Curriculum-specific vs Curriculum-agnostic
Assessment should reflect the approach
Curriculum agnostic means curriculum that is generic in structure and approach.
For example, a lesson plan where the objective is to learn scales—and that’s it—is considered curriculum agnostic.
Curriculum specific means curriculum that has an approach or structure that is connected to a particular technique, method or application.
For example, a lesson plan where the objective is to teach scales using The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Levine and by working on the piano would be considered curriculum specific.
Assessment— which is how you learn what your students know—will depend upon which approach you used when you taught the lesson in the first place.
And all of this requires clear communication.
Your students should know what the purpose of the lesson is.
You should know how you need to approach this perspective—does it need specific, step-by-step instructions (curriculum specific), or can you just say, “Learn A Night in Tunisia in all twelve keys” and know that the student will go for it (curriculum agnostic)?
How will the student know they are successful before they come to the next lesson? They should know this before they leave this lesson. If you can give a written rubric (a list of “Know this before you come back”), that’s even better because the memory almost always fails. You can’t trust either one of you to remember after a week. Write down your expecations and share them with your students. They'll appreciate it.
We teach this.
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