Seeing the Bigger Curriculum Picture

It's been quite the whirlwind getting acquainted with my new position.  One of my main roles this year is helping our ELA, Math, and Science teachers align their curricula to the Common Core as well as give them strategies for classroom implementation.  Workshops are held during each month for meetings with each of those content areas, and I prepare the resources and activities for that time.  I usually do this in a learning playlist tool of some kind; below are some Science & Math examples.
Create your own Playlist on MentorMob! ELA and Math worked on unpacking the standards and aligning their curricula last year under the guidance of another professional development professional, and this year they are finishing any remaining alignment and working on the first stages of mapping curricula in a UbD framework.  While this does mean a lot of data entry at first, the end result will be a K-12 curriculum that will be accessible to all in the district via a curriculum mapping software, and it will be in a common format with which everyone is familiar.  From that point, groups can begin to have discussions about revising and refining their curriculum through the software itself, and can see how well the spiral of skills is being maintained, implemented, and assessed across all grade levels.  
The challenge right now is getting beyond the specifics of filling in the UbD framework and see that larger vision of a cohesive, dynamic, and interactive curriculum.  There was a lot of time and effort spent last year rewriting curricula in various formats per content area that are excellent for use in the classroom and guiding groups of teachers teaching the same course or grade level; however, all of those different formats will not serve to bring the curriculum together in a way that everyone in the district can understand and use in a meaningful way.  Also, the UbD framework forces reflection concerning what is taught and why it is taught, looking at the curriculum from a vastly different angle.  This can be very uncomfortable for people, and can cause some frustration.  
I am sympathetic to the struggle; I've been through the mapping process as a teacher, and the last thing I want to cause or see is frustration over this.  However, I don't believe you ever grow in your own teaching practice if you don't ever examine and reflect upon what you're doing in the classroom and why you're doing it.  And with the increasingly ambitious skills students are required to have under the Common Core, teachers are going to have to get out of their comfort zones at times and take risks in the classroom by trying new things or modifying and updating what they already have students doing in regards to their learning. Those types of changes only come after some reflection has taken place.
But we also need to look outside of the four walls of a classroom and see the bigger curriculum picture, because the skill progressions in the Common Core require it.  While each grade or course may be very aware of their piece of the puzzle, it is necessary to see the other curricular pieces and how they fit together in order to really serve students and their learning well.  And, like I've said before, the UbD mapping is just a starting point for a valuable professional process--a place where good conversations, discussions, and decisions about curriculum and student learning begin.