6-8 Social Studies Please sign in and sit with your grade level.

Unit Plan Template Time/Event Standards & Objectives *establishes cognitive level; RBT verb Generalizations and their Guiding/Essential Questions Vocabulary *Academic Vocabulary * Tier 2 and Tier 3 Assessment *same cognitive level as standard; RBT verb *performance Instructional Strategies *same cognitive level as standard; RBT verb *learn from what they read *close reading *text-dependent answers Technology *research *products *performance *integrated Student Tasks *same cognitive level as standard; RBT verb *writing from sources *staircase of complexity * learn from reading Teacher Student

Column 1: Time/Event This should include enough specificity that a new teacher coming into our district will know what content we think is essential. This is not supposed to be an exhaustive list; it is the required minimum.

Column 2: Standards and Objectives This should include the standards and clarifying objectives across all applicable strands. The RBT verbs from the objectives must be included and carried through the assessments, tasks, and instruction in this unit (alignment).

Column 3: Generalizations and Their Guiding/Essential Questions These guide instruction and describe what students should be able to understand by the end of the unit. These integrate concepts and the information that supports the concepts.

Sample Generalization: The methods of an motivations for exploration and conquest can result in increased global interactions, differing patterns of trade, colonization, and conflict among nations. Sample Guiding/Essential Questions:  What were the reasons for exploration by Portugal, Spain, France, and Britain?  Do the benefits of exploration and expansion justify the conquest of weaker nations or civilizations?  What was the interaction like between the European and the natives of lands for which the Europeans sought to explore?  What positive/negative outcomes resulted from European exploration?  Why do conflicts arise when nations interact?

Column 4: Vocabulary Tier 2-This vocabulary is the sophisticated vocabulary that is “likely to appear frequently in a wide variety of texts and in the written and oral language of mature language users.” (Beck) Tier 3-These words are usually rare and unknown to students but they are often specific to a particular content.

Columns 5-8: Assessment, Instructional Strategies, Technology, and Student Tasks These should be cognitively aligned with standards through RBT verb. These should include the essential requirements of the NCES. Students should learn from what they read. Design a focus on text-dependent questions/answers. Regularly incorporate “close readings” of worthy texts. Focus on rigorous and relevant performance texts, tasks, and assessments. These should include the content area literacy shifts. Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary

A B D C Teacher Works StudentThinks Student Thinks and Works StudentWorks High Low Rigor Relevance Framework Teacher/Student Roles RELEVANCE International Center for Leadership in Education

The Four Basic Categories of Assessment Methods That Are Generally Used In The Classroom  Selected Response  Extended Written Response  Performance Assessment  Personal Communication

When you return to the whole group at the end of the day, come with a list of content-specific documents that you consider to be worthy of a close reading. These are usually primary source documents that are rich enough to be read and reread, considered slowly, and contain a depth of information. These documents do not have to be long, nor does an entire document have to be “read closely.” You can select paragraphs, passages, or even sentences of worthwhile texts. Consider a variety of texts for each unit.

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