Unit Design

1. Unit Design A Teacher’s Perspective on How to Plan a Unit of Study Presented by Dana Maloney Princeton U. Nov. 13, 2012

2. First Considerations • What do you want students: • To know ? • To do? • To understand? • In other words, you consider: • Content (knowledge) • Skills • Understandings

4. Also: • (vertical) articulation across grade levels (what do students already know/what can they do/what do they understand, and how can you build upon those?) • Some districts have done mapping so that exact learning prior to and after your course are clear • Existing curriculum (and horizontal articulation)

5. Implementing the Unit • Anticipatory Set – pre-reading questions/ pre-test: generating interest in and excitement for the unit

8. Teaching for Transfer • You want to teach for transfer: When students leave unit, they will be able to apply knowledge, skills and understandings to new contexts • You also want to assess for transfer – particularly via your unit-end assessment – the summative assessment(s)

9. Backwards by Design (UbD) • You plan your unit based on what you want students to know/do/understand by end of unit – and assessment at the end of the unit • = summative assessment: assessment at end of unit that will allow students to transfer all of their learning from the unit

10. Essential Question • Student learning is driven by an ESSENTIAL QUESTION – a question to which there is no one single answer – one that will allow students to answer in many ways and one which will allow students to demonstrate their learning: For example: • How do Classical epic poems “speak to” the contemporary reader? • What does a Classical epic poem help us understand about universal questions of life? • What is a hero? • What is an epic poem?

11. Essential Question (cont’d) • Question should FUEL learning • Question should embrace content, skills and understandings; should not be too narrow. • Question will challenge students to engage in critical thinking. • Question is present throughout unit; it attracts learning. • At end of unit (summative assessment) students will have opportunity to transfer learning .

12. Critical Thinking • Is essential and is embedded across many skills, including reading, writing; you want to see critical thinking in all • Keep Bloom’s Taxonomy in mind: I always ask if and how I am asking students to reach the highest levels of critical thinking

13. Bloom’s Taxonomy

15. Assessments • Formative Assessments: Smaller assessments (during course of unit); allow you to see how/what students are learning; you can then use this data as you continue the unit (data-driven instruction) • Summative Assessments: Large assessment at the end of the unit; you want to assess for transfer: create a way for students to show their knowledge, skills and understandings

16. 21st Century Skills (Partnership for 21st Century Skills) 1. Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes Mastery of core subjects and 21st century themes is essential for students in the 21st century. Core subjects include: • English, reading or language arts • World languages • Arts • Mathematics • Economics • Science • Geography • History • Government and Civics

17. In addition to these subjects, we believe schools must move beyond a focus on basic competency in core subjects to promoting understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects: Global awareness Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy Civic literacy Health literacy Environmental literacy

18. 2. Learning and Innovation Skills • Creativity and Innovation • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving • Communication and Collaboration 3. Information, Media and Technology Skills • Information Literacy • Media Literacy • ICT Literacy 4. Life and Career Skills

19. Core Content State Standards(www.corestandards.org) • Reading • Writing • Speaking and Listening • Language • (Also Technology and Research)

20. Reading: 4 topics, 10 anchor standards • Key Ideas and Details • Craft and Structure • Integration of Knowledge and Ideas • Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

21. Writing: 4 categories, 10 anchor standards • Text Types and Purposes* • Production and Distribution of Writing • Research to Build and Present Knowledge • Range of Writing • *These broad types of writing include many subgenres. See Appendix A for definitions of key writing types.

22. Speaking and Listening: 2 categories, 6 anchor standards • Comprehension and Collaboration • Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

23. Language: 3 categories, 6 anchor standards • Conventions of Standard English • Knowledge of Language • Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

24. Other Considerations as You Plan Your Unit • How can you plan for differentiation: How can you allow for students with different learning needs/abilities to succeed. • What scaffolding can you/will you provide to help students in the learning process? • (Related: You need to know and plan with the IEPs of your classified students.)

25. Additional Considerations • Meaning • Motivation (interest, engagement, ownership, agency) • Social responsibility • Social and Emotional Learning • 21st century skills • District/school mission statement/ goals • (teacher research) • Inquiry-based learning • Project-based learning (PBL)

26. Summative Assessment • Timed assessment • Close reading of a passage • Extended assessment • Independent reading of a section of the text through lens of an inquiry question; generating an answer with close reading and preparing a presentation; also reading a “creative and critical thinking project” that reflects response to inquiry question

27. To get there • Build reading skills; provide scaffolding with goal of independent reading of text • Formative assessments: knowledge of characters and terms, reading of passages and response to mult-choice and short-answer questions • Instruction based on assessments

28. Homework and classwork are also forms of assessment – and parts of the learning process; also = instructional scaffolding • See hand-outs from sample unit

29. Fusion Page • www.wikidysseus.pbworks.com • Also Edmodo (blogs and digital projects) • Joelle • Joo Sang

30. Grading • Genesis (electronic gradebook) • Also: www.turnitin.com – and purposes

31. Inquiry-Based and Real-World Learning – other contexts • Senior Project = a framework across the entire year (with units along the way) • MSG video

32. Ideas and Products • From Inquiry Fairs • Sample inquiry/action slide show (Lianna) • Sample term paper

35. Some thoughts: teaching differentlyteaching for the 21st century Motivating students

36. Teaching the Book • Exploring themes • Showing students • Teacher owns the questions • Teacher owns the answers • This is analogous to “teaching content” in other subject areas.

37. What can we do instead • Allow students to ask the questions; to own the exploration and the meaning(s) • Serve as facilitator • Create scaffolding that allows students to interact with texts in ways that allow them to discover meanings of personal value to themselves • Allow students to make connections between the text and other disciplines • Create strong curriculum

38. Why should we move beyond • student engagement • Increase motivation • Deepen meaning for students • Build bridges between ELA classroom and other disciplines • Build bridges to the outside world • Build bridges to the student’s future • 21st century orientation

39. How do we move beyond? • How can we allow students to own meaning? To engage in inquiry-based reading and learning?

40. To student-directed • Inquiry projects

41. Questions?