orchestra Making Learning Visible


Through a Curriculum Map Kristen Flak-Solom, WMEA State Chair, Orchestra


Music teachers do so much work that can easily be in- visible to students, families, and ad- ministrators. In the hustle and bustle of our daily routines, we can easily forget to share the insider


details of what is occurring in the class- room. A solution to this problem is creating a curriculum map that highlights learning targets and assessment rubrics. A curricu- lum map not only helps teachers organize their plans and resources, but it also leads to better communication with stakeholders on what students are learning.


Creating a Curriculum Map


The Middleton-Cross Plains grades 4–8 orchestra team teaches across seven el- ementary schools and two middle schools. Last year, we had the rare opportunity to regularly meet with an instructional coach and have meaningful discussions about our grades 4–8 teaching sequence and aligning learning targets across grades and buildings. Our work led to the creation of


a grades 4–8 curriculum map that not only highlighted what students would learn in each grade, but also showed administrators and families exactly what was going on in the orchestra room.


The first step of creating our curriculum map was talking about what we wanted students to know and be able to do by the end of each grade. We started by listing the skills we normally teach each year. Then we compared across schools and grades and noticed areas where there were gaps or repeats. We had good discussions on logical teaching sequences and when it was best to introduce each target. We noticed that we easily addressed performance and technical skills but needed to find ways to address the create, respond, and connect standards in every grade. Our team had never really talked about curriculum comprehensively, and our conversations helped make visible the things we all did individually in the classroom.


Once we had a list of learning targets for each grade, we then identified formative and summative assessments for each tar- get. Currently, our district is encouraging


“A curriculum map not only helps teachers organize their plans and resources, but it also leads to better communication with stakeholders on what students are learning.”


departments to create common assess- ments. We compared rubrics and student work/performance samples, discussed what we liked and what we wanted to improve, and solidified how a student’s score related to our standardized grading system. By the end of this process, we had a common rubric for every learning target.


The final step of our curriculum map pro- cess was aligning each learning target to our grading practices. While fourth and


President:


Wisconsin Foundation for School Music Board of Trustees:


Steve Plank, Principal,


Wauwatosa East High School President-Elect:


Steve Michaels, Superintendent, Westby Area School District


Past President:


Rich Appel, Superintendent, School District of Horicon


Treasurer: Bernie Fiedler, CFP, Whitewater 18


Gregg Butler, Retired, Eau Claire, County Off Campus High School


Mark Hoernke, Principal, Poynette High School


Angie Houston, Principal, Howards Grove Middle School


Steve Michaels, Superintendent, Westby Area School District


Kevin Moore, Principal, Adams-Friendship High School


Dan Hopkins, Principal, Cumberland High School


Members at Large: Stephanie Elkins, Program Director, Wisconsin Public Radio


Sarah Jerome, Retired, Arlington Heights School District


Staff:


Laurie Fellenz, Executive Director, lfellenz@wsmamusic.org


Kerrie Brey, Finance Manager, breykl@wsmamusic.org


April 2025


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