Sarah McGhehey

EDCI 635
Curriculum Development
Course Reflection

Curriculum Development is a crucial part of the curriculum and instruction graduate

program at Chadron State College. Through this course, I was able to actually develop a unit in a
curriculum that I can use in my classroom. With developing this unit of curriculum, I learned all
the different aspects that are part of writing curriculum and gained an appreciation for all those
who write curriculum.

As part of the curriculum development project, I developed a curriculum philosophy,

rational, sequence, aims, goals, objectives, assessments, evaluation for the curriculum, and a
preservice and in-service plan to implement the curriculum. Each of these steps taught me the
process to write, develop and implement new curriculum into a course. Each step is equally
important and must be carried out properly to ensure the curriculum is serving the purpose in
which it was written for.

The first step of this process is providing rational for why this new curriculum needs to
be implemented. This rational can be based on a variety of reasons but the reason must be a valid
cause for change. The curriculum philosophy was a culmination of my personal philosophy and
my personal purpose for writing the curriculum. Critical thinking was useful in this portion of the
course, connecting the information I was learning in educational philosophy to the curriculum I
was developing. This organized my thoughts about the curriculum and set a clear path of why
and how I was going to accomplish my task. Organization also was a huge factor when
developing the sequence, aim, goals, and objectives for the developing course. Teaching me the
importance of organization, I was able to put together a timeline for the course and develop the
specifics of the course and its material.

Developing a curriculum was a long, but vital process within my masters program. The
methods learned are applicable to my position as a classroom teacher and will prove to be useful
in my future. Using these methods, I can develop curriculum, assessments, and most importantly,
implement the curriculum into a school or classroom. The communication within the
implementation process is crucial to the success of the curriculum and the educators using the
curriculum. Implementation must be continually checked to ensure attainment, communicating
with all involved in the implementation process. With feedback from my professor, I was able to
successfully create a plan for a new curriculum with all the different factors. I look forward to
using this knowledge in the future to help develop new courses and new curriculum in the district
and school.