There's More to Mapping

I would first like to commend Minkel on a well-written and informative piece on the curriculum mapping initiative ("Charting a Clear Course," September 2002, pp. 60–61). The article effectively describes the needs of school districts to utilize curriculum mapping to better organize course structure and the scope and sequence relationships between grade levels. That said, it is important to make one clarification to the article and add a little more insight into one of the largest obstacles in the path of the curriculum-mapping effort. The article states that I comment about the difficulty of "getting teachers to enter all of the data into their maps." My actual comment concerned a lack of resources, not a lack of teacher effort.

In my experience, teachers have been more than accommodating throughout the curriculum-mapping process. Providing the time and training necessary for curriculum mapping is of utmost importance. I wish to take this opportunity to clarify the issue as it exists for many school districts currently using a curriculum-mapping database.

Entering course curriculum into any mapping database, with the proper detail, is an extremely time-consuming process. Each teacher must attend training sessions on how to use the curriculum-mapping technology provided. But learning how to use the software is only a small part of the necessary staff development. WSWHE (Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex [NY] counties) BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services) provided teachers with workshops on the Heidi Hayes Jacobs model and continue to hold follow-up, hands-on training sessions with our curriculum coordinator throughout the year to assure that our teachers, and in turn our students, are getting the most out of the curriculum-mapping experience. It is important that any school district planning to venture into curriculum mapping understand that teaching staff will need to put a significant amount of time into the process in order for it to be truly successful, and that an integral part of this success will rely on adequate training and the allotment of sufficient time and technology resources.
Marco Zumbolo
Coordinator for BOCES Technology WSWHE BOCES
Saratoga Springs, NY

THE REVIEW OF TALKIN ABOUT BESSIE: The Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman (Orchard/Scholastic) by Nikki Grimes (October, p. 183), stated that no source materials are included in the book. This statement is based on the proofs that were submitted for review in which the source notes were unfortunately omitted. Scholastic wishes to assure readers that full source notes are, in fact, included in the final bound copies of this book.
John Mason
Director
Library and Educational Marketing Scholastic, Inc.
New York, NY

Addendum: The 2001 Carnegie Medal winner Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett (September Book Awards, p. 24) is published in the U.S. by HarperCollins.