Whenever educators set about putting their vision for more mindful
schools into operation, they begin with the question of curriculum. The
46 Learning and Leading with Habits of Mind
work of Heidi Hayes Jacobs suggests that it is powerful to begin an examination
of curriculum with “curriculum mapping” (Jacobs, 1997). In this
process, teachers detail what they currently teach and consider how it
builds on the foundations of previous learnings and anticipates those of
future years. They define the content, skills, and assessments that presently
guide their instructional decisions. As teachers share their maps across
grades, subjects, and schools, they consider what might be excessive, repetitious,
necessary, or missing.
Jacobs suggests that the entire faculty engage in this process, not just
a small committee. Curriculum mapping provides a rich opportunity for
building curriculum as a decision-making process. The power of these
conversations comes from the five basic groups of decisions that teachers
consider: