Design a UnitClose windowWhat is a unit?What is a unit? Now, here's an interesting question. We all know what a unit is, right? Visit the articleIndicators for Teaching for Understandingathttp://www.ndtwt.org/Blackboard/P3/indicators.htm, underThe Unit or Course Design. Look too at4 Principles of Instruction for Teaching for Learningfrom theTeaching for Understanding Projectat Harvard:http://www.ncset.org/publications/viewdesc.asp?id=1309. The 4 principles are: Authentic Tasks, Opportunities to build cognitive strategies, Learning that is socially mediated, Engagement in constructive conversation.Appeal to Learning StylesYouve undoubtedly learned a great deal about this topic over your time as a teacher and within this course. For your reference, here are two sites you may find useful; they list not only different categories of learning styles, but also associated behaviours and possible teaching strategies. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/methodology/learning_style.shtml(You can access these resources by creating a free user account) http://www.inspiringteachers.com/classroom_resources/tips/curriculum_and_instruction/learning_activities_7_intelligences.htmlAccommodations, Modifications, and InclusionRefer toAccommodations and Modifications, created by Jacki Oxley on this topic, if you have not already done so earlier in the course. Jacki has several suggestions for making this unit available to a wide variety of learners.Higher Order Thinking SkillsFrom Blooms Taxonomy: Please see Major Categories in the Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (Bloom 1956) [http://www.krummefamily.org/guides/bloom.html] which defines the categories and gives additional links. Or go to [http://www.edselect.com/Docs/wheel.pdf] to see a Activity-Oriented Question Construction Wheel Based on Bloom's Taxonomy.Unit TitleHave some fun with this! Create a catchy title for your unit. Or, create a title that is clear and informative. Note: you may want to create or revise the title after you have created the unit. You never know how things may turn out!Course GoalsAlso called, Enduring Understandings in some design models, these have lasting value beyond the classroom when the unit of study is over offer potential for engaging students have not a simple right or wrong answer. are overarching and may go beyond the unit at hand to the whole course.Examples: Geographic factors help determine major historic decisions Romantic poets embraced the infinite Biology is all/ all is Biology The United Nations needs revamping Mathematics is destiny Great leaders often have a fatal flawGoals for this UnitThese goals are specific to the unit focus or topic. They involve challenges, activities, knowledge and skills that will be developed as a result of this unit. Ensure that these are critical, not just worth being familiar with, or even important to know and do, but knowledge and skills without which the learning would be incomplete.A good way to approach this may be to create three Enduring Questions which will be part of the unit. For example, When is a law unjust ? Is Canada a history of progress? Who better captured the essence of war: Wilfred Owen or Sigfried Sassoon? What kind of interactions benefit Humanity? How do a nation's natural resources affect development?Or, you may wish to phrase these goals as concepts/skills/activities you want the students to have learned and experienced by the end of the unit.Students Prior KnowledgeDiagnostic activities at the start and during a unit can reveal to teachers and students alike the understandings that students bring to class from prior experience. Close attention to prior knowledge can greatly facilitate the understanding of new concepts. The new Think Literacy from the Ontario Ministry of Education provides many methods to access prior knowledge. You can also find some excellent strategies, supported by research at: Increasing Comprehension by Activating Prior Knowledgehttp://www.ericdigests.org/pre-9219/prior.htm Teaching Strategies: Activating Prior Knowledgehttp://wvde.state.wv.us/strategybank/activating.html Generic search strategies on the internet may yield further valuable materials for your subject area.Students QuestionsMany teachers find that students questions about a topic at the start of a unit can provide an excellent framework for designing a unit. Teachers can provide an initial list of questions for students to select from and build on. Also, additional questions can be invited during a unit as students become familiar with the topic. The PEEL CD-ROM/website provides many examples.Principle to emphasize in this unitThe 12 Principles of Teaching for Quality Learning are rich distillations of many of our aspirations for our teaching. Experience suggests it would be difficult indeed to pursue all or many of them once. We recommend selecting one that particularly interests you in relation to your own teaching and treating it as a focal point for the creative moments you want to weave into the unit you are designing. Both the choice and the interpretation of any one principle are and should be personal.ResourcesEnsure that resources are varied: use print texts and other media such as video and audio tape, pictures, charts, etc. ; appeal to a variety of learners; provide more than one text on the same topic available for students; ensure that more than different reading levels are present among resources; select resources that reflect genders, races and cultures, and people of different ages and abilities in positive roles; select resources that are current, and bias-free.ExpectationsThe obvious first place to refer to expectations would be the Ontario Ministry of Education Curriculum Guideline for this subject. Please go to [http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/curricul/curricul.html] and search for your specific document. One activity you may wish to perform is to cluster expectations. In the Curriculum Planner from the Ontario Ministry of Education, it is suggested that expectations may be clustered based on concepts that reside at the heart of the subject/discipline/the underlying focus, goals, or purpose of the curriculum/the overall expectations or key learnings. See [http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/policyfunding/ocup/documents/Planner03Design_All.pdf]. A way of clustering expectations is to look at the different strands offered in the Curriculum Guideline, and determine which expectations from the different strands will be integral to this unit.Learning ActivitiesStudent-centred, open-ended activities are excellent ways to engage and challenge students as they work through a unit. As well, use the learning activities, strategies and teaching methodologies youve explored in this course to create the best Learning Activities. Seehttp://resources.educ.queensu.ca/ar/t4ql/for more ideas.AssessmentHere, in the template, describe how you will assess and/or evaluate what the students have learned. Tell whether it will be formative or summative. As well, tell what "tools" for assessment you will use. If possible, describe specifically how your assessment practices will support student learning in your unit. For a review of assessment and evaluation, please see Elaine Van Melles Idea Bank onAssessment and Evaluation, if you havent already looked through it.Heres an example of how you might work on this part of the template, taking a common strategy that might be used in the middle of the unit: "In groups, read material from two other sources, and prepare a report for the class." The assessment/evaluation activities could be: individual worksheets that have been completed and handed in for teacher evaluation, formative, and then become a summative tool, after revision. An evaluation scheme would be attached. a peer assessment of the work of the group, using observations, and a journal format. (Formative) peer and teacher evaluation of the group presentation, according to a rubric. (Summative) In summary, please take some time to carefully consider how your assessment/evaluation of students corresponds with the overall goals of the unit and the student learning experience.ModificationsFor each of your main activities, consider the diverse population of your classroom. Note here any possible modifications you could make to ensure that all students participate in quality learning. Please refer toAccommodations and Modificationsto assist you.Contribution to Culminating ActivityBriefly note how this activity will contribute to the culminating activity, in providing knowledge, skills, practice, review, etc.Designing Culminating ActivityA culminating activity is an activity that: the students will perform to demonstrate that the desired understandings have been developed, and the desired knowledge and skills have been attained. involves application, synthesis and evaluation skills. requires students to develop a real product to demonstrate what they have learned. that usually encompasses two or more days. is more complex and will require several skills and strategies. Contains usually several process components to the activity.Student Handout for Culminating ActivityCreating a handout that is clear, concise, and thorough is a neglected art. As you create this handout, keep in mind the learning you want students to demonstrate the form(s) and opportunity(s) you will offer for that demonstration principles of clarity: use point form often, have lots of white space, avoid the passive voice, expand on words that may be problematical to students, be concrete, use graphics wisely. being interactive in the handout Offering models or samples to explain using subdivisions and sub-titles for clarity the logical process, sequence or order of your ideas and instructions. For more tips about being a clear writer go to OWL, the Online Writing Lab, at Purdue Universityhttp://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/600/01/.