Curriculum map from unit materials

Use this process to turn unit objectives, existing lesson materials and assessment dates into one map your department can review. It is for heads of department and curriculum leads who need to find gaps, repeated teaching and poorly timed assessment before the term starts.

The aim is not a polished document at the first pass. The aim is a traceable working map: every claim about coverage should point back to a named objective, lesson or assessment.

1. Set the map structure before sharing materials

Create a spreadsheet or table with one row per planned lesson, or per teaching sequence if individual lessons are still flexible. Use these columns:

Column	What to enter	Why it matters
Week/date	Teaching week, lesson date or sequence number	Shows pacing and assessment timing
Unit	The unit or topic name	Groups related teaching
Lesson/material	A short title and file name	Lets reviewers find the source
Objective IDs	Exact curriculum objective codes	Makes coverage auditable
Learning activity	One sentence on what pupils do	Distinguishes taught from merely mentioned
Evidence of learning	Exit task, response, quiz or produced work	Shows how learning is checked
Assessment	Assessment name or none	Exposes clustering and missing checkpoints
Notes	Dependencies, adaptations or unresolved questions	Keeps uncertainty visible

Assign each objective a stable ID before you begin, such as KS3-HIS-04. Keep the wording beside the ID in a separate objective register. Do not ask the assistant to infer an objective code from a broad topic title.

Collect three inputs in a clean folder or document:

• The approved objective register for the term or course.
• Existing lesson plans, slide outlines, worksheets and reading lists.
• The assessment calendar, including common assessments, moderation points and reporting deadlines.

Remove pupil names, individual work and personal circumstances. This task needs lesson-level evidence, not identifiable student data.

2. Prepare one source pack

Paste or upload materials in labelled sections. If the materials are extensive, work one unit at a time and retain the same objective register throughout. The model you are using may have version-dependent file and input limits. Check the current guidance in the xAI documentation overview before choosing the size and format of each batch.

Use a source pack in this order:

1. OBJECTIVE REGISTER: ID, full wording, required depth and any non-negotiable assessment requirement.
2. UNIT MATERIALS: unit name, lesson number, lesson title, planned activities and existing assessment tasks.
3. ASSESSMENT CALENDAR: date or week, assessment name, objectives intended for assessment and any prerequisite teaching.
4. MAP RULES: term dates, expected lesson count, whether objectives may recur, and the format you want returned.

Ask for a structured first pass, not recommendations. For example:

Create a curriculum map from the source pack. Use one row per lesson or teaching sequence. Do not add objectives that are not in the objective register.

For each row, list objective IDs, the evidence in the lesson material, the planned evidence of learning, and the linked assessment.

Then produce three separate review lists:
1. objectives with no taught coverage;
2. objectives taught more than once, with the lesson numbers and whether repetition appears purposeful;
3. assessments that occur before the relevant objective is taught or practised.

Mark uncertain matches as `REVIEW` and quote the source lesson title that needs checking.

The restriction against adding objectives matters. Without it, the assistant may turn sensible teaching ideas into apparent curriculum requirements.

3. Review coverage before adjusting the plan

Read the three review lists before editing lesson plans. Work through them in this order:

1. Missing objectives: confirm whether the objective is genuinely absent, taught implicitly, or scheduled in a later unit. Add a lesson, amend an existing activity or mark the objective as out of scope with a departmental reason.
2. Duplicated objectives: decide whether the repeat is planned retrieval, deliberate practice, increased difficulty or accidental overlap. Keep purposeful repeats, but record the reason in Notes.
3. Assessment timing: check that pupils encounter, practise and receive feedback on an objective before it is assessed. Move the assessment, add practice, or narrow the assessment claim.
4. Weak evidence: replace vague entries such as “discussed” with the task that demonstrates learning, such as “annotated source comparison” or “two-paragraph explanation using evidence”.

Do not ask the assistant to silently repair the map. Ask it to propose changes in a separate list, with the affected row and reason. Your department should decide which changes alter the intended curriculum.

4. Test whether the map is believable

A map is wrong when its labels sound complete but the underlying material does not support them. Check a sample manually, including every claimed gap and every assessment warning.

For each unit, select:

• one lesson mapped to a single objective;
• one lesson mapped to several objectives;
• one objective reported as missing; and
• one assessment linked to multiple objectives.

Open the named lesson material. Check whether pupils actually do work that relates to the exact objective. Then check whether the stated evidence of learning could show the required depth. A worksheet title, slide heading or teacher explanation alone is not enough.

Ask for an evidence audit after your sample check:

For every objective marked covered, classify the source evidence as `explicit activity`, `practice task`, `assessment evidence`, or `inferred only`. List all `inferred only` entries for department review. Do not change the map.

5. Produce the department review version

Keep the original working map. Make a second version for the meeting with only the information colleagues need to decide.

Include:

• the term sequence and unit boundaries;
• objective IDs and short wording;
• coverage status for each objective;
• assessment points and the objectives they sample;
• a short list of decisions needed; and
• a change log showing what moved, was added or was removed.

Send colleagues the map with three specific review questions: Which required objective is still unsupported? Which repeated objective is deliberate? Which assessment asks for learning pupils have not had time to practise?

This keeps the meeting on curriculum decisions rather than on the appearance of the table.

When the process does not work

If the output groups objectives too broadly, shorten the batch and provide the objective register first. If it invents coverage, require lesson titles and quoted evidence for every match. If the map is too long to review, collapse it to one row per sequence, then retain the lesson-level working map as an appendix.

If colleagues disagree about an objective match, do not resolve it by rewriting the label. Mark it REVIEW, name the lesson material to inspect, and agree the department's evidence threshold. Run the same source pack again only after you have corrected the inputs or map rules.