Teaching State Standards Within the Curriculum

In today's public school classrooms, teachers are faced with teaching the curriculum along with preparing students to be successful on the standardized test. Both are mandated and outlined under state and federal guidelines. Teachers now encounter the task to plan and to implement lessons that address the curriculum objectives and the standardized test skills.

Both grade level curriculum and subject content curriculum are outlined with a scope and sequence. These provide teachers and support personnel the means with which to plan and implement lessons to ensure adequate coverage of the skills and objectives outlined in the curriculum for each grade level.

Standardized Tests are developed to assess knowledge and comprehension at determined points throughout the public school years. For the teacher, this provides information to evaluate the success of students in the mastery of objectives and skills taught. The use of benchmark tests at specified points help to establish a continuum for teaching the standards in conjunction with the curriculum.

An integrated curriculum can provide a platform that covers both the required curriculum objectives and the standardized test skills. Matching the objectives with the standards makes it easier to plan lessons that create a learning environment. Reading and writing across the curriculum integrates content knowledge with comprehension skills. The students have to know what they are writing about, so they need to understand the content. Embedding the standards into the curriculum objectives provides planning that includes both aspects within the lesson. The adopted texts provide plans that address the curriculum as well as the required state standards. The publishers produce a text for each state that provides skills that fall under the state standards. The use of the spiraling activities in the planning process in the textbooks blends the previous learning with the new skills. A continuous check for understanding of the objectives and the standards provides a diagnostic for teachers to assure mastery of skills and objectives. Teachers find there is now a need for them to plan lessons that include both the curriculum objectives and the state standards. Publishers of text books for the grade level and subject curriculums provide plans that span the time needed as well as the objectives and standards. Often the curriculum objectives and the state standards are the same and are already there. Keeping the standards and the curriculum objectives at hand while planning makes it a friendlier task for the teacher.

The biggest challenge for the classroom teacher is to provide motivation for the students. Group activities that require involvement by everyone create a learning environment. Peer involvement can be motivational and effective. There are numerous strategies (Strategies That Work by Harvey) that provide motivation for learning in the classroom. Students need to experience and apply the skills that are needed. Activities that provide hands-on experiences along with the reading and discussions create a classroom environment for learning. Teachers can become facilitators and the students become the instructors. They need the knowledge to be the experts on what they are learning. When this ownership is established, the students learn through questioning and discussing together.