Rigorous unit development

1. Rigorous unit development CardinalCSD, Iowa Gail B. Wortmann November 14, 2011

2. Celebrating Generational Divides • Remember your grad group 0-9 (mine is 1970-1979) • During the decade you graduated from High School, what were the: • Trends • Fads • Values • Heroes • Taboos What does this say about what we value and how we operate?

3. Decades Discussion • Changes in your lifetime. • Changes in students’ lifetime. • Beloit College http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2015/ • Gap: current college seniors/high school freshman.

4. Today’s Agenda • Examples of forward-thinking, rigorous units • 21st Century Unit Development Framework • Rigor/Relevance Framework • Grown-up Thematics • Scenario Development • http://edvance21-support-wiki.wikispaces.com/Cardinal+Nov.+2011 OR Google Docs

5. Iowa Core and Teacher Effectiveness • History of Iowa Core to Iowa Core Curriculum • Added START Characteristics of Effective Instruction • S • T • A • R • T

6. Iowa Core and Teacher Effectiveness • History of Iowa Core to Iowa Core Curriculum • Added START Characteristics of Effective Instruction • Student-Centered Classrooms • Teaching for Understanding • Assessment for Learning • Rigorous and Relevant Curriculum • Teaching for Learner Differences

7. Mosquito Ringtone • Young people using ringtone • Test frequencies • Does it work for mosquitoes? • If it works for mosquitoes, does it work for young people? • Application of apps in schools for problem solving • 21st Century context • If you make it relevant problem solving, rigor will come with it

8. Use of Smartphone Apps • Angry Birds – physics • QR Codes (scavenger hunts, assignments, etc.) • Camera as note-taker; kids texting evidence • Google Sky • Musical Lite • iTuned You Out – Decibel • Others? • TTYP

9. Don’t forget: You can copy-paste this slide into other presentations, and move or resize the poll. If you are not already there, you need to move to Collaboration and problem solving. (Use 1:1 for H.O.T.S)

10. “Think” Experiments • Don’t let lowest common denominator limit you • Next Generation Standards • Argue from evidence • Engineering – solutions, not just conclusions

11. Paleobiology • Example of rigorous unit development

17. In the Context of 21st Century Skills • Civic literacy • Financial literacy • Health literacy • Employability skills (individual and team evaluation rubrics) • Technology literacy • Using Google Docs!

20. 21st Century Unit Framework • Can’t do one-by-one, must interweave • Adjust it for your own purposes (small groups?) • Google Docs and share/collaborate

21. Grown-up Thematics • Overarching concept • Teleinterns • Refer to Unit Checklist • Use lesson plans you already have • Problem to solve on student’s agenda

22. Problem • Teacher poses the problem • Students do the work • Answers/solutions are found/developed by the students (they must investigate, not just research and report – solution cannot be “found”) • It is not about right/wrong; It is about the best defensible answer (arguing from evidence) • Rubrics to assess

23. Scenario Examples • Patients, Chemical Consulting Company; Sneezing School • Hiring a writer for a newspaper column – find a columnist to follow, determine what is good about the column, emulate that person, write movie reviews – research good movie review writers. Convince people to go and not to go. Write dialogue, finishing a story. • Math Mall Rats • Global citizenship with videographer

24. More Examples • Dancing Cell Phone • iTuned You Out • BFF Moms • Sneezing School • Cell Phone Remote Control

25. Skeletal Unit • Go carefully through unit, note things on the Unit checklist

26. Growth of a Scenario • Theme that ties your course together? • Possible problem-solving options? • Already using the concept? Expand… • Something in your community • Base it on something you know • Experience you’ve had • People or other organisms you know ? Benchmark Possible problem Relevant idea

27. Conception of Scenario • Skeletal unit problem: osteoporosis • Web articles on osteoporosis • Found data for making diagnosis • Found groups with more osteoporosis • Chose related group without data available (ill-structured) • Multicultural: Tony Hillerman novels, Ship Rock, NM • Invented Elsu Featherstone • Baby-naming websites • Position problem introduction at the beginning

28. Evolution of Scenario • Navajo context • Found barriers to treating the Navajo • Found contributing factors for osteoporosis • Created patient • Necessary data to be revealed • Problem to be solved on student’s level • Wove regular labs into the scenario

29. Examples of Scenarios • Embedded scenarios in Iowa Learning Online Anatomy course • Colonel Weismann • Corrupted data • School nurse • TTYN: Ideas?

30. A, B, C, Not Yet Rubric Scoring Rubric for Projects

31. Share student comments about Elsu • I really like how we used what we learned to help Elsu. It made learning the info easier to do and understand. In this unit I was good about reading the websites because they helped me help Elsu. • I loved doing the Elsu scenario because it not only gave me a lot more insight about how osteoporosis is developed and treatments for it, but it reminded me how important calcium is to a daily diet. • I learned a lot about the Navajo Nation and racial statistics of those with osteoporosis.  • I really enjoyed learning about Elsu's problems, and making a diagnosis. I especially liked writing the paper explaining what she needed to do and why it was important.

32. Share student comments about Elsu • I really like how we used what we learned to help Elsu. It made learning the info easier to do and understand. In this unit I was good about reading the websites because they helped me help Elsu. • I loved doing the Elsu scenario because it not only gave me a lot more insight about how osteoporosis is developed and treatments for it, but it reminded me how important calcium is to a daily diet. • I learned a lot about the Navajo Nation and racial statistics of those with osteoporosis.  • I really enjoyed learning about Elsu's problems, and making a diagnosis. I especially liked writing the paper explaining what she needed to do and why it was important.

33. Generate Ideas! • Come up with next or near unit • Come up with overarching concept to tie it to

34. Thanks for your kind attention! Go Forth and Assess!

35. Contacts Gail B. Wortmann Iowa Learning Online Great Prairie Area Education Agency 2814 N. Court Ottumwa, IA 641-682-8591 ext. 5233 gwortmann@iowalearningonline.org gail.wortmann@gpaea.org