Renaissance In Italy

1. Renaissance In Italy How the Contributions of the Renaissance Figures Have Influenced our Modern-day Society

2. Main Core Curriculum Focus of the Unit • Social Studies Core Curriculum (for all tasks) • Standard 2 Students will understand the transformation of cultures during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance and the impact of this transformation on modern times. • Objective 4 Explain the importance of the Renaissance as a rebirth of cultural and intellectual pursuits. • Investigate how technological and scientific developments of the time promoted literacy and the exchange of ideas that continue to this day (e.g. moveable type, telescope, microscope).  • Identify leading Renaissance artists and thinkers and their contributions to visual arts, writing, music, and architecture (e.g. Machiavelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Palestrina, Shakespeare, Tallis). 

3. Unit Overview • The unit began with an inventory to assess prior knowledge.

4. Examples of Tasks to Improve Historical Knowledge • Reading comprehension lessons to enhance knowledge base and review importance of informational texts • Note taking from historical videos

5. Podcasts

6. Podcast Story Board

7. Additional Unit Tasks and Final Assessment • Students will create life-sized art replicas of their Renaissance figure • Mini Assembly to present Life-Sizers and podcast to the parents • Final assessment will be a graphic organizer where students have to place the historical figure under the appropriate heading based on their peers presentations of their podcast.

8. Graphic Organizer

9. ADDIE Pros • Using ADDIE made me take a deeper look at my learners strengths and weaknesses by compiling data during the Analysis. • I thoroughly examined the core curriculum when planning my unit and used it to formulate strong, data-driven objectives. • The core also helped me to plan meaningful lessons in the Design and Development stages that better fit the needs of my learners. • Scaffolding my lessons in the Development phase forced me to ensure that all lessons had a beginning and a closure. The three different levels of feedback ensured that proper modeling and student practice took placing in the execution of the unit. • Finally, the Implementation phase allowed for proper reflection and future adjustments to the lessons and classroom environment to ensure improvements in teaching it in the future.

10. ADDIE Cons and Future Uses • I felt there was a little repetition in the Design and Development phases in the stating of the objectives. • Even though, I appreciated the thoroughness of the planning, it was very time consuming and not feasible to use with all units, given what little planning time elementary teachers have. • In the future, I would use it again. Because of the amount of work to use it effectively, I would be very choosy on which units to use its application.

11. Evaluation • While creating the unit, I was able to evaluate what would best meet my learners’ needs based on the initial analysis. • The pre inventory gave me feedback to see prior knowledge gained as a result of implementation. • The Implementation of parts of the unit allowed for the necessary revisions of future lessons to be taught. Improvements were made in the predicted pacing, structure and levels of feedback. • As I delve more into the implementation of the unit, I am sure the new assessment tools created, like the rubrics will give me a more well-rounded view of my learners’ success. • The post inventory will give me feedback to see the knowledge gained as a result of implementation. • I am looking forward to the final culminating activity of a mini assembly to see the fruits of my labor!