Instructional Expectations for PISD Educators

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction is responsible for the development and training of the aligned curriculum and effective classroom strategies. Individual campuses are ultimately responsible for the deployment of the curriculum and the monitoring of the delivery of the curriculum. In order for campuses to achieve successful deployment, an Executive Director has been assigned to each level of instruction, elementary, middle school and high school.

Our Curriculum Bundles (Scope and Sequence) provide a framework for classroom instruction and is based on the Texas Essential of Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). These bundles help ensure that teachers are teaching the content at the appropriate time. By following the Curriculum Bundles, educators and parents can be assured that the State curriculum is being covered and the District’s interpretation of the TEKS is being implemented. In addition to the content found on the on-line curriculum web pages, the following instructional expectations serve to emphasize instructional elements that will prepare students to be more successful. The following instructional expectations are to be implemented by PISD campuses.

General

1. Follow the Curriculum Bundles established for each content area.
2. Integrate subjects as much as possible to produce quality instruction and effective time management.
3. Provide instructional opportunities both with and without the availability of resources for references.
4. Balance questions of one right answer with open-ended items that require reference support.
5. Provide regular opportunities for technology integration in each content area.
6. Provide interventions based on data and periodic assessments.

Language Arts

1. Provide daily modeling and practice with inferential (deductive reasoning) and reflective thinking (connecting to prior knowledge/experience).
   - read alouds that prompt connections – text to self, text to text, text to world (small and large group discussions, book clubs)
   - visual aids (variety) and activities/strategies that help organize thinking/information and promote critical thinking
2. Include multi genres in reading/writing in each grading period (fiction, nonfiction, functional) and activities/strategies to link across texts.
3. Incorporate open book tasks during each grading period (i.e. science and social studies textbooks for textual support).
4. Include open-ended items on assessments each grading period specifically targeting support from the text with a portion of the grade reflecting the “process” (finding support, etc.) rather than 100% for the correct answer.
5. Provide for student reflection of best/favorite works and goal setting during each grading period (reading and writing – including multimedia in grades 4-12)

Mathematics

1. Include, at least 50% of the time, “real life” problem solving/application problems daily that encourage multiple solution approaches. (Using these types of problems is an effective way to start lessons.)
2. Calculate a percent of a student’s grade on the process, rather than 100% of a grade based on the correct answer.
3. Construct math tutoring based on individual student needs, instead of whole group delivery.
4. Incorporate higher-level questions along with skill-based questions in assessments.
5. Include at least one TEXTEAMS activity each 9 weeks in middle school and Algebra I classes.

Social Studies

1. Insure that classroom instruction is predominately activity-based.
2. End units with the question, “Why is this important to know, and how will this help me (the student) make quality decisions?”
3. Incorporate a year (or term)-long project into all courses/grade levels (i.e. learning journals).
4. Include at least one open-ended question requiring writing in assessments in grades 4-12.
5. Include at least one assessment question in gr. 4-12 requiring multiple primary or secondary source readings to formulate an answer.
6. Incorporate visual aids to promote cause/effect, inferential thinking.

Science

1. Provide a minimum of 40% hands-on lab and field experiences in each science course.
2. Include in each unit test in grades 5-12
   - at least one document-based item
   - at least one cluster-type item
   - at least one griddable-type item.
3. During each grading period in grades 5-12, incorporate at least one open-ended test items (i.e. short answer, essay, or performance-based).
4. During each semester in grades 5-12, a research-based project must be completed that includes a written and presentation component.