A.C.H.ing for
Coaches strives to provide districts with evidence-based information, materials, and
resources. The program also provides teachers with practical examples of educators who have
found success with implementing the skills and strategies described during our workshops.
Additionally this program fosters collaboration between teacher educators across grade levels,
schools and districts.
C.O.A.C.H.ing for Coaches is a year-long program that consists of five workshops that
are implemented during pre-scheduled professional development hours. Each workshop focuses
on a different aspect of combining mandates and effective teaching strategies. The first four
workshops provide the tools, skills, and information needed to accomplish these goals. These
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are done once a month in the first half of the school year so that the information is front-
loaded. The final workshop, presented in the spring, allows teachers to present the results and
effects of their application. This collaboration allows teachers to learn from one another and
gather helpful ideas to implement into their own classrooms. This format provides
accountability, teamwork, and unity among districts.
The first workshops focus is Understanding Standards. The goal is for this workshop
to be implemented in August, preferable the week before school starts. During this time, a state
representative will come and present about the reasoning and purposes of educational mandates
at the state level. If this workshop were to be held in Ohio, Debe Terhar, the current President of
the State Board of Education, would be contacted to make a presentation. A local school district
representative will also make a presentation to clear any miscommunications between the local
school board, administrators, and educators. During this workshop, each teacher will be paired
with another teacher of the same grade within the district. These teacher-teams will serve as a
support group to learn and discuss the tools learned in future workshops.
The second workshop will be held in September, and will focus on Inquiry-Based
Learning and Authentic Assessments. Although many educators were trained to teach through
an inquiry-based pedagogy, they feel overwhelmed with mandates and do not know how to
implement inquiry within the classroom. The best way for teachers to see how inquiry can be
done is to observe and hear testimonies from teachers successfully using inquiry in their
classrooms. Katie Henry is a Miami University graduate and fourth grade teacher at Brookville
Elementary, who is a strong advocate for inquiry-based learning. This past semester, our Early
Childhood Education cohort had the opportunity to work collaboratively with her students and
observe the effectiveness of her teaching strategies. Ms. Henry enjoys sharing her work with
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others, and would present her teaching philosophies at this workshop. Ms. Henry will share how
she uses projects in her classroom to create authentic assessments to monitor student progress
and growth. Some of Ms. Henrys students will share their projects at the workshop, and explain
how the project was engaging, challenging, and student-centered.
In October, teachers will attend the third workshop held by the creators of Picture-
Perfect Lesson Plans to learn about 5E Lesson Plans. Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan are
teachers from Mason, Ohio who have created the 5E Science Lesson Plan. Each lesson includes
engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation. Educators will learn how 5E
Science Lesson Plans integrate all content areas, and meet multiple standards in one activity.
After the workshop, teachers will collaborate within their teacher-teams to modify their own
science lesson plans to create 5E Science Lesson plans.
The fourth workshop will be held in November and will discuss how to use
Community Resources. The workshop will supply teachers with resources and ideas for how to
find, access, and implement these resources into the classroom. One of C.O.A.C.H.ing for
Coaches goals is collaboration, and we believe that the collaboration between school and the
community is extremely valuable. An example of this type of community resource collaboration
is a woman named, Lynn White. Ms. White is the Butler County representative for the Soil and
Water Conservation District. This organization provides free educational resources for teachers
to use in their classroom as well as free educational programs for the school. An example is an
interactive model that shows how pollution harms the environment. The Ohio Department of
Natural Resources and local parks also provide resources and sometimes money for teachers. At
the end of this fourth workshop is when the teachers will be given the contact information of
their partner teacher from another district. The standard will be set that the partners should meet
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at least once a quarter to collaborate, discuss ideas, and observe each others classrooms. The
goal of their collaboration is then to be able to present their findings, successes, and failings at
the final district-wide workshop.
At the end of the school year, all teachers within the district will come together to present
their experiences during the fifth workshop. Each teacher will share information about their
teacher teams (local and cross-district) and individual struggles, and how they turned them into
successes. Furthermore, teachers will share what they believe to be next in their journey to
becoming a stronger educator. Our hope is for all teachers to learn from their peers presentations
as they grow as individuals, a district, and most importantly, help their students become more
engaged and successful in the classroom.
Based on the end of the year collaboration presentations as well as surveys and feedback
from each workshop we can assess the effectiveness of this curriculum. After each workshop,
teachers will complete a questionnaire to evaluate the workshop as a formative assessment. The
teachers will write down any remaining questions, or address topics they would like to know
more about. This will be our tool evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop to see how
improvements can be made in the future. Each month, we will print a newsletter to summarize
the workshops, and provide additional information to answer the questions the teachers asked in
their questionnaires. Also, collaborating teachers will have to document when they meet and
what they discuss to hold them accountable to the program. The summative assessment will be
the end of the year teacher collaboration projects. Although teachers will not receive a grade for
the program, they will be evaluated on the skills they learned and how they were implemented
into the classroom. We will use this information to further enhance our program, to ensure all
teachers understand how to balance the tensions between mandates and engaging lessons.
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Works Cited
Henning, J. F. (1979). How state mandates affect curriculum: Committee on youth education for
citizenship. In White, C. J. III (ed.) Mandate the change: The impact of law on
educational innovation (pp.334-336). Retrieved from
http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_198001_committee.pdf

Poetter, T. S. (2014). Teacher leadership for the twenty-first century (2nd ed). Cincinnati, OH:
Van-Griner