week+of+april+6+and+8

Week of April 6 and 8

This week our goal is to make sure we are squared away with what we have to do for the unit plan portfolio and when we need to do it. In addition, by the end of the week my aim is that we've drafted a sequence or progression to the unit and that we're able to identify the WHERETO elements of this progression.

Tuesday, April 6

Writing our way in ... round robin writing. We begin with the prompt ... "It was a dark, cold night when ..." (We're doing this mostly to get the creative juices flowing, to do something together, and to have some fun).

Reminder of the progression we're going through in this class

Understandings: Goals and Essential Questions

to

Evidence: Performance Tasks, Other evidence (like quizzes, prompts, etc), Self-Assessment and Reflections

to

Performance Tasks (Using GRASPS to design PTs for students to read)

to

Rubrics (Creating categories to judge performance and to assess student understanding)

to

Designing Lessons: Using WHERETO to organize a progression; Before/During/After activities to texts we read or view

Timeline for the remaining class sessions (this isn't much different than the syllabus) 4/6 4/8 - WHERETO sequence and front-loading drafts. We'll talk about front-loading options and we'll look at sample lesson plans

4/13 Bring in a draft of 1 Lesson Plan (this is just so you can get some feedback on the format before you create multiple lesson plans) 4/15 Draft of rationale for unit

4/20 Lesson Plan drafts (for three more lesson plans) 4/22 Lesson Plan drafts (for the final three lesson plans)

4/27 4/29 Final Unit Plan Portfolio is due

5/4 Book club conversation on young people 5/6 Final Reflection on composing your unit plan

We won't meet during finals week, unless you'd like to conference with me. Also, if you'd like to meet one-on-one or with a couple of other people while you are putting together your unit, we can certainly do that as well. In fact, I'd like it.

Required elements to the unit plan portfolios - this is the list we looked at earlier in the semester and is on the assignment sheet (found here ) A rationale for this unit of study
 * The essential questions that serves as a frame the unit and that students will pursue during the unit


 * The learning goals


 * The Key Performance Tasks and the Rubrics for them


 * 7 consecutive days of daily lesson plans


 * The progression of front-loading activities that begin the unit


 * A calendar that serves as an overview of the unit (what might happen in class each day)


 * A list of resources needed for the unit


 * Reflections for the unit rationale, the PTs and rubrics, the daily lesson plans, and the front-loading activity


 * Thursday, April 8**

Looking at lesson plan template in order to make sure we are clear on the required sections for a lesson plan in this unit

Frontloading activities - what do they accomplish / what's their purpose? what are some possible front-loading activities? what order makes the most sense in a front-loading sequence?

Purpose of "frontloading" a unit = frontloading refers to activities that occur at the beginning of a unit. The purpose of frontloading activities is to provide the initial purpose, motivation, and background to help students bridge what they already know to the concepts and processes they will engage with during a unit of study.

Some questions to ask yourself of frontloading activities ... (from Jeff Wilhelm's (2007) //[|Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry]// )
 * How does your activity engage and/or build the students' prior conceptual knowledge or background information regarding your unit theme/topic?
 * How does the activity work to motivate studetns for reading and inquiry regarding the unit topic/theme?
 * How can you justify your frontloading in terms of existing student interests and knowledge? In other words, can you explain WHY you are certain that the frontloading activity will be motivating and successful? (p. 74)

A roster or menu of possible frontloading activities
 * Opinionaires
 * Ranking scenarios
 * Autobiographical writing before reading
 * Questionable, controversial, or thought-provoking quotes
 * Viewing media and/or images
 * Reading children's books or other approachable and familiar texts
 * Surveys