Unit Plan Reflection

My first time planning a unit was absolutely nerve wracking. I felt like I did not know what I was doing.

Thankfully, the district that I am interning in has a calendar that you are supposed to follow. This let me know the topic of the unit, as well as its length and the final assessment. The main issue came later on when I was planning the individual lessons. I have a tendency to want to overload on information.

Thankfully, with practice, things have gotten better. I like to start my planning by looking at the order of the units on the calendar, that way I can visualize how the subