Unit Plan Adventure Begins!

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I have decided what I would like my Unit Plan to be about. I would like to design a unit on the Revolutionary War, focusing on New York State. The unit will be for a 4th grade class.

I chose 4th grade because I really enjoy working with the older elementary school students. I also love history and always liked learning about this topic when I was in school.

Learning Can Be Puzzling

In our last class, we participated in our first Jigsaw assignment.

If you don't know, as was the case with me, Jigsaw is an activity in which students work in groups to research as topic. One person takes on a different aspect of the research. The group then meets and you teach one another on whatever it was you researched. As a group, you are putting the pieces of the research together like a puzzle, hence the name Jigsaw.

After everyone has done their research, the group meets up once again and teach one another in the group what was discovered about the topic.

For our Jigsaw assignment, our group had to look into different educational philosophies (5 total). I was given the task of researching Social Reconstructionism.

Social Reconstructionism is a philosophy in which schools are looked at as agents of change. Students should become critical thinkers and have the ability to solve real world problems.

It is a pretty interesting philosophy, and while I don't think my personal philosophy would be based entirely on Social Reconstructionism, I would certainly incorporate certain parts of it.

Below is an example of Social Reconstructionism in action.

We Can Change The World Challenge

Out of Order!

After reading about the Linear-Rational Model of instructional planning, I think I have a more clear picture of how planning should go.

Before reading, I knew that in the process of planning I would need to generate goals, objectives, activities, assessments and evaluations. When I am subbing for teachers, I always see their lesson plans and how they are put together in sequential order of goals, objectives, activities and evaluation.

What I did not think about, and what makes a lot of sense after reading, is that creating the evaluation should come earlier in the planning process. It does not need to always be the last part of the process.

By working on the evaluation earlier, I can set the course for what I want to accomplish during my lessons (activities) and what I want the students to learn (goals and objectives).

I will try this when designing my Unit Plan.

There were a few things I felt were missing, however, from the Linear-Rational Model.

To improve the picture, I would add in pre-assessments before formulating goals. This way the teacher can take into account all of the different learning styles in their classroom. By doing this, the teacher will have a better understanding of how to possibly differentiate their goals and objectives for students who are struggling, average as well as gifted and talented.

I would also add in any methods used to fulfill activities in the lesson.

Finally, I would also add a box labeling what a teacher would use as motivators for before and during instruction. A teacher needs to be able to motivate if they want any chance of reaching their students.