UNIT PLANNING

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Similar to Long-Term Planning, Unit Planning is grounded in course standards and benchmarks. Once a course has been fleshed out into more manageable portions, unit plans are a a structured set of benchmarks that are built out backwards beginning with essential questions and summative assessments. Once it has been determined what students need to learn following each unit, "big ideas," formative assessments and daily benchmarks are created to bring the vision to life. Furthermore, specific activities and unit-based resources can be considered at this juncture of planning. When unit planning I am always sure to consider student investment levels, interests and growth goals for the course to  make sure that I am maximizing their productivity in the class. As is true during long-term planning, it is critical to build out units in a logical sequence that allows for content to build upon itself and contribute to succeeding benchmarks. Furthermore it is critical that unit planning is also informed by my teaching philosophy and classroom vision by infusing socially-conscious thinking in addition to a relevant and efficient path to content mastery. In my class I push students to question history and identify bias through an inquiry based curriculum. Furthermore I push to correct misconceptions in student knowledge and promote balanced viewpoints.

 

In the following unit plan on Colonial influences during the American Revolutionary period I intentionally structured select activities to touch on the themes of historical inquiry and socially-conscious thinking. The unit plan below zooms into a long-term planning snapshot and considers enduring understandings as we engage with and progress with essential questions for the unit. This specific unit comes from Topic 2 in my Long-Term Plan pertaining to the Foundations of Government and is scheduled for nine to ten instructional days. The previous unit covered Topic 1 which laid the foundation for Civics instruction and informed students about how government affects their lives. Built upon that foundation, students will now explore the views of Enlightenment Thinkers to answer the unit essential question which asks how Enlightenment Thinkers influenced the American Founding Fathers democratic ideals. Additionally the reporting category for this unit refers to the Origins and Purposes of Government which will appear in the first quartile of the end-of-course exam. The unit is based in content and literacy standards informed by the state of Florida and is then organized into a number of benchmarks. The unit below is based in two content-based standards and three literacy-based standards:

Standards/Goals: 
 

• Standard 1 – Demonstrate an understanding of the origins and purposes of government, law, and the American political system

• Standard 2 – Evaluate the roles, rights, and responsibilities of U. S. Citizens and determine methods of active participation in society, government, and the political systems

 
Supporting/Repeating Standards:

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• LAFS.68.RH.2.6 - Identify aspects of a text that reveal an author’s point of view or purpose (e.g., loaded language, inclusion or avoidance of particular facts).

• LAFS.68.RH.3.9 - Analyze the relationship between a primary and secondary source on the same topic.

• LAFS.68.RH.2.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies.

From this point the unit plan elaborates into essential questions, content vocabulary, skills necessary for success and a plethora of other components such as technology integration, collaborative work, student discourse, situation stations, formative assessments, unit reflections and writing. In this unit, the essential questions and enduring understandings were highlighted in my long-term plan and were built upon in previous lessons. Course themes and vocabulary are carefully listed to ensure alignment with state assessment standards. For example, in this unit key themes were rule of law, popular sovereignty and democracy and key vocabulary were natural law, social contract, Enlightenment among others. Learning activities and assessments are designed to foster group work and collaboration while promoting inquiry and high levels of student investment. The Idi Amin Social Contract case study always goes over well with students because they get to learn about a mysterious dictator whom most of them have never heard of. Students enjoy applying new knowledge to thought-provoking situations and are enthusiastic to demonstrate their learning. 

UNIT PLAN
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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UNIT ASSESSMENTS

In this particular unit, the Colonial Grievances Newspaper article was designed to allow students to engage with one of the British tax acts in order to analyze the perspective of the American colonists during the era. Students worked collaboratively on an assigned act such as the Stamp Act or Townshend Revenue Acts. From this point students were prompted to write their own article for a fictional newspaper in a RAFT format which refers to Role, Audience, Format and Topic. RAFT format puts students into a historical mindstate and allows them to think and write like historians. For this example, students pretended that they were

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UNIT DIFFERENTIATION

Another critical aspect of the unit planning process involves creating a plan for differentiation and special instruction for students with varied needs such as ESE, ESOL or Magnet learning strands. Daily lesson plans spell out the accommodations made for specific learning activities on a daily basis. For this unit question scaffolding, additional resources, additional time, alternative/simplified assignments and specialized grouping were all utilized. Students who struggle with taking notes and compartmentalizing their thoughts via IEP plans were supplied with a graphic organizer for note-taking in this unit that would ensure that they took away all of the mandatory key points for this unit which included identifying Enlightenment Thinkers, associating them with their respective ideas,  and Colonial Documents that were created in conjunction with their ideas. 

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Another example of differentiation for this unit includes supplying lower level ESOL students with readings in their native language to better equip them with course content before translating their ideas into English for assessment. Below is a reading supplement printed in Spanish. Content vocabulary words from throughout the unit are highlighted in red, while their respective definitions are written in Spanish to ensure comprehension. Although students are ultimately tested in English, engaging in the content in native languages is a way to accommodate student needs. 

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