Developing a Unit Plan

Please submit an assignment by the designated date and time and provide a cover sheet.

The purpose of this assignment is to provide an opportunity for applying personal skills in reflective and evaluative thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making to instructional situations involving mathematics.

Every teacher candidate will develop and complete a unit plan.  The preparation and presentation of this unit plan document the candidate’s pedagogical and professional knowledge, skills, dispositions, planning, and assessment abilities as stipulated in state and national standards. 

            Directions for the Unit Plan:

• Begin by selecting a target age group of students from an identified setting.
• Profile of Students: provide a description of the developmental needs and characteristics of the target group (e.g., languages and special needs).
• Select the theme or unit topic.
• Provide a rationale for the theme or topic that you selected. Identify the reasons for your selection (e.g., what guided the selection of the topic?; in what way does the theme foster integration of the subject areas?).
• Develop a comprehensive Unit Plan consisting of at least five consecutive lesson plans designed for the elementary level.
• Prepare three consecutive lessons using the lesson plan format:
  • Objectives
  • Standards/Competencies and Skills,
  • Instructional Activities,
  • Modifications for ESOL/ESE,
  • Resources/Materials/technology,
  • Assessment Activities with a rubric.

            Your unit plan must include the following:

Unit Overview and Design

Overview: In a narrative, provide an overview of the unit.  Include the following in your overview:

1. Description of the theme or topic
2. Why the theme or topic is meaningful for P-12 students
3. How does the theme or topic link with other subject areas?

Unit Design

• Provide a description of the Unit Goals, including a summary of the unit
• Identify the Instructional Standards (i.e., P-12 state-adopted, academic standards, e.g., BEST, Common Core State Standards in Math) that are met through the unit.
• Based on the identified unit goals, create a Sequence of the three lesson plans and related concepts to ensure coherence and required prior knowledge.  Provide a rationale that describes why the five lessons follow a particular sequence.

 Each lesson should contain the following:

• Required prior knowledge for the P-12 student
• Developed learning experiences that require students to demonstrate a variety of applicable skills and competencies. Be sure to include three or more types of skills or competencies as targeted in the lesson or unit. Provide a statement that describes why you consider that students will be able to achieve the target goals.  Comment on how activities and resources would allow students to meet the target expectations.
• Incorporate cross-disciplinary activities in the instruction as a means to help students apply content knowledge.
• Specify the accommodations and modifications that you are providing to support language development in instruction for ESOL students and/or students with Exceptional Learning Needs.
• Describe the materials selected that support the standards-based learning objectives and variety of learning needs. Are the selected texts of the level of rigor that is required to support the standards?  How do the texts support the content and reading levels?
• Provide a sample of the questions and standards-aligned materials that you will use to promote critical thinking.
• Provide opportunities for students to practice the use of academic language/ vocabulary in the content area of mathematics that will lead to the student’s mastery of content and skills.
• Include appropriate formative assessments to monitor learning during the implementation of the unit activities.

Reflections
As you reflect on the activity – i.e., designing and implementing a comprehensive unit, and the feedback received, i) identify three aspects that you would change or modify; ii) explain the reasons and need for each change; and iii) comment on how this experience has increased your knowledge about the planning process.