Thank God for the Growth Mindset...
First, shout out to my AMAZING Cooperating teacher. Mrs. Barzydlo. She sent me over her unit plan template, helped me identify unit goals she trying to cover in the first unit, and gave me guidance on two great summative assessments for the unit.
Building the Unit Plan
- Unit goals are easy to identify, lesson objectives to help scaffold students up to those big picture goals.
- Summative assessments can be challenging to write to reflect the level of thinking you taught your students on.
- It is rewarding to have a grand-plan to follow when visualizing how one lesson flows into the next.
Peer Feedback
- Its always interesting to see how others minds work, for me I'm analytical in nature and prefer listed items. For my peers, color, headings, and paragraphs work better for chunking information.
- There are many ways to accomplish the same task, methods of teaching and how a unit flow together are very dependent on the teacher's and students' styles.
- Your peers always have your back with grammar, spelling, and checklist items!
Comment below:
- What challenges you the most when writing a unit?
- How do you approach and overcome that challenge?
I always enjoyed that same level of "grand planning" from the lesson to unit level as I did from the unit to semster/year level. Working off of a plan where you can see how all the puzzle pieces fit together helps immensely while you are in the trenches, and when you have to be reminded of where you are going!
ReplyDeleteIt is not only helpful for you as an educator to understand how the individual lessons of a unit fit/flow together, but equally or more important for your students to understand how what they did yesterday relates to today, and how what they're doing today relates to tomorrow. Unfortunately, our educational system is designed to "silo" subjects, and compartmentalize learning into daily chunks. Students often view learning as "what do I have to get done today to make Mr./Mrs./Ms. Whoever happy?" versus "how is what I'm doing today related to everything else I already know?" The unit plan should have those connections designed in it.
ReplyDeleteI plan to combat "Silo" subjects by utilizing my bell Ringer to refresh yesterday and cognitively connecting information at the end to what to look forward for tomorrow!
DeleteFor me, the most challenging part is trying to plan in a short time all of the good things I want to do during the Unit. My keys to overcoming this are to first remember that it is a PLAN and I can absolutely change it and add to it as I go. Also, I include a reflection area on my plans and print them out to be written on so I can adjust more permanently for the future.
ReplyDeleteI definitely need to consciously remember that plans are subject to change a flexibility. Yes, I would love to get all the work done, but my students come before my plan.
DeleteWell done! I find having my unit plans are extremely helpful but that is always something that comes up that I have to be flexible with. If this happens I note in my unit plans other "paths" I can take to get to the end goals.
ReplyDelete