Episode 4: How to Get Started as a Curriculum Developer

curriculum-developer

As teachers, you’re constantly creating and designing lesson plans, units, instructional activities, and so much more for your students. But have you ever thought about doing that for a living or a side job and getting paid for it? That can certainly become your reality if you become a curriculum developer like I did. If you’re wanting to take that same path, then you’ll love today’s episode. I’m sharing what you need to know in order to determine if being a curriculum developer is right for you, plus tips for getting started. 

Before getting started, it’s important to know what curriculum design entails and what skills and experience is needed, so you can have a full understanding before diving in. After listening to the episode, I think you’ll be surprised to know that you already have the right skills and mindset to embark on this career. 

Finally, I share in detail the steps you need to get started, which are as easy as 1, 2, 3. If becoming a curriculum developer is something you’re considering, acknowledge the skills you possess and use those to land your dream job!

 

Topics Discussed:

  • My background story of how I got into curriculum development, which led into the career I have today

  • A full explanation of what curriculum design is and the different aspects of it

  • The difference between a curriculum design and instructional design

  • Why it’s important to just write and revise using the skills you have to get started

  • The steps to take if wanting to get started becoming a curriculum developer

Resources mentioned:

Related episodes and blog posts:

 
 
 
 

Read the transcript for this episode:

Today, I'll be talking about one of my very favorite topics, curriculum design. I've been working as a curriculum developer for nearly 15 years, and I don't think I'll ever tire of it. By creating curriculum, you get the chance to be creative, use your knowledge of teaching and learning, and then you get to develop materials that really support teachers and students. Because we know when we have great curriculum to start with, we can make it better in the classroom.

But when the curriculum we're given, isn't that great, it makes it really hard. So often folks ask me, How do I get started with curriculum development? On this episode we'll dive into the steps you need to see if curriculum development is a good fit for you, because it's important to figure that out before you dive in all the way. And I'll give you some tips for getting started working in the field.

But first, let me go back in time a little bit and tell you some more about my story. As a teacher, the thing I really loved the most was creating engaging and relevant learning experiences for kids. I loved it, this idea of thinking about certain topics and the interests of my students of how I could put them together to really get kids excited about learning was so invigorating for me.

And so I guess I had been creating curriculum, even though I wasn't formally writing it up for a while, I was creating units where kids got to decorate the hallway as a rain forest and my co teacher and I created a whole unit plan about it that was actually written. But you know, we didn't write down every single step as if somebody else could follow it. It was more to document what we had been doing in the classroom. 

And I had also been doing National Novel Writing Month with my first graders, which is a challenge of the month of November to write a 50,000 word novel, which is for adults, first graders should not write a 50,000 word novel. That's not what I did with them. But I was doing National Novel Writing Month as a grown up, and I talked to my first graders about it, and they were so intrigued. They were like, we want to write novels, too. And so I started teaching them about novel writing as one of our genre studies. And they wrote chapters, they learned about plot arcs, they got super into it.

And the folks that National Novel Writing Month learned what we were doing, they were also in Oakland, and they came into my classroom. And they brought in local authors, they got my kids readings at local bookstores. And it was just this lovely collaboration. And honestly, I thought it would end at the end of November. But the next year, they called me up and they were like, hey, you know those lesson plans that you created with your students? Can we pay you to write those up and share them with teachers all over the world? And my mind was blown, just like what you would pay me to write up these lessons that I knew worked with my students? And I could helpfully help people have a great foundation for getting this off the ground? Yes, please. 

So that was my first curriculum project I took on I didn't really know what I was doing. But I figured it out by doing it by talking to a lot of teacher friends by testing things out, but just seeing how things went. And from then on, I was like a full time classroom teacher and looking for some side work, because I loved this. I wanted to make some extra money, but I also realized that curriculum design allowed me a chance to really be creative.

So I was like, alright, one of these projects exists, I did this national novel writing month to month project, what else is out there? How can I find more of these projects? So I started actively looking, finding all sorts of curriculum projects for ed tech companies, school districts, nonprofits, all while in the classroom. 

And then when I left the classroom in 2012, really went full force into curriculum design. I became the learning design manager at education.com, creating worksheets and lesson plans, helping with games and apps and all sorts of fun things, and working with an amazing team of teachers to create that curriculum.

