| See each grade level's scope and sequence at the bottom of this page.
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What Is Data Driven Instruction (DDI)? |
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At Aspen Academy, we strive to meet the unique learning needs of every student, no matter how gifted he is or how much she struggles. We recognize that strength in one subject area does not always mean strength in all areas. A child may be an excellent reader but struggle in Math. Or a student may have different needs within a single subject. He may have strong Geometry skills but struggle in Algebra. Data Driven Instruction allows the teacher to map out a teaching plan based on students’ individual strengths and weaknesses. Using Math as an example, here’s how: |
- Teachers carefully evaluate their curriculum (in this case Math) to see where each MN State Standard is addressed in the curriculum. Any parts of the curriculum that are not state standards are set aside for later. These things will be taught after all standards are addressed. (Doing this frees up more learning time for the teacher/students.)
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- Any standards not covered in the curriculum will need to be noted and addressed through supplemental materials. This way, we make sure our students have all the core skills required by the State.
- Teachers then arrange the curricular content that covers the State Standards, clearly outlining what will be taught when. Laying out the curriculum this way is a key element of DDI because assessments are then created to allow the teacher to monitor students’ progress towards mastery of those standards. These are not “end of unit tests” you would expect to see in Math. Instead, they have questions that specifically relate to MN State Standards, similar to what appear on MCAs. The format helps student gain familiarity with MCAs, and covers the content covered in the Math chapters, but relates specifically to the State Standards taught so far.
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- Teachers work together to ensure that the rigor of their tests is consistent. For example, if the standard says that students will understand how to calculate percentages, and Teacher A asks students to calculate 20% of 100, while Teacher B asks students to calculate 17% of 141, while Teacher C asks students to compare two basketball players…one made 15 of 40 shots, the other made 13 of 25 shots and who had the better percentage? Obviously the students in Teacher C’s class will be better prepared on this standard!
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17% |
- Once the data is collected from these tests, teachers plot it in a spread sheet and do an analysis. What standards did the class do well on? What standards did the class struggle with? If the class did poorly on a particular standard and they all gave a similar wrong answer, why did they give that wrong answer? And so on.
- From there, the teacher moves to re-teaching. Who are the students who are ready to take the concept to the next level with more challenge? Who are the students who need more practice with a certain skill? What does the teacher need to keep including in the homework to keep the concept fresh in students’ minds?
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This is a quick overview. All schools will tell you they use data to guide instruction – and they should! However, Data Driven Instruction is a much deeper process that requires significant training to take it past a superficial level and make it a part of daily teaching. Aspen Academy is not only committed to it as part of their charter school contract with its authorizer, Friends of Education, Aspen is a leader in implementation, providing assistance and training to other schools in the Twin Cities interested in starting DDI. |
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Data Driven Instruction is based on the work of Paul Bambrick-Santoyo and Uncommon Schools.
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo is the Managing Director of Uncommon Schools Newark, which is composed of seven North Star Academy schools. During Bambrick-Santoyo’s eight years at North Star, the schools have seen dramatic gains in student achievement, reaching 90+% proficient on state assessments in almost every category and grade level. As a result, they were recently recognized with the National Blue Ribbon award. Author of Driven by Data: A Practical Guide to Improve Instruction, Bambrick-Santoyo has trained over 2,500 school leaders nationwide. Prior to joining North Star, he worked for six years in a bilingual school in Mexico City, where he founded the International Baccalaureate program at the middle school level. |
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To learn more about Paul Bambrick-Santoyo and the Uncommon Schools network, go to uncommonschools.org Or go to the Aspen website at www.aspenacademymn.org under “About Aspen” and click on “Individualized Education” and see our Power Point presentation on DDI. |
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SIXTH GRADE
CURRICULUM
|
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SEP
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OCT
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NOV
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DEC
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JAN
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FEB
|
MAR
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APR
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MAY/JUN
|
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Reading
|
The
Iliad
|
The
Odyssey
|
Julius
Caesar
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Narcissus
and Echo,
Pygmalion
and Galatea
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Apollo
and Daphne,
Orpheus
and Eurydice
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The
Prince and the Pauper
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Mother to Son, Lift
Every Voice and Sing, Apostrophe to the Ocean
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The Raven,
Sympathy,
A Song of Greatness,
A Psalm of Life
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All the World’s A Stage,
Mother to Son, If, and other poems
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Lang.
