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OPS committee recommends Cambridge, Goodheart-Wilcox, McGraw and eDynamics materials for middle-school electives
Summary
The curriculum adoption committee presented recommended middle-school elective materials — including Cambridge Global Perspectives, Goodheart-Wilcox career materials, McGraw computer-app resources and eDynamics offerings for journalism, robotics and STEM — and staff described teacher-led use of digital texts paired with physical note-taking and collaborative activities.
The Omaha Public Schools curriculum adoption committee presented recommendations for middle-school elective curricula at the June 1 board meeting, proposing a mix of print and digital resources intended to ground student learning in grade-level text and teacher-facilitated activities.
Committee members recommended Global Perspectives from Cambridge University Press, Discovering Careers from Goodheart-Wilcox, a computer-application resource from McGraw, and several offerings from eDynamics that include journalism, robotics and STEM materials. Mrs. Katrkkey summarized the committee's aim to ensure "robust text for students to ground their learning in" across electives.
Deanna Moy, OPS executive director of secondary education, walked the board through a classroom scenario for an eDynamics STEM unit. Moy said teachers would use vendor-provided slides and interactive prompts to launch a lesson, then use the online passage as a shared text while engaging students in think-pair-share, small-group work, graphic organizers and a short write that cites evidence from the reading. "The digital curriculum provid[es] the common text and structure and a launch point for the learning but the literacy demands emerge through the teacher facilitation," Moy said, emphasizing that physical note-taking and teacher modeling should accompany online material.
Board members asked clarifying questions about whether the electives were new or existing offerings; staff said these are existing elective types where the district is seeking stronger instructional materials. Mrs. Katrkkey told the board the adoptions were scheduled to come before the board for approval at the June 1 meeting as a next step in the adoption process.
Next steps: staff said the vendor adoptions would be presented for board approval on the board agenda as scheduled. If approved, the materials will be integrated into middle-school elective instruction according to teacher planning and district implementation timelines.