I've done all sorts of curriculum design since then, and also run the Educator Forever Agency, which is our curriculum agency side of our business, where we take on large scale projects, working as teams with ed tech companies, nonprofits, curriculum development, houses, all sorts of places to create engaging curriculum on a large scale, you know, doing things like creating a pre K to second grade full curriculum as a whole team, and I love it. So I'm excited to dive into just what is curriculum design and then how you can get started working there. 

So let's start with what is curriculum design because I can say curriculum and people think about Teachers Pay Teachers, and they think about textbooks. And both are things you can do in curriculum. But neither are my favorite. And honestly, I don't spend too much time doing either one of them. No offense to either. But basically, curriculum design means creating any type of educational experience that kids have, and that teachers teach. So those can be lesson plans, they can be worksheets, and you don't have to do the graphic design side of worksheets.

When I've created worksheets for bigger companies, I usually am just giving guidance on the educational content, the text, and then they have graphic designers working on the graphics. If you love graphic design, amazing, fantastic go create some awesome worksheets, but just know you don't have to have those skills. Curriculum design can also be giving feedback on apps. So this could look like a team is creating an app and they know all but like programming amazingness, I don't.

But I have given feedback on how the write questions and what numbers to work with in a math game. And what kids at this grade level generally are able to do or how these topics are generally taught. So it's a little bit of a mix of consulting and curriculum writing on working with a project like an app or an online game, because you are giving your expertise. But you're also often scripting questions that are asked or even writing the script that's in an online game. 

Once you start seeing things through these eyes, you'll realize how many things were written by curriculum developers. Any online program that you use likely has teams of curriculum developers creating the materials. Going back to textbooks, there are teams and teams of curriculum developers creating these everything from the student work text, the teacher guide, supports for English language learners, support for students with special needs.

All sorts of teams are working on every single part of a textbook. So there is so much work to be done by curriculum developers. You can also create leveled readers, if you think about, you know, being a primary teacher and teaching kids at different reading levels, you can create different readers at those levels. So like, hey, this is a level G book, because the Lexile level is whatever it is. And we use this vocabulary and things like that. You get guidance for how to do this.

And I feel asked like, how do you know how to do that? I know because I was brought on for a project and then figured it out and had training and learn through doing it. So try not to let any inexperienced you might have stop you. If you have some relevant experience, you can learn the rest. 

So basically, curriculum design is any type of educational content that kids and teachers will interact with creating that content. The possibilities are pretty endless here. Again, you don't have to have too many other skills other than your teaching experience and writing experience.

Being a curriculum developer is being a writer. So you should think about do you like writing, if you don't think curriculum design might not be the best fit for you. If you love writing, or if you want to get better at it, then that could be a really good thing for you to pursue. So just kind of reflect on this. And if you haven't written the lesson plan, or any type of curriculum and a long time, write something, see how it goes, see how it feels. The way we get better at writing is by writing. So give yourself a chance to try things out. Write and see how it goes. 

Sometimes folks ask when thinking about what is curriculum design, what's the difference between curriculum design and instructional design? And generally how I see it is instructional design is more for adult learners. So often, like tech companies are hiring instructional designers to teach people how to use their programs, not necessarily pre K to 12 education.

Instructional design sometimes also includes more of a tech component, using certain LMS systems, learner management systems, uploading things online, that kind of thing, less lesson plans, worksheets and more K 12 audience. So for me being an elementary school teacher curriculum design really works well for me. And I have done curriculum design for adult learners, but it's less tech heavy, I guess I would say, more thinking about lessons for teachers or PD sessions or things like that. 

So now that we have a sense of what curriculum design is and can be, let's think about how you could get started. And again, this is to get clarity about whether this is a good next step for you. And just how do I move forward if it is something I want to do? The first thing is reflecting on what you've created before. Have you created curriculum? Have you written lesson plans? Have you written a unit?

It doesn't have to be super polished, you know, I gave the example at the beginning about the rainforest unit that my co teacher and I created. We created like a shell of the curriculum how it was written. So folks could probably follow it, but it wouldn't be something I would turn in for a curriculum design job. That's okay. In this reflection, I want you to think about any type of curriculum you've created, even if it hasn't been written down. So maybe Ooh, I love playing this game with my students, or this one activity is so fun.

