Unit/Lesson Planning 101

1. Unit/Lesson Planning 101

2. What is a unit plan? • A series of lessons generally related to a theme or having a common thread.

3. What is a lesson plan? • An outline or guide to help the teacher structure the learning experience.

4. Developing a unit and lesson plans • Start with the goals or objectives – what do you want the students to learn? • In North Carolina the Standard Course of Study (NC SCOS)specifies the goals and objectives for each grade and subject. • Visit LEARNNC for the NC SCOS • http://www.learnnc.org/

5. Developing a unit and lesson plans • Next outline the activities you will use • Consider the following as you are writing your activities • What do students already know? • How long do I have for the lesson? • What approach(es) might be best to use e.g. will students work alone, in groups, whole class?

6. Developing a unit and lesson plans • Determine/find resources you can use to teach the lesson. • Decide how you will assess the student’s learning – did the students learn what you wanted them to learn? • Formal (e.g. a test, a product) • Informal (e.g. discussion with students) • Link to a presentation on assessment • Note – this was a workshop I presented at the Florida Educational Technology Conference. You may find some of the information helpful.

7. Examples & Additional Resources • LEARNC has a database of unit and lesson plans correlated to the NC SCOS • http://www.learnnc.org/ • The Educator’s Reference desk provides an overview and resources for lesson planning • http://www.eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Guide.shtml

8. Examples & Additional Resources • Thinkfinity (formerly Marco Polo) provides lesson plans and educational resources, many that align to national educational organization standards • http://www.marcopolo-education.org/

9. Another approach …. • …. suggested by Wiggins and McTighe in Understanding by Design is backwards design. • Indentify results • Determine assessments • Design activities • Check it out from the ASU library