NORTHWEST ARCTIC BOROUGH
SCHOOL DISTRICT
BASIC CURRICULUM
Volume II
INTRODUCTION

The NWABSD Basic Curriculum sets the plan for instruction in classes throughout the district. It reflects the high standards that district parents, educators, and board members have set for our students. Strategic learning, problem solving, and critical thinking are integrated throughout the curriculum. In all subject areas emphasis is on the development of student self-esteem, a process approach to learning, and the strengthening of thinking skills. Communication skills are to be emphasized in all courses and at all levels.

All curriculum in this binder, with the exception of the health and the physical education curriculum, has been adopted by the NWABSD Board of Education. This printing of the NWABSD Basic Curriculum is to be contained in a loose leaf binder facilitating easier daily use by teachers as well as easier revision, deletion, and/or replacement of pages. Additional portions will be disseminated for inclusion in the Basic Curriculum binder as they are reviewed and adopted in the established curriculum review cycle.

This entire curriculum document is intended to be interactive. Remember, curriculum is never truly "finished." It has been printed in this format to enable teachers throughout the district to provide further expansion during each school year by recording on the curriculum those activities, comments, and resources not already included which have been successfully utilized in making the objectives more meaningful to students. For the 1990-91 school year, information has been consolidated, refined, and compiled into this "revised" curriculum in each area. Thus, we have a more valuable and practical curriculum for future use by all interested parties.

This document represents extensive, arduous work by subject-specific curriculum committees, as well as careful monitoring and review by the NWABSD Curriculum Council. A complete listing of the dedicated current membership of each committee may be found on a separate page.

Each teacher is expected to fully utilize and responsibly follow this curriculum. Approved textbooks are listed throughout. In addition, texts and required materials have been initially provided for all sites. Board adoption of the health and physical education curriculum is projected for August ‘90. It should be viewed as adopted until such time as the decision is finalized.

Goals throughout the curriculum are intended to provide the teacher with a set of statements which present the global purposes of each subject or course. Objectives are presented as intended student outcomes. These two columns comprise the essence of the curriculum and are designed to improve the instructional program for students in the Northwest Arctic Borough and better prepare them for an effective adult life.*

The Comments column serves a dual purpose:

1. for notations to the teacher which provide further information about the objective in relation to the rest of the curriculum, or
2. for teacher use in providing feedback relative to the curriculum. Teachers are invited at anytime to submit written feedback to the Office of Instructional Services.

In the Activities column, some activities have been presented which have already proven useful to teachers in our district. It is hoped that these ideas will inspire more ideas from you. Please record them in the activities column as you proceed through the objectives this year.

Lastly, numerous resources have been listed in the Resources section. Where you see catalog numbers those items are available through the district Media Resource Center. During this school year, the addition of a district-media coordinator in the Office of Instructional Services promises to provide a marked increase in instructional support from the DMRC.

The Board of Education recognizes the need for the careful correlation of curriculum and staff development for all personnel. Hence, beginning with the 89-90 school year, the Board has committed a minimum of one percent of the total annual budget to staff development activities. Both site-based and districtwide inservices are planned and approved through the Office of Instructional Services.

Of course, the critical figure in making this curriculum work is the teacher who teaches it. Please take the time to read this curriculum all the way through, however tempting it might be to look at in only on a unit by unit basis. The more familiar with it you become, the more- your creative juices may flow, and the greater the likelihood that our students will be alert, talent interested, and learning! With all of us actively and responsibly working together, we can insure that this basic curriculum will successfully come alive. Our students will be the prime and deserving beneficiaries.

A.M. Bobbe Bluett
Executive Director: Instruction

NWABSD Inupiaq Studies Curriculum

NWABSD Alaska Studies

Three special acknowledgments are due in connection with this curriculum:

a) Veteran Noatak teacher John McDermott prepared this balanced course for our students tailored to fit our total curriculum.

b) Pages 1-3 are extracted from A Model Alaska Native Studies Curriculum which was compiled by Susan Andrews in 1989 for NWABSD.

c) The latter portion is extracted and adapted from the Alaska Department of Education’s Centralized Correspondence Alaska Studies Connection.

Also please note that, in as much as the Inupiaq Studies course covers most of the native studies materials, the emphasis in Alaska Studies should be on the Russian Period 1725 – 1867 and forward in history.

*See mission statement NWABSD Board of Education Strategic Plan May 1989.