Or every year, I love teaching about this topic. Make a list that gives you clues, maybe you'll realize, oh, all of these are about math, or oh, everything here is about social studies for middle schoolers. Great. All of that gives you clues. And it doesn't have to be just for the grade levels or subjects that you've taught, you know, maybe long ago, you student taught and created a curriculum for kindergarteners and you loved it, try and remember that like all gives you clues of where you could go next. 

Then think about what you might want to try out writing. And the goal here is to build a portfolio. A portfolio sounds fancy and kind of intimidating. But it doesn't have to be. My portfolio is just a folder on my desktop with a few Word documents, no graphics, just samples of lesson plans and worksheets. Super simple looking, but the content, if I do say so myself, is pretty cool.

So think more about the content than how things look. A portfolio can just be two, three lesson plans, maybe a worksheet, something to show off your skills. When you apply for curriculum jobs, they might ask you for samples, they might not, but they might. And so it's nice to have this portfolio, so you don't have to go scrambling to create different types of curriculum. So really think about creating lessons that could go in your portfolio.

Or maybe it's not just lessons, maybe it's a Leveled Reader, maybe it's a script, maybe it's a unit plan, whatever feels good to you. But by trying it out, you not only end up with something that can go in your portfolio, but you end up with something that you can make better.

You can really try to revise this and constantly make it better. Because when we write it's rare that when we write something the first time it's ready to go. There's always revisions, there are always things to learn and to look back on. 

So by trying it out, you also get clarity, did you like doing this? If you really did not, then maybe curriculum design isn't a good fit for you. If you liked it, and it was hard, that's okay. We can do hard things, we can learn hard things. So if you liked it, if you're inspired to do more of it, keep going.

As you build a portfolio, you can also learn about different lesson plan frameworks and approaches to curriculum because that's important too. We need to have strong pedagogical knowledge of how curriculum is created, how students learn, how teachers teach.

Likely you learn some of this in your credentialing program. But if not, you can do a refresher. And we all need a refresher. There's also new research and new thinking around this. So try and dig into some different lesson plan framework, some new research, some approaches to curriculum, whatever interests you. You know, maybe if you've always heard about project based learning, but you've never had a chance to dive in, this is your chance, you can dive in, you get to create your own professional development experience.

And then once you have a portfolio, a sense of lesson plan frameworks and approaches to curriculum, a sense of what you've done before, then you'll be ready to apply for some jobs. You can think about sites and organizations that you've used before. Maybe you've always used this edtech tool, or maybe you always pull down this certain book off your shelf. And it's all full of great lessons. These are places where you might look for curriculum jobs. Think about the places you've used before first, and go there.

See on their website, are they hiring curriculum developers? Is there a Jobs tab on their website? Where could you find these jobs and really pitch yourself? If you're looking for more support to create an amazing portfolio to get feedback on that portfolio because as I said, it is never done, we can always revise and make things better, and we're better when we get feedback from other people. 

So if you're looking for some more support there and getting some more refreshers, and information about different pedagogical approaches and research on curriculum design, check out our Curriculum Development Foundations Program. I created this program for all of these reasons to show teachers how you can work in curriculum design, and how to develop the skills you need. On our agency side, I was getting folks applying for jobs who were amazing, but their portfolio just wasn't quite right. They didn't have some foundational skills.

And so I was like, Ah, I really want to tell these people and give them feedback. But that's not sustainable, to write back to every application and give personalized feedback. So I really created this program out of those moments being like there are just some things we have to learn some things that I didn't learn until I was working on curriculum design. So I really poured everything into this program. It is honestly my favorite thing to do to teach these programs. So if you're interested in learning more and want more support, go to www.educatorforever.com/curriculum. Again, that's www.educatorforever.com/curriculum. 

Designing curriculum is one of the most straightforward ways to change students’ educational experiences. You get to create engaging, relevant, student centered lessons that really inspire kids to love learning. And we know that much of the curriculum out there doesn't do this. We really need you to create a new curriculum that does.

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