unit+planning+-+early+stages


 * EDU 363**
 * Planning for your unit plan –**
 * Survey/questions/framing**

To that end, I will expect you to dive in to the subject matter you choose to focus on, and read it [learn it] well, as you consider how to frame a unit around it [and subsequently write about it, and transform it into a set of learning experiences for your hypothetical students.] The workshop angle part means that you will each be reading and writing and working with your own chosen content, essentially engaging in independent study, but at the same time, working in a larger context where all of your peers are doing the same thing – working on their own chosen content, but with the same overarching structure – **//the unit plan,//** guiding your work. You will simultaneously be working as a **//student//** – studying an area of content that you choose because it appeals to you in some way – and working as a **//teacher//** – designing a unit plan, for hypothetical students. In the weeks immediately following Feb vacation, we will have less whole class reading, and much of your HW/reading time will need to be devoted to reading in the area you choose to focus on, for your unit. Begin by considering these questions: What are you interested in, excited by, curious about?
 * //Task//**: begin thinking about the focus of your unit plan
 * //Consider this//**: you are going to need to really know the **content/subject matter** you are working with. We will approach this unit plan from a **workshop angle**, to some degree. Think about what Heather Lattimer said about genre – during a classroom **genre study** [unit], everyone studies the same genre (e.g., poetry, short story, editorial) but everyone reads and writes **//their own versions//** of the genre (perhaps with shared study of some examples). We, as a group, are essentially studying the **genre** of **//units//**, but you each will pick your own topic as you produce your own unit.

What would be fun for you to read about, learn about, work with?

What would you like to share, content wise, with a group of middle or high school students?

Do not, at this point, worry about the standards. You will be working with them, but, this can follow, later, once you have a clear direction established.

Aside from the very broad prompting questions, above, here are a set of other survey/prompting questions to get you thinking about the various ways you could focus your unit.

Is there a **genre** you are particularly interested in?

Is there a **theme** you are particularly interested in?

Is there a **single author** you are particularly interested in?

Is there a **period** you are particularly interested in?

Is there a **region** you are particularly interested in?

Is there a **movement** you are particularly interested in?

Is there a **skill/strategy** you are particularly interested in?

A few words about texts. In the language arts classroom, texts are central, both the texts students read and also the texts students produce. As you design your unit, both in your head, during the initial stages, and in practice, as the process unfolds, you need to think about both what students will read and what they will write. Here are some terms that will recur and that need to guide your work.


 * //Student reading//**
 * || Context Texts || Fulcrum Texts || Texture Texts ||
 * Informational Texts ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Literary Texts ||  ||   ||   ||


 * //Student writing//**
 * || Shorter time frames || Extended time frames ||
 * Arguments ||  ||   ||
 * Informative/explanatory ||  ||   ||
 * Narrative ||  ||   ||