This text shows teachers how to become curriculum designers rather than curriculum consumers. In response to recent trends, the text explains how to individualize instruction based on students' abilities and interests. The process helps teachers not only fulfill the needs of their students but also to enhance their own job satisfaction by controlling what they teach. The book guides readers through the followng processes of the curriculum: creating a focus, or organizing centre, for the curriculum; transforming the organizing centre into goals and selecting content to support these goals; assessing skills and knowledge in order to determine what students are capable of; making the transition from content goals to clear and meaningful learning objectives; constructing evaluation instruments, developing data collection skills, and using portfolio assessment; designing learning experiences that lead to intended outcomes and accommodate culturally diverse, at-risk and gifted students. The final chapter - a sample curriculum for physical education using a case study approach - illustrates each of the curriculum components and demonstrates how they fit together. To help readers learn to put the principles and concepts into practice, the book features 43 self-directed activities that ask readers to: identify what they know; apply information to practical situations; solve curriculum related problems; and create curriculum components. This edition provides answers to practical implementation questions and chapter opening scenarios that put the material into context.