English II

Curriculum Redesign
Robbie Blasser
3/6/2020
Staff Development Day
 Presentation Objectives

•For the proposed curriculum redesign, contained

herein, to be approved by both the English
Department and Academic Council of the school
where I work.
•To fulfill, for my Teacher Leader Project:
• NBPTS Prop 5.1
• Teacher Leader Model Standard 4.D
• CSTP’s 4.5 and 6.3
 Consider:

•How do we succeed in making our curriculum more

diverse, inclusive, and equitable?
•How do we also lessen the load for our overworked,
overly stressed students?
•How do we accomplish both, while also diversifying
our writing assessments?
•How do we achieve all of this, while still honoring the
resources we’ve been cultivating for years?
 This is a lot, I know...

•But with the mandates coming down from

administration, as well the need for a proper
departmental response to changing times, it is
obviously necessary.
•And I don’t think it’s that difficult, just as I do not
think we need to overhaul EVERYTHING.
•Just some tweaks, here and there, will be more than
sufficient.
 Tweak 1:

•We consolidate all the work we do with the Greeks

into one, four to five week survey course, which will
also serve as an introduction to the course as a whole,
covering:
• Archetypes
• Mythology
• Epic poetry
• Tragedy
• Informative writing on the further impact of Greek Culture
 This will free up:

•The weeks we spend fall semester on Greek

mythology.
•The weeks we spend fall semester on both reading
Oedipus Rex and the literary analysis essay we have the
students write for it
•The weeks we spend spring semester on the Trojan
War and The Odyssey.
 What do you think we could do
with this time?
•While still covering the Greeks, we’d now have up to
nine weeks of instruction freed up, so just speculate for
a moment on what you could do with that freedom.
•Would you want to spend more time on a unit you
usually rush through?
•Are you already thinking about the projects or units
you could add?
 Possible Addition #1:
•For fall semester, I propose we add a World
Mythology unit, focusing on the myths and legends
from anywhere that in NOT Europe.
•This would address the diversity/inclusivity/equity
mandate, while also staying aligned with the themes
and concepts we develop all year.
•Instead of writing as essay, students would then write
their own mythic story, thereby diversifying our writing
assessments a well.
 Tweak #2
•We revisit the poetry unit and develop it with much
more intentionality; it becomes a priority, instead of
something we get around to at the end of the year as
best we can if we have time.
•Within that process, we seek out and infuse the
curriculum with diverse, global voices, again cultivating
that greater diversity/inclusivity/equity mandate
•Students would write their own book of poems,
further diversifying our writing curriculum
 What voices are you now
considering for the unit?
•With this greater, and more diverse commitment to
teaching poetry, what styles and cultures would you
want to see reflected and taught?
•What forms of poetry would you like to share with
our students?
•What projects , or performances would you want to
add?
 Possible Addition #2

•To further diversify both the representation within

the texts we use, as well as the kinds of texts
themselves, I net propose we adopt the graphic novel
Persepolis, by Marjane Saptrapi, and Iranian woman
•It is an archetypal coming of age story, that also
happens to bring in one young girl’s experiences during
the Iranian Revolution
 This would provide us:

•A text that is centered around personal narrative

writing, setting up the Personal Odyssey writing
assignment.
•A text that features a female protagonist of color
•The possibility of bringing in artistic projects to
couple our writing assignments.
•A brand new unit that we could develop from
scratch!
 And most fun of all...

•By this point, all other writing standards will have

been met through other assignments, meaning we
would be truly free, as individuals, to teach this text as
we see fit!
•This would be an opportunity for us to design,
instruct, assess, and reflect in the ways we prefer!
•What would you do with your students, being given
this kind of autonomy? Where would you take them?
 Feedback?

•Questions?
•Comments?
•Concerns