A Personal Framework for Curriculum Planning<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nRecently, this journey has shifted, somewhat, due to my preference for a new planning framework based on the work of Michael Halliday<\/a>. According to Halliday, children\u2019s language develops through learning language, learning about language and learning through language. These three aspects intersect in any significant language experience. In program documents, the International Baccalaureate<\/a> suggested that this language model could be applied across subject areas to learn holistically about knowledge, understandings, skills, and dispositions of any subject within various contexts. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThis led me to consider the role of apprenticing children, through inquiry, to be young users of these elements in similar ways to adult experts in the field. Children learn to be scientists, historians, authors, and so on. They also learn to be interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary users of these elements as they learn through contexts of inquiry into local and global issues. As a result, my framework<\/a> to curriculum planning, shared during Toddle\u2019s PYP Boot Camp, allows for learning to be, learning about, and learning through disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.toddleapp.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/01_Model-for-DP-and-TD.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA Little Dissonance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nDesigning an upper elementary (intermediate) unit for Toddle Community<\/a>, I was excited at the chance to fully apply my framework to the PYP planning process.\u00a0 I also felt confident that this framework prepared teachers to develop curricular ideas on a PYP planning template. Still yet, this was my first chance in a long time to go through the complete process, so I did worry. That was an interesting feeling because I\u2019ve planned with PYP templates and planning processes for years and I\u2019ve spent the past few years learning more and more about my own framework. As a result, I approached this opportunity with a little hesitation as I tried to integrate these new ideas into my age-old PYP toolkit. I wondered what I would continue to use in that toolkit and what might need to change. I felt dissonance and it wasn\u2019t always comfortable, but I couldn\u2019t pass up this opportunity to try out this integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\nContinuity and Change<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\nI decided to approach the unit, We are Meandering Streams<\/a>, based primarily on the concepts of continuity and change after reviewing the Next Generation Science Standards<\/a> for some possible content. I liked the connection that force and balance had to these ideas. My next step was to visualize this through concept-mapping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.toddleapp.com\/learn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/02_Concept-map-of-unit-1-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nAfter this, I could easily identify additional concepts. I also noticed the importance that balance might play in this unit and how force was key to understanding balance. What I initially lacked was a context, or a \u201cwhy,\u201d related to this study. Exploring the Indiana Academic Standards for Social Studies, I thought that development would give me an additional conceptual lens and context to begin creating opportunities for transdisciplinary learning. Once I made this connection, then additional ones to literacy and personal, social, and physical education became evident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In full transparency, I recognize how the absence of any sort of scope and sequence in my unit development may have supported my imagination for what this unit could be. In contrast, I also recognize how much knowledge of these systems I have developed over my career and that these are generally upper elementary concepts in most systems. Nevertheless, I was on my way now.<\/p>\n\n\n
This led me to consider the role of apprenticing children, through inquiry, to be young users of these elements in similar ways to adult experts in the field. Children learn to be scientists, historians, authors, and so on. They also learn to be interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary users of these elements as they learn through contexts of inquiry into local and global issues. As a result, my framework<\/a> to curriculum planning, shared during Toddle\u2019s PYP Boot Camp, allows for learning to be, learning about, and learning through disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary contexts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Designing an upper elementary (intermediate) unit for Toddle Community<\/a>, I was excited at the chance to fully apply my framework to the PYP planning process.\u00a0 I also felt confident that this framework prepared teachers to develop curricular ideas on a PYP planning template. Still yet, this was my first chance in a long time to go through the complete process, so I did worry. That was an interesting feeling because I\u2019ve planned with PYP templates and planning processes for years and I\u2019ve spent the past few years learning more and more about my own framework. As a result, I approached this opportunity with a little hesitation as I tried to integrate these new ideas into my age-old PYP toolkit. I wondered what I would continue to use in that toolkit and what might need to change. I felt dissonance and it wasn\u2019t always comfortable, but I couldn\u2019t pass up this opportunity to try out this integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I decided to approach the unit, We are Meandering Streams<\/a>, based primarily on the concepts of continuity and change after reviewing the Next Generation Science Standards<\/a> for some possible content. I liked the connection that force and balance had to these ideas. My next step was to visualize this through concept-mapping.<\/p>\n\n\n After this, I could easily identify additional concepts. I also noticed the importance that balance might play in this unit and how force was key to understanding balance. What I initially lacked was a context, or a \u201cwhy,\u201d related to this study. Exploring the Indiana Academic Standards for Social Studies, I thought that development would give me an additional conceptual lens and context to begin creating opportunities for transdisciplinary learning. Once I made this connection, then additional ones to literacy and personal, social, and physical education became evident. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In full transparency, I recognize how the absence of any sort of scope and sequence in my unit development may have supported my imagination for what this unit could be. In contrast, I also recognize how much knowledge of these systems I have developed over my career and that these are generally upper elementary concepts in most systems. Nevertheless, I was on my way now.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nA Little Dissonance<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Continuity and Change<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n