ABOUT THE CURRICULUM
What is a Curriculum?
For Emerald Hunters, the curriculum is the complete sequence of lessons, skills, and exercises students will take when learning a skill or topic. In this case, our curriculum defines the exact concepts and moves for each level of dressage.
This curriculum is laid out from the very beginning, and all the way up to our highest levels. It is designed for a rider with no dressage experience, but it is also used for starting off our trial members since our method is so comprehensive. Instructors should use this curriculum as a guideline for their lesson planning and reference it as a sequence of instruction and so that riders can progress in a logical order.
Why are Curriculums Helpful?
Having a curriculum clearly maps out the order in which moves and concepts will be taught. The curriculum maps out a clear beginning, middle, and end of dressage instruction, meaning that the knowledge builds off of itself. It is designed to guide instructors to choose which lesson is appropriate for any rider. Additionally, it allows the instructors to plan lessons in a logical sequence of growing skill, so that riders can progress in a timely manner and that riders of the same skill level can advance to the next level around the same time.
How to Use the Curriculum – for instructors
Most lessons will have a “Theory” and “Moves” portion. Any concepts and moves that are not covered in the current lesson should be transferred over to the next lesson. Each lesson is the ideal layout; ideally, you will cover all of these topics laid out in the lesson. Also note that this curriculum does NOT fully outline the scaffolding required of lessons. Instructors should use the curriculum to create their own lesson plans and include their own teaching strategies, exercises, and games. In a perfect setting, it would take approximately 3 weeks to complete each level, then an additional week for Exit Testing (2 lessons per week, for 3 total weeks). Finally, the curriculum found on our website does not include definitions. Definitions for moves can be found in our dictionary, but definitions for theory concepts would be covered in our lessons.
How We Schedule The Curriculum
This explanation is based on a most ideal structure of hosting curriculum lessons. Our trial periods are designed around this scheduling. Assuming members are consistently active, this schedule works very well.
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There are 2 lessons every week
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There are a total of 6 lessons in each level
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You complete 2 lessons per week, for 3 weeks
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You makeup lessons throughout the month
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The last week of the month = review + test
You can also think of it this way:
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Week 1 = Lesson 1 + 2
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Week 2 = Lesson 3 + 4
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Week 3 = Lesson 5 + 6
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Week 4 = Exit Test Review + Exit Test
Again, this system works best if members are CONSISTENTLY ACTIVE. It works best if members are able to come to lessons when they are scheduled. The lessons aren't necessarily held on Monday and Wednesday; the calendar just represents a total quantity of HOW MANY lessons there are, not WHEN they're scheduled. Scheduling of 2 lessons per week is on a week-by-week basis. Do not wait until the last week of the month to schedule makeups. Members should schedule any makeups as soon as possible.
If a member consistently and promptly commits to this schedule, they will finish the entire curriculum within 4 months.
Drawbacks of the Curriculum
There are some downsides of using this exact method for your club. Read below and carefully consider if this is something you wish to implement:
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Students should be encouraged to make up missed lessons as soon as they possibly can. Although each level of the curriculum will repeat over and over again with new applicant cycles, this means that the student could be waiting for a long time before their missed lesson is scheduled again, IF makeup lessons were not possible.
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Completing this curriculum does not guarantee that you are ranked as Elite in other methods such as SSD, PDM, or SDM.
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If you don't finish a lesson, completing it the next time you see the riders will also push back all other curriculum lessons. Leave plenty of time for questions, discussions, or reteaching/drilling.
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Depending on your scheduling for routines, it can be difficult to keep curriculum cycles on track while working heavily in routine work. This scheduling method can be interpreted as "rigid", difficult for being flexible for other events or routine work
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The curriculum is difficult to achieve with only one instructor. Our curriculum is intended to work with 4 instructors, all teaching their respective level 2x per week. It can work with 2 instructors, but that means each instructor would be teaching 2 levels, 2x per week. If you only have 1 instructor (being yourself), you would only have time to teach 1 lesson per level per week.
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Any instructors you have may lose out on some rider line work that does not necessarily get made up through working on routines. In this method, ideally, your instructors will have completed the entire curriculum.
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If you're creating your own curriculum, ensure balance across the levels. Our curriculum used to have , 6 lessons in Beg., 12 lessons in Intermediate, 5 lessons in Advanced, and 4 lessons in Elite. It was very unbalanced. If a Beginner rider and Intermediate rider were both to start their respective "Lesson 1's" on the exact same day, came to 2x lessons per week, the Beginner rider would finish their curriulum before the Intermediate rider; The existing Inter. rider would be on Inter. Lesson 7 but the beginner rider would be on Inter. Lesson 1. This means we would be hosting two different lessons of Intermediate. We eventually solved this problem by rigidly only having 6 lessons per level.
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Members do not HAVE to learn the curriculum exactly in order, however its structured to be taught that way. Every lesson builds off skills learned in the previous lesson. Students are not necessarily "behind" if they come to Lesson 2 before doing Lesson 1, but they may just have gaps or questions during Lesson 2 that were answered in Lesson 1
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When finishing a cycle, and then having to repeat it again for the next group of students, you may find yourself bored. Having pre-established lesson plans is great, and very helpful from a time management perspective (you don't have to create a brand new lesson plan every time, you just pull out the old one), but you may feel yourself burnout if you continually teach the same level over and over again. So if you have multiple instructors, encourage them to rotate different levels each cycle.
BEGINNER CURRICULUM
Beginner Level Defined
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Move Qualities: Moves that require 1-2 GO commands, simple follow-the-leader formations, basic odds and evens
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Beginner Skills: Riders can perform all of these moves with the proper timing, in the correct direction, and demonstrate a developing understanding of rider responsibility by maintaining gaps, alignments, and recovery techniques
INTERMEDIATE CURRICULUM
Intermediate Level Defined
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Move Qualities: Moves that require 2-4 GO commands, require transitions, more involvement with odds and evens
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Intermediate Skills: Riders will continue to practice and perform Beginner Theory, perform different types of combination moves, create semi-realistic shapes, and practice beginner circle skills. This level prepares riders for routine work.
ELITE CURRICULUM
Elite Level Defined
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Move Qualities: Moves that require 3-5 GO commands, combinations of Intermediate + Advanced moves
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Elite Skills: Riders demonstrate full mastery of all the Theory Dictionaries, can perform each of these moves correctly within 1-4 tries, and can continue to demonstrate professionalism and leadership. Moves will execute many theory skills at once per move
