GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet

Scenario: You are the curriculum director at a school, and you have been asked to conduct a curriculum analysis using a whole-course curriculum
currently taught at your school. The goal of your analysis is to consider the development of nonacademic skills in the curriculum and where
specifically to include a focus on nonacademic skills.

A. Identify Curriculum
1.
Subject Area,
Reading/Writing (Wit + Wisdom)
Grade or
First Grade
Level

B. Unpack the Curriculum

Curriculum Analysis Goal: The goal of your analysis is to consider the development of nonacademic skills in the curriculum and where specifically to
include a focus on nonacademic skills.

3a. Describe how each

1. Content/Topic 2. Academic Standards 3. Nonacademic Skills nonacademic skill is
Curricul
um connected to the academic
Area (Explicit Curriculum) (Implicit Curriculum)
content of the unit.

Unit 1 How do people Reading Goals: Students will use the Cultural competence:
around the world Ask and Answer questions knowledge portion of Our books that go with
get books? about key details in literary understanding to serve each unit are often about
 Reading texts and informational texts them as they work hard different places or
books helps on books and reading (RL.1.1, to build their content cultures around the world.
people RI.1.1) knowledge and literacy When we ask the focusing
everywhere Retell and Describe stories skills to use books to help questions the students
build through the lenses of change their own lives. are often required to think
knowledge. character, setting, and major In the reading portion about what happened in
 Stories have events, using key details. students will use the the characters
messages (RL.1.2, RL.1.3) deep questioning work culture/town and then
that can Use illustrations and details in and the details of the what happens in their
change the a text to describe its key characters, events, and own town. This will allow
GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet
way people details (RL.1.7) settings to help them be the students to be able to
think and Writing Goals: able to retell stories in link how things work in
feel. Write short narrative sequence order of how other countries and towns
 People all summaries with increasing they occurred in the to how things work in our
over the independence, using key story or event that they town that we live in.
world enjoy details from stories. (W.1.3) heard/saw. This is also Teamwork: In every unit
books, Write an original narrative used in the writing of Wit and Wisdom
though about how books changed the aspect because they are students are required to
people life of a character that talking and writing in work with a partner for
living in recounts appropriately complete sentences to think pair share activities
different sequenced events with some help them create and the occasional mix
places get detail. (W.1.3) sequencing events so and mingle activity. This
books in Strengthen writing by adding that they can write or tell can be where students
different details in response to their own stories about will work together to
ways. questions and suggestions the book or their own life. come up with a retelling
 Some from teachers and peers Students use the of the story, coming up
people, (W.1.5) speaking and listening with questions about the
including all Speaking and Listening portion to help them book, or even answering
kinds of Goals: practice skills in the questions that they
librarians Respond to what others say responding to what have already asked about
from around by listening carefully and others say while listening the book.
the world, building on their thoughts in to the pauses from their
dedicate collaborative conversations peers during multiple
their lives to (SL.1.1.b) speaking and listening
making sure Notice pauses in opportunities whether
others have conversations and use them that be conversations or
access to to decide when to speak and more formal speeches.
books. when to listen (SL.1.1.a)
 Reading Language Goals:
changes Produce and expand
lives by complete sentences including
helping ending
people punctuation (L.1.2.b)
imagine Use frequently occurring
things they nouns and adjectives in
GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet
haven’t speaking and writing (L.1.1.c,
experienced L.1.1.f)
Determine the meanings and
deepen understandings of
unknown words and phrases
encountered in module texts
(L.1.4)
Unit 2 What can we Reading Goals: Students will use the Teamwork: In every unit
discover about Detemine the lessons of knowledge of the natural of Wit and Wisdom
animals’ unique fables (RL.1.2) world around them to students are required to
features? Identify the main topic and help with this unit. This work with a partner for
 People can retell key details of a text unit focuses on the topic think pair share activities
learn about (RI.1.2) of animals which and the occasional mix
what makes Describe connections students are familiar with and mingle activity. This
animals between two pieces of throughout the real can be where students
similar and information about animals world. They are also will work together to
different (RI.1.3) driven towards using come up with things they
from one Locate,name, and use various their curiousity which might want to ask about
another by text features, to locate key they do during everyday the book before we do the
observing facts or information in a text. life. Students will work intial reading or where
and (RI.1.5) with giving reasons to they may have to retell
describing Identify reasons the author support what they are the story to their partner
animal gives to support points about writing or saying. and vice versa to see if
features. an animal in a text, using Students will be they retell it the same or
 Animal information from the words practicing how they need if they do it differently.
experts and illustrations (RI.1.8) to write informative
describe Writing Goals: paragraphs about the
animals in Write informative paragraphs stories that they have
books, with increasing been reading while using
pictures, independence,m using complete sentences and
and videos information from module other prociedures we
to help us texts. (W.1.2) have learned.
learn about Use digital tools to produce a Students will continue to
the natural writing piece (W.1.6) participate in
world and Participate in shared research collaborative
GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet
how animals by collecting evidence about conversations with their
survive. animals for an informative group and as a whole
 When paragraph (W.1.7) class. They will be
authors and Write an informative speaking in full
illustrators paragraph answering a sentences and using
write or question about an animal’s ‘whole body listening’
draw about unique feature and how the when their classmates
animals, animal uses the feature. are sharing their
they (W.1.8) thoughts.
research Speaking and Listening
them Goals:
carefully Speak In complete sentences
and use a to ask and answer questions,
lot of detail as well as in collaborative
so others conversations (SL.1.6)
can learn Ready your body to listen
more about (SL.1.1.a)
them. Add illustrations to clarify
information in an informative
paragraph. (SL.1.5)
Language Goals:
Produce complete sentences
in response to prompts.
(L.1.1.j)
