Planning a Unit of Study

A standards-based unit of study is a coherent body of subject matter aligned with standards

that focuses on a main topic or process that can last from a few days to several weeks.

Rationale for a standards-based unit of study

• Ensures instructional alignment with standards • Makes sense to learners • Links learning to living—provides relevance to

students’ lives • Promotes learners’ awareness of the “why” for

learning • Reflects efforts to design instruction best suited to

individual learners • Encourages unit designers to think carefully and

collaboratively about their work • Makes the textbook a tool rather than the major force

behind instruction

The Context for Unit Design

Modules: • large organizing categories for the big

ideas to teach during the academic year; • may be a theme/topic for a quarter or

trimester; • reflected in assessment by body of work

and most closely connected to reporting standards;

• best opportunity for high road transfer.

The Context for Unit Design

Units of study: • within each module, segments of learning

lasting from two to six weeks; • reflected in summative assessments; • may be organized around a text set;• best opportunity for low road transfer.

The Context for Unit Design

Lessons: • specific, targeted instruction, for a clear

purpose; • focus of formative assessment practices; • a lesson may last a few minutes or a

couple of class sessions.

Components Of A Standards-based Unit Of Study

• Unit organizer – an essential question• Standards addressed • Learning experiences • Line of inquiry/text-based questions• Assessments • Scoring criteria • Strategies for addressing various student needs• Resources • Reflection

Planning a unit of studyWe used to: Now we:

Begin planning with identification of instructional activities

Begin planning by identifying what students will know and do

Plan the same instruction for all students

Intentionally plan instruction to meet each learner’s needs

Provide teacher-directed instruction

Create student-centered instruction (inquiry, investigation)

Rely on textbook as main source of information

Use a variety of instructional resources

Do assessments infrequently and mostly at the end of a unit

Understand that assessment is ongoing, informs instruction, and allows for extending understanding

Have students work toward goals that were unclear

Help students work to meet clearly defined and known standards

Module

• The big idea across several units of study• May be organized by reporting/graduation

standards– Target a single reporting standard– Pair or group reporting standards– Identify opportunities to demonstrate high road

transfer (a.k.a. proficiency) across the module

Unit of Study

• Goals/content standards/reporting standards• Rigor/complexity• Rigor/cognitive demand• Formative, benchmark, and summative

assessment• Performance tasks/student voice and choice • Multiple opportunities to experience direct

instruction, practice (develop), and demonstrate proficiency

• Increase likelihood of transfer – low road and high road

Unit of Study

• May be organized around a cluster/group of relative standards

• Should culminate with a meaningful performance task at DOK 4

• Clearly relates to student experience with curriculum in the content area and across all content areas

Lessons

• Assure logical progression of learning experiences aligned to developmental progressions

• Include multiple opportunities for formative assessment and flexibility of response to assessment data

Teaching by Phenomenon

The Finns are teaching phenomena—such as the European Union, which encompasses learning languages, history, politics, and geography. No more of an hour of history followed by an hour of chemistry. The idea aims to eliminate one of the biggest gripes of students everywhere: “What is the point of learning this?” Now, each subject is anchored to the reason for learning it.

Evaluating the Standards Based Unit of Study

• Review the unit development template.• Analyze the Kennedy unit.

– What is helpful?– What is missing?

• If you begin by identifying the standards you will teach and opportunities for transfer, does this change the way you structure curriculum and instruction?

Planning a Standards Based Unit of Study

• Identify a possible module and unit of study you would like to develop

• Use the template to begin planning a unit

Time for a break?