Creative Curriculum Mapping

Creativity is doing things uniquely but it is really difficult to catch up with the creativity of kids. A lot of thoughts and innovations are required to see the completion of a work. Goal is the most important consideration and creativity is required to reach that goal in the best possible manner. In this article we will discuss about the Creative Curriculum Mapping and to begin with it is imperative to understand the concept of creative curriculum and curriculum mapping separately.

Creative Curriculum: It is the curriculum or syllabus for kids up to 3-4 years of age before they take the plunge completely. It is like welcoming the new member in to the society. To form a creative curriculum for the toddlers or preschool syllabus is not a job of one person and an active participation is required from members of the family as well. Main objective of the creative curriculum is to teach "how to learn".

Creative Curriculum prepares the children for the time ahead and focuses on areas like literacy, math, science, social studies, the arts, and technology which are required for all round development. The best way to learn is by doing things, but since every child is unique hence the word creativity comes into the picture. In their early years, children explore the world around them by using all their senses. It is very important to identify the gift in the child, his approach and reactions to the things around and last but not the least inculcation of the good habits so that they grow up to become independent and self confident citizens of tomorrow.
Right appreciation helps in imparting a positive attitude towards life.

The curriculum design should be planned in such a way that through daily schedules, child grows slowly but steadily towards the accomplishment of the goals of creative curriculum and hence give the child a successful start in school.
Having a great idea is one thing and implementation of the same is quite another. Mapping provides the proper and systematic step-by-step approach, which is required to achieve the goal to learn and explore about self, the community and the world at large.

Curriculum Mapping: The process of curriculum mapping is based on mainly the research and goal to be achieved. The research provides us with the information about the existing trends, mistakes and discoveries in the concerned area. Goal is the result strived towards.

Curriculum map or flow chart is an easy methodical way to understand the process of implementation and describes the step-by-step actions to be taken towards the goal. It also helps in decision-making and identifying the gaps. Mapping curriculum enables allocation of sufficient time to cover each standard and objective. As teachers map out teaching units, cross-curricular connections become more evident which enables students to develop real world application for concepts and help them to learn solve a problem by resolving the root cause of the problem and therefore helps them understanding the inter relation between the things. By analyzing the curriculum map, strategies become clearer. Curriculum mapping facilitates the assessment planning also and helps in the identification of the areas for improvement.

It is vital that teachers focus on each child's individual developmental. Children should be given the opportunity to make decisions about their learning with supervision. Assessments provide the level of development or advancement towards the goal and hence the teachers should observe children carefully and use those observations to guide learning. Assessment also helps in order to plan future activities and extend learning. Regular communication with parents is necessary to meet the ultimate goal of working together on children's learning and through challenging situations.

The rules should however, not be rigid. It is essential to understand that everything, all curriculums are for these babies; these babies need not adjust to any pattern. It is required from the curriculum to adjust as per the requirement of child’s uniqueness and therefore the need to be creative. Creative curriculum mapping includes observing and exploring, it is the assistance provided to the future leaders by helping them in their learning of a variety of ways to deal with the problems of life. Teachers and parents both need to be very careful because child is so soft that even your slightest irritation can affect them adversely.

The job calls for a lot of patience and of course immense love coupled with responsibility for these little angles. As rightly said by Stacia Tauscher "We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today."