Use end punctuation for
sentences. (L.1.2.b)
Distinguish shades of
meaning among verbs
differing in manner (e.g.,
look, peek, glance, stare,
glare, scowl) by defining or
choosing them or by acting
out the meanings. (L.1.5.d)
Use phonetic spellings for
words (L.1.2.e)
GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet
Sort words into categories
based on attributes (L.1.5.b)
Use determiners (L.1.1.h)
Use frequently occurring
prepositions (L.1.1.i)
Unit 3 How do people Reading Goals: Students will continue Community Resources:
respond to the Identify basic similarities and using their close reading, In this unit students will
powerful force of differences between two texts evidence-based wiritng, be talking about the
the wind? on the same topic (RI.1.9) and building content major differences
 Forces like Distinguish between knowledge and between the types of
wind can be information provided by vocabulary to help them books that tell stories and
strong or pictures and information be able to look at the the books that give
gentle. provided by words in a text. book more closely. information. They will also
 People can (RI.1.6) Students start to predict identify and interpret
respond Explain major differences the genre of each book words/phrases that relate
differently between books that tell before reading it so they to senses and emotions
to the force stories and books that give can build their while answering questions
of the wind. information. (RL.1.5) understanding more of about the meaning of
 People can Identify and interpret words the book. They are also unknown words. This
experience and phrases that relate to still touching on the means that they can use
different senses and emotions. (RI.1.4) author’s point and different resouces
emotions in Ask and answer questions reasons like they were in throughout the
reaction to about the meaning of the previous unit. community to help them
the same unknown words. (RI.1.4) Students will point out come up with the
event. Writing Goals: words and their different senses and
 People can Write narrative pieces that meanings within the emotions that they feel
use the recount two or more stories that they are while being at the park, a
wind to help sequenced events, include reading while also certain restaurant, or a
them. some details regarding what pointing out different certain store.
 Authors use happened, use temporal feeling words that they
descriptive words to signal event order, see. They will also be
words to and provide some sense of able to start accruing the
communicat closure. (W.1.3) skills to structure and
e feelings Use details in writing that write their own stories
and sensory include sensory and feelings and scenes by writing an
GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet
perceptions. words, including adjectives in original story about a
a narrative to describe wind character who is able to
and how characters feel. solve the problem caused
(W.1.3, L.1.1.f) by the powerful force of
Participate in shared research the wind.
by collecting evidence about Students will continue to
what the wind does in a ask and answer different
hurricane for an informative questions about the book
paragraph (W.1.7, W.1.8) while also asking what
Speaking and Listening the book said to better
Goals: understand the direction
Ask questions to clear up any that their answer should
confusion about topics and go in.
texts under discussion.
(SL.1.1.c)
Ask and answer questions
about what a speaker says to
clarify something or to gather
more information. (SL.1.3)
Listen for a new idea.
Language Goals:
Use frequently occurring
adjectives to provide detail.
(L.1.1.f)
Use context clues, including
word parts and images from
the text, to determine the
meaning of unknown words.
(L.1.4.b, L.1.4.c)
Make connections between
words from the text and real-
life experiences. (L.1.5.c)
Distinguish shades of
meaning among adjectives
differing in intensity (e.g.,
GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet
large, gigantic). (L.1.5.d)
Use singular and plural nouns
with matching verbs. (L.1.1.c)
Use verbs to convey a sense
of past, present, and future.
(L.1.1.e)
Unit 4 Why do people Reading Goals: This unit will continue to Respecting Diversity:
around the world Identify which character is build on the year’s In this unit there are
admire telling the story at various emphasis on close multiple different versions
Cinderella? points in the Cinderella texts. reading, evidence-based of the Cinderella stories
(RL.1.6) writing, and building that are being told. These
 There are
Describe the characters, content knowledge and are versions that are from
thousands settings, and events in the vocabulary. Students will different parts of the
of Cinderella story by using evidence from work on comparing and world and also from
stories from the text’s illustrations and contrasting the different different cultures. This
all over the details. (RL.1.7) stories rhat they are allows students to see
world. Compare and contrast the reading. Students will and respect the different
 Cultures
adventures and experiences also continue to work ways that the story is
pass down of the Cinderella characters. with different themes tht being told and also the
stories to (RL.1.9) allow them to deepen similarities and
teach Writing Goals: theirunderstanding of differences between all of
lessons and Write opinion pieces about how characters/people the different cultures that
morals. Cinderella stories that solve problmes. are being discussed.
 Cinderella
introduce the topic, state an Students will closely read
stories have opinion, give a reason for the fictional texts as they
specific opinion, and provide some describe story elements.
characteristi sense of closure. (W.1.1) They do this while
cs, including Select text evidence to answering questions and
an element support an opinion in coming up with their own
of magic. response to a prompt. (W.1.1) questions. They will also
 People
Draw on information from still work with texts with
admire experiences and provided intricit details to help
others for sources to answer a question them retell the story as
different about a Cinderella character. they heard it.
reasons. (W.1.8) Students will be
GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet
Speaking and Listening encouraged to pay close
Goals: attention to the
Draw on information from comments/questions of
experience and sources to the classmates so that
describe people, events, and they can add in the
places with relevant details details that they have to
while speaking as well as the discussion. This is
asking and answering called “listen to
questions during class compare.”
discussions. (SL.1.2, SL.1.4)
Language Goals:
Print lowercase and
uppercase letters correctly in
writing assignments. (L.1.1.a)
Use personal, possessive, and
indefinite pronouns. (L.1.1.d)
Use conjunctions such as and,
but, or, so, or because in an
opinion paragraph. (L.1.1.g)
Apply rules for capitalization
and commas in a series in
written pieces. (L.1.2.a,
L.1.2.c)
Produce compound sentences
by combining simple
sentences. (L.1.1.j)
Use conventional spelling for
words with common spelling
patterns and for frequently
occurring irregular words.
(L.1.2.d)
Use contextual clues to
determine the meaning of an
unknown word. (L.1.4.a)
Sort words into categories.
GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet
(L.1.5.a)

