Part 1: Curriculum Plan

Paterson Public School is one of the most diverse school districts in New Jersey with the main goal of educating children and young people in the region. The focus of this school district is to help children and young people from diverse backgrounds and settings to become proficient in their various fields of study. An important aspect towards achieving this goal is ensuring the professional development and enhancing instructional leadership of teachers. Similar to other school districts, teachers in this school district are required to identify and utilize suitable teaching strategies that help in enhancing the learning outcomes of all students. As an English language teacher to English Second Language (ESL) students, a critical aspect towards enhancing the proficiency of these students in this language is developing a curriculum plan. The curriculum plan provides a suitable framework and learning activities that helps in enhancing these students’ mastery of the English language. This paper provides a curriculum plan for teaching English to ESL students in grades 3, 4 and 5 at Paterson Public School.

Link Between Curriculum Plan and the School District’s Mission and Goals

The development of this curriculum plan is geared towards enhancing the learning outcomes of these students in line with the established mission statement, goals, and outcomes of the school district. The vision of Paterson Public School is to become a leader in educating urban youth in New Jersey (Paterson Public Schools, 2018). Based on this vision, the mission of this school district is to prepare every student for success in their chosen career or in university or college. To accomplish this mission, the school district has identified some major goals/priorities including creating effective academic programs, developing and maintaining healthy school cultures, promoting family and community engagement in education, and ensuring effective and responsive operations. Some of the expected outcomes in this school district include enhancing student achievement, aligning instructional system, enhancing accountability for academic performance, and professional development of staff.

This curriculum plan for elementary ESL students in Paterson Public School is in line with the school district’s mission of preparing students for success in higher learning institutions or respective career. The plan seeks to achieve this by enhancing the students’...
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Additionally, this curriculum plan is developed as part of establishing effective academic programs for teaching English language in the class. The use of this curriculum plan will help achieve the desired outcomes of the school district through improving student achievement in English and aligning instructional system for these students.

Textbook and Supplemental Material Adoption Cycle

The cycle for adoption of relevant textbook and supplemental material will entail the establishment of an Instructional Materials Adoption Committee. This committee will be mandated with the task of creating and evaluating procedures for identification, adoption, and removal of instructional materials that are utilized by the school. The committee will work with the relevant professionals in the school district to ensure that the materials are in line with those owned and utilized by the District. A 5-year revolving cycle for selection and adoption of textbook and supplemental material will be utilized. Paterson Public School will also consider the advice of staff, parents, and students during the selection and adoption of textbook and supplemental material.

Staff Development Plans

A critical aspect towards the achievement of the goals of this curriculum plan is establishing staff development plans. Staff development plans help in promoting the professional development and growth of individual teachers towards enhancing teaching and learning. In this regard, teachers at Paterson Public School will be required to complete a summative evaluation that will be utilized to generate needs improvement rating. Once the rating is developed, specific tasks or activities to address the areas requiring improvement will be identified. Teachers will then be required to engage in these activities or tasks to help improve their teaching practice and learning in the classroom. During this process, teachers will be provided with necessary resources and support to complete the required activities or tasks.

Evaluation of Curriculum

The effectiveness of this curriculum plan will be determined through evaluation since curriculum evaluation is an important part of curriculum development. The process for evaluating the curriculum will focus on three major areas i.e. the learner, the instruction, and the overall program.…