Professional Development

Curriculum Writing for New Jersey Schools

We know that the implementation of the 2020 New Jersey standards are right around the corner! Partner with Atlas and FariaPD to get a head start on your curriculum writing and be confident that you are providing strong and supportive leadership and guidance to teachers during these unique times.

Goals of the Curriculum Writing Sessions and Packages

  • Support school leadership in getting organized for curriculum writing and review

  • Provide basic curriculum writing skills and context to curriculum writers as a refresher course

  • Prepare teachers for curriculum writing responsibilities within their school and/or department

We’ve made it easy for you to select the package that best supports your needs, see below for details. Each session is 2 hours, and you can choose a package of 3, 5, or 8 sessions. Determine the dates and times that work best for your team - whether it is throughout the academic year or over the summer. Each package includes a planning and debrief call, Q & A after each virtual session and free seats to an upcoming virtual event. Check out our website for all the details.

3 Virtual Sessions $3,100

5 Virtual Sessions $5,000

8 Virtual Sessions $7,800

  • 3 virtual professional development sessions (2 hours each)

  • 2 consultative hours

  • 5 virtual professional development sessions (2 hours each)

  • 4 consultative hours

  • 8 virtual professional development sessions (2 hours each)

  • 6 consultative hours

PD Services included in each Package:

  • The specified number of 2-hour professional development sessions

  • Use the consultative hours to connect one-on-one with a PD facilitator to ideate, or discuss other curriculum specific needs

  • One facilitator with a maximum of 40 participants per session

Sample Packages

3 Session Packages

Target Audience: Leadership

Target Audience: English language development teachers

Best suited for a small group leadership team and/or curriculum leaders who are novice Atlas users or a new team who want a refresher on the basics of Atlas

Focused on supporting curriculum writers tasked at improving the instruction for EL students

5 Session Packages

Target Audience: Supervisors and/or curriculum leaders

Target Audience: New curriculum

Focused on experienced curriculum writers needing support for curriculum review

Customized for new curriculum writers who need support to build their capacity

8 Session Package

Target Audience: Curriculum writers

Best suited for a group of writers with varying needs, the 8 session package allows leaders to be strategic in the professional learning they offer their new and experienced curriculum writers

Want to tailor your package yourself? Great, please see our full list of sessions below!

Full List of NJ/QSAC Focused PD Sessions

Leadership Sessions

Session Title

Session Description

Leadership Planning

  • Review updated standards for August 2022 implementation

  • As a team, review the current curriculum and outline goals for your ongoing curriculum work, including timeline and needed PD support

Template and Dashboard Development

  • Review and update your unit template to meet your current needs and reflect QSAC requirements

  • Walk through how to set up your dashboard for easy access to reports for QSAC

Curriculum Basics for Teachers in Atlas Navigation Training technical training included in Premium Support

  • Review the process and purpose of curriculum mapping

  • Explore the key features and navigation tools in Atlas

Atlas Refresher for Administrators and Leaders System Admin Training technical training included in Premium Support

  • Walkthrough the key features of Atlas specific to your role

  • Explore various courses in Atlas

  • Preview reports to support QSAC review and curricular conversations at individual schools

Curriculum Writing

Session Title

Session Description

Foundations of Unit Planning: Unitizing Standards within a Course

  • Briefly review the purpose of curriculum mapping and unit planning

  • Review steps in building new units

  • Explore strategies to unitize learning targets within a course

NJSLS Standards Review of 1-2 courses

  • Briefly overview the updates and changes to NJSLS in 1-2 courses

  • Walk through how standards are organized and how to read and use standards to plan instruction

Overview of a Backward Design Framework

  • Review the key components of a backward design framework

  • Discuss each stage of your unit plan and explore the process of backwards planning

Unpack Standards: Content and Skills

  • Walkthrough strategies for unpacking standards into clear learning goals

  • Identify what students should know and be able to do by the end of the unit

Develop Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions

  • Identify the overarching purpose and focus of a unit

  • Develop enduring understandings and essential questions that guide student learning

Assess Learning: Formative and Summative Assessments

  • Differentiate between characteristics of formative and summative assessments and how they inform instruction

  • Learn how to develop, add, and track assessments in Atlas

Assess Learning: Develop Quality Summative Assessments

  • Explore ways to meaningfully assess understanding of unit goals

  • Review elements of quality assessments, including sample rubrics and success criteria

The Lesson Portal: Create Lessons Aligned to Unit Plans

  • Discuss how lesson planning connects to the bigger picture of unit planning and overall curriculum development

  • Explore how to develop lessons aligned to the unit plan

  • Walkthrough the lesson planner in Atlas

Using Reports in Atlas to Review Curriculum Reports technical training included in Premium Support

  • Learn how to utilize reports in Atlas to support your role in curriculum work

  • Walk away with several reports saved for future use

Curriculum Review

Session Title

Session Description

Overview of a 5 Step Curriculum Review Cycle

  • Explore and discuss the 5 steps of a review cycle with examples

  • Consider additional needs to ensure the ongoing use of the curriculum review cycles to update and strengthen the written curriculum

Course Review

  • A guided review of one course for elements of quality, including completeness and alignment to standards

Quality Unit Review

  • Discuss the elements of a high quality unit plan

  • Review unit(s) using a sample rubric and/or Atlas reports

Standards & Learning Goals for Language Development

  • Align units with content & language standards and provide language goals for multiple English proficiency levels

  • Outline unit learning goals that support culturally and linguistically diverse students

Create Assessments for Multilingual Learners

  • Determine how students can demonstrate understanding of both the content and language goals, using multiple language domains

  • Analyze the unit assessment(s) for alignment to content & language goals

Develop Learning Plans for Multilingual Learners

  • Develop integrated lesson targets aligned to the unit plan

  • Outline instructional strategies and approaches to support content learning and language acquisition

Planning for Differentiation

  • Review key elements of differentiated instruction

  • Explore differentiated instruction strategies and add specific strategies to current units

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