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A lot of the time, I think of curriculum as the resources or books that have been bought for me to use when teaching. As I did a little more reflecting and digging, I realized curriculum is more than that. It can be the textbook I am using or what I am teaching in the classroom. It can be distributed by a major publisher, created by the district or it can be created by a teacher based on the needs they see in their classroom. Each lesson I plan is a part of the curriculum I am using in my classroom to help teach my students. I think an essential learning outcome is what I want the students to be able to do at the end of the lesson, unit or year. The essential learning outcomes are what drive or guide my instruction. 
When I first started at Pike Lake they described curriculum as the resources that we are given to help guide our instruction.Over the last few years, they have gone more towards requiring us to use the curriculum provided exactly as it is laid out in the curriculum.  For example, the school recently purchased the Reading Units of Study by Lucy Caulkins for us to use when we teach reading. They expect all teachers in our building to complete the lessons and use this resource as we teach reading. Pike Lake would describe learning goals as the “I can” statements for each lesson which is what we want them to be able to do at the end of each lesson. We have learning goals at the end of larger units as well to see if they were able to use what we taught in the entire unit. 

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By definition, curriculum is the subjects taught in a school. I find that to be very broad. To me, curriculum involves the resources I use to teach the lessons and content my students are intended to learn. That’s where essential learning outcomes are fostered. An essential learning outcome is the goal in which you want your students to accomplish: count to 30, ask and answer questions, summarize a story, etc. Before implementing curriculum, learning outcomes should be planned to coincide with the curriculum. What do we want students to be able to do and how can we use the curriculum to achieve those goals? As I was starting at Pike Lake (3 years ago), there was a lot of freedom and choice in which curriculum to use and implement, which was really difficult for a new teacher. Since then, we have gained many new resources to use as our curriculum. Pike Lake uses language such as “fixed” vs “flexed” to describe which resources HAVE to be used and taught vs which resources CAN be used and taught. We have recently purchased EM4 (Everyday Math) and Lucy Calkins Units of Study (reading, writing, and now this year, phonics) which are resources for us to teach math and literacy. EM4 and the reading Units of Study are officially fixed, meaning each K teacher in the building should be using these resources to teach math and reading. We have done a lot of work unpacking the EM4 and Units of Study curriculum and creating learning targets, which are the “I can” statements derived from kindergarten standards: I can retell the story elements in a story, I can put numbers together and take numbers apart, etc.

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Curriculum encompasses any and all materials used during instruction. An essential learning outcome is something that students must know and understand in order to move forward in their learning.

Our school uses PLTs to focus on what our school refers to as essential standards throughout the year. With QComp each grade level in each PLT creates two learning goals for the year based on that group’s MCAs and STAR tests from the previous year and the fall STAR test. These learning goals are focused on areas and concepts that many students need additional help in. Our school utilized state funding for QComp that grants each teacher a bonus if they meet their learning objective for the specific goals. Beyond that, our administration has a hands-off approach and we teach using the Minnesota Academic Standards. They don’t create additional essential goals for us or dictate specifics on what or how we teach.

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When I think of curriculum, I define it as the materials and resources required to teach content. This includes all the lessons and assessments. I tried to do some research around the topic and an article I read in Edutopia defines curriculum as, the method used to  establish and identify the path to achieve learning. Curriculum therefore works hand in hand with standards, as standards define the learning goals, and curriculum sets the path to achieve that learning.

I think an essential learning outcome is the important takeaways you want to leave with all the students. When I write learning outcomes I will break it down sometimes. All students will be expected to have attained a specific learning goal. Most students might achieve more, and some might go beyond that learning to apply some higher thinking.

My school is a STEM school, therefore the language used to describe curriculum and learning goals is always centered around hand on learning. We use curriculum that contain activities which provide students with opportunities to learn by performing certain tasks. There is also a push in collaborating with other teachers in project based learning.

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Curriculum has many definitions.  Webster defines curriculum as "the courses offered by an institution."  Edglossary.com goes further by describing curriculum as "the specific learning standards, lessons, assignments, and materials used to organize and teach a particular course."  I think of curriculum as a resource or resources teachers use to help guide their instruction and classroom set-up and to aid in reaching goals.  Some of those resources are purchased by the school district, some are created by staff and some are discovered and/or created by teachers who are looking to fill gaps or supplement other resources.  Some of the resources simply provide the "what" - or tell what to teach. Others also give information on "how" and/or "why"....
A learning outcome is like a goal.  When planning units and lessons, what do I want the learners to be able to do or know?  For those who know it and can do it, then what?Many times these are similar to standards, but sometimes I feel they can go beyond just the specific standard or benchmark - what depth of knowledge am I striving for, what kind of transfer or meaning do I want my students to take with them?
In my district, teachers write personal learning goals and student learning goals for the year. This happens right away in the fall. We choose a specific area, subject, method, outcome, etc. that we want to personally improve as teachers. For our students, we choose again a specific subject, learning strategy, assessment, etc. for the class to improve upon from fall to spring, and it needs to be measurable. Aside from those two goals written for accountability purposes, we have the "read by third grade" school-wide campaign and a strong push for literacy, so grade level teams frequently meet and discuss ways to best implement the curriculum to reach this goal. We also have a Literacy committee that meets each trimester to come up with activities to work on as a whole school in an effort to promote literacy. On our district website, I have read a little bit about how our Curriculum and Instruction committee uses the Understanding by Design framework for designing units, but I am not currently on this committee and I haven't really heard much about it - I will be curious to learn more about this!

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Curriculum to me has been used by saying “these are the topics that we are going to teach during this course.”  In the area of physical education when I started teaching, at the high school,I was given the program of studies and instructed to look at the courses that I would be teaching.  This was my introduction to curriculum.  I was also given previously used syllabi that were used to get a feel for what was to be covered.  From this point forward I was on my own to create the curriculum.  Putting together all of the materials that I would use to make sure that everything was covered that had always been covered.  Essentially I was able to create my own learning outcomes.  Fortunately along the way the state of Minnesota completed the standards for Physical Education and our PE staff began cross-checking it with what we had for essential learning outcomes.  Some adjustments were made to begin to address some of the standards.  We are currently in the process of official curriculum review so I would anticipate some more adjustments.  The addition of these state standards was a very needed resource to be able to bring some clarity to our curriculum.  I am finding out now that this whole process that we have been through was a bit backwards in development.

Our high school uses Professional Learning Communities (PLC) to share ideas with one another regarding learning goals and objectives and the different ways that we can present material.  Working with colleagues has been enormously helpful.  Our district also has begun to use QComp to develop personal, building and district goals that all factor into the addition of some essential learning outcomes.  Sometimes the sure number of goals to try and accomplish can get a bit overwhelming.  However having some end goal in mind has been helpful in creating the best path for our students and ultimately the best possible curriculum to use.