Unit Planning EDUC 4444 J/I Methods

The Four Essential Questions  What shall we teach?  How shall we teach?  How can we organize it?  How can we assess? Regardless of the type of planning, long range, unit planning or lesson planning, there are always four questions that need to be considered.

Unit Planning Provides: Continuity of instruction Efficient use of time Teachers keeping in mind the needs of their students An adherence to local/provincial curricular guidelines A schedule for resources such as library and computer labs Possible links across disciplines

Unit Planning Is the intermediate step between long- term and the process of constructing specific lesson plans. A unit can last anywhere from a week or two to a month or more depending on the topic and the age of the students.

Unit planning (cont.) Teachers must reflect and consider students’ progress toward achieving objectives, the availability of materials, the time requirements of particular activities, etc.

Required teaching skills Observing student behaviour Diagnosing student needs Setting goals and objectives Sequencing goals and objectives Determining appropriate learning activities related to the objectives

Ralph Tyler shortens the above four questions to three which are described below.

Steps in Unit Planning 1. Define the Purpose What do I hope my students will learn by the end of this strand/theme/unit? Begin to consider the culminating task, subtasks and the prior knowledge required. Begin to think about the initial assessment to determine student readiness for the uni

Steps in Unit Planning 2. Choose the overall expectations for the strand/strands you want to address. 3. Choose the specific expectations for the strand/strands you want to address.

Steps in Unit Planning 4. Cluster the expectations using common words or concepts and you will begin to see the Essential Understandings / Big Ideas. These are the enduring concepts, skills, applications and/or connections that follow throughout the learning continuum (e.g., conservation, care of the environment/living things, map and globe skills, etc.)

Steps in Unit Planning 5. Map these clusters onto the Achievement Chart to address the categories Knowledge and Understanding Thinking Communication Application

Steps in Unit Planning 6. Determine meaningful connections to other subject areas/expectations…Integration 7. Design a culminating activity and scoring rubric and/or checklist to accompany the culminating task

Steps in Unit Planning 8. Backwards Design from the culminating activity into sequential subtasks. What do the students need to know or be able to do in order to complete the culminating activity? 9. Create varied teaching/learning strategies where students are provided with opportunities to demonstrate their knowledge/skills independently and cooperatively.

Steps in Unit Planning 10. Incorporate remediation, accommodations and extensions as required. How will you meet the needs of all students? 11. Develop a range of assessment strategies, rubrics, checklists, tests, etc. to ensure that students are assessed for grade level expectations rather than by generic evaluation of their progress.

Steps in Unit Planning 12. Gather, order and prepare teaching/learning resources and materials for the subtasks and culminating tasks.

Unit Title

Rationale for the unit

Content outline Breaks the general topic down into more specific and teachable subtopics When introducing unit – teacher can provide outline as a type of advance organizer to help students understand where the unit is going and how the ideas are connected

Example – Outline of a Plant unit content Plants Parts of a plantSeeds Root Stem Leaves Flower Where they Sprouting come from Propagation MoistureWarm Seeds Roots CuttingFactors needed to grow soil water sunlight

Outline of a dairy production unit content 1. History 2. Nutritional composition of milk A) fats, proteins B) vitamins C) minerals 3. Variety of milk products A) Milk 1. Whole 2. Skim 3. Cream 4. Half-and-half 3. Buttermilk

Outline of a dairy production unit content (cont.) (Milk products continued) B) Butter C) Yogurt D) Cheese E) Sour cream F) Ice cream 5. Storage and care of milk products 6. Uses of milk in menu planning

Integrating Instructional Units (Specific Lesson Plans) Combining disciplines Identifying themes Exploring issues

Combining disciplines Explore possible connections in another discipline ex.: unit on graphing – look to science or social studies for topics that could be counted, measured, and graphed Often referred as interdisciplinary – connections are established between subjects or disciplines even though they clearly maintain their separate bases

Identifying themes Integrate your planning around themes. Children’s common interests at a particular grade level provide one source of themes. Ex.: Lower elementary – holidays, their communities, dinosaurs Jr./Intermediate – changing bodies, interpersonal relationships, health issues – drugs, smoking, alcohol

Exploring issues Use of issues or problems As students study pollution, hunger and poverty, teachers can encourage them to use different disciplines to understand the issues and propose solutions posed by the issues. Caution – very demanding, requires a thorough understanding of the content, learners, and goals