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Independent
& dependent clauses
Types
of sentences
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Use
of colon & semicolon
Comas
in compound sentences
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“Word
Choice”
Writing
essays with a thesis to defend
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“Ideas”
Evidence
vs opinion, anticipate counter-
arguments
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“Sentence
Fluency”
Write
open-ended questions, gather data
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“Organization”
Organizing outlines
Present
a speech
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“Voice”
Properly
integrating quotations in one’s writing
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“Conventions”
Acknowledge sources and write
bibliographies
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“Sentence
Fluency”
Writing
standard business letters
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Math
|
Algebraic
expressions
|
Solid
figures
Ratios
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Percentage:
-part/whole
-one
quantity
as a % of
another
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Speed
and averaging
speeds
|
Division
of fractions
Order
of operations
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Circles:
Radius
and diameter,
area
|
Graphs
and pie charts
Volume
|
Triangles
Finding
unknown angles
|
Challenging
word problems w
-fractions
-ratio
& %
-speed
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Science
|
Plate
Tectonics
|
Oceans
|
Astronomy
-gravity
-stars
-galaxies
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Energy
|
Heat
|
Physical
Change and Energy Transfer
|
The
Immune System
|
The
Lymphatic System
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Science
Biographies
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Social Studies
|
Deserts
of the World
|
Lasting
Ideas from Ancient Civilizations
- Judaism &
Christianity
-Ancient
Greece
and Rome
|
The
Enlightenment
|
The
French Revolution
Romanticism
|
Industrialism
Capitalism
and Socialism
|
Latin
American Independence
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American
Immigration
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Industrialism
and Urbanization
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Reform,
Populism, and Women’s Suffrage
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SEVENTH GRADE
CURRICULUM
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SEP
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OCT
|
NOV
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DEC
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JAN
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FEB
|
MAR
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APR
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MAY/JUN
|
|
Reading
|
Diary
of a Young Girl (Anne Frank)
|
Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
|
The
Tell-Tale Heart
The
Secret Life of Walter Mitty
|
The
Gift of the Magi
The
Necklace
|
The
Call of the Wild
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Cyrano
de Bergerac
|
The Night the Bed Fell,
Shooting an Elephant,
Declaration of War on Japan
|
Annabel Lee,
Charge of the Light
Brigade,
Cremation of Sam McGee,
Fire and Ice
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The Chimney Sweeper,
Dulce et Decorum Est, Macavity, This is Just to Say, and other poems
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Lang.
|
Prepositional
phrases,
Auxiliary
verbs,
Direct
and
Indirect
objects
|
Compound
subjects,
Indefinite
pronouns,
Participles,
Clauses
|
Predicate
nominative,
Predicate
adjective,
Appositives,
Gerunds
|
“Voice”
Expository
writing to persuade or compare and contrast
|
“Ideas”
Research
essays with field research
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“Organization”
Organizing
with an outline
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“Word
Choice”
Summarizing,
paraphrasing & quoting
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“Conventions”
Acknowledge
sources in one’s writing
|
“Sentence
Fluency”
Integrating
quotations from sources
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Math
|
Curriculum To
|
Be
Determined
|
|
Curriculum To
|
Be
Determined
|
|
Curriculum To
|
Be
Determined
|
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|
Science
|
Atomic
structures
|
Atomic
structures
|
Chemical
bonds and
reactions
|
Chemical
bonds and
reactions
|
Chemical
bonds and reactions
|
Cell
division
& genetics
|
Paleontology
Geological
time
|
Natural
selection,
extinction
& speciation
|
Science
biographies
|
|
Social Studies
|
America
becomes a
world power
|
WW
I,
History
&
geography
of
Central
Europe
|
The
Russian Revolution:
-history
-geography
|
America in
the 1920s
|
The
Great
Depression,
Roosevelt &
The New
Deal
|
The
Rise of totalitarianism in Europe
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Europe and
America
during
WW II
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The
Pacific
During
WWII, The end of
the war
|
Geography
of the
USA
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EIGHTH GRADE
CURRICULUM
|
|
SEP
|
OCT
|
NOV
|
DEC
|
JAN
|
FEB
|
MAR
|
APR
|
MAY/JUN
|
|
Reading
|
Animal
Farm
(character-ization,
protagonist, antagonist)
|
The
Good Earth
(plot,
theme, setting)
|
The
Twelfth Night
(farce
and satire, tragedy and comedy)
|
Speeches:
“Ask
Not What Your Country Can Do”
“The
Marginal World”, etc.
|
Selections
from “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”
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The
Bet
Doctor
Heidegger’s Experiment
The
Open Boat
|
An
Honest Thief
God
Sees the Truth but Waits
|
How Do I
Love Thee?
Polonius’s
Speech,
I Dwell In
Possibility,
Chicago
|
Ozymandias,
Sonnet 18,
The Lake Isle
of Innisfree,
Lucy Gray,
and
other poems
|
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Lang.
|
Semi-colons
and commas
w phrases
and clauses,
Misplaced
modifiers
|
Quotation
marks, Italics,
Dashes,
Colons, Hyphens,
Parenthesis,
Apostrophes
|
“Ideas”
Defining
a
central
proposition
in one’s
expository
writing
|
“Organization”
Gathering
relevant
data and
using an
outline
|
“Word
Choice”
Paraphrasing
and using
persuasion
|
“Fluency”
Summarizing
|
“Voice”
Quoting
accurately
when note
taking
|
“Conventions”
acknowledging
sources &
avoiding
plagiarism
|
Giving
a
speech
that
is
well-
organized
and
well-
supported
|
|
Math
|
Curriculum To
|
Be
Determined
|
|
Curriculum To
|
Be
Determined
|
|
Curriculum To
|
Be
Determined
|
|
|
Science
|
Motion
and
forces
|
Motion
and
forces
|
Density
and
buoyancy
|
Work,
energy
and
power
|
Electricity
and
magnetism
|
Electro-
magnetic
radiation
and
light
|
Sound
Waves
|
Chemistry
of
Food,
Respiration
|
Science
biographies
|
|
Social Studies
|
Decline
of
European
Colonialism
|
The
Cold
War
|
The
Civil
Rights
Movement
|
The
Vietnam
War &
rise
of
social
activism
|
The
Middle
East
and oil
politics
|
End
of the
Cold
War,
Break
up of
the USSR,
Detente
|
Communist
China,
Apartheid,
Modern
Europe
|
Principles
and
structure of
American
democracy, The U.S.
Constitution
|
Geography
of
Canada and
Mexico
|
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