C. Analyze Curriculum to Make Recommendations

Curriculum Analysis Goal: The goal of your analysis is to consider the development of nonacademic skills in the curriculum and where specifically to
include a focus on nonacademic skills.

1. In this explicit curriculum there are a lot of times that include real world problems or real world
Using evidence stories. This allows the students to expand their vocabulary because some of the books include
from the curriculum
selected in part B,
words from other countries and also allows them to expand their background knowledge on topics
determine whether that they may not know as much about. They are exposed to different ways that people do things
the explicit in other countries and how it can be more difficult than it is here. This is what makes this
curriculum curriculum strong in cultural competence and also in respecting diversity.
emphasizes or
takes away from
the development of
a specific
nonacademic skill
described in B3.

2. A potential bias with this curriculum is simply the way that it is meant to be taught. It is taught as if all kids
Using evidence from learn the exact same. It is made to where all students should be able to start out writing full sentences for
the curriculum, the focusing question task. This can cause an issue because some students don’t know what all a sentence
discuss an area of consist of, how some letters look, or how to spell. This can lead to frustration for them since they feel as if
potential bias within they are not able to do it. The curriculum does provide some scaffolding for those students but it then
a specific area of the makes their work all look the exact same. It would be easier if students just circles which one completed the
curriculum. sentence or if they just had a small blank to fill in to complete the sentence, at least for the first few tasks.

Another potential bias would be the text that are chosen for the units to be over. The text are over grade
Discuss the change(s)
level and are not able to be read by the students. This can cause an issue because in the writing task it calls
you would make to
for them to have excerpts from the book to read and write about, however, they are not able to read them
the curriculum to so that causes an issue.
address the potential
area of bias If I was able to make changes to the curriculum I would change it to where the first few tasks would consist
discussed in C2. of them either circling the correct ending/beginning to the sentence or they would have a small blank to
write in to complete the sentence and fill it in. Along with this I would change the grade level that the
reading is so that students are able to read and decipher it more on their own like the curriculum calls for.
This would also possibly make it easier for them to write the sentences that they need to because it would
GGN1 Task 1 WGU Curriculum Analysis Worksheet
lessen the frustration of not knowing how to spell something and then also not being able to find it in the
text.
3. Time Management: I would love to be able to incorporate good time management skills into the
Explain how you curriculum. In our book it gives us the suggested amount of time for the students to complete the
could incorporate task but that does not mean that they know how long that actually is. Some students would say
two additional that 5 minutes is such a long time but others would disagree and think that it is hardly any. This is
nonacademic skills more helpful when students are able to see what they can get done in that time. I would like to be
(null curriculum), able to give students a timer, or each table have a timer that way they can visually see how much
which do not appear time they have and keep an eye on it to learn what they could do to allow themselves to get done
in B3, into the in a more timely manner.
curriculum. Goal Setting: This is a very important quality for students to have and can be very beneficial to
their growth as a student and also socially. In order for students to be able to visually see that they
Justify why you are learning the material they could set a goal at the beginning of the unit and then revisit it
selected the two
during the middle to see where they are and then potentially set a new goal. They could do this at
nonacademic skills in
the end to see if they successfully mastered their goal(s). It is also very important to make sure
C3 to incorporate
these goals are always achievable and not far fetched.
into the curriculum.

D. APA Sources

Curriculum . Greatminds. (n.d.). https://digital.greatminds.org/insync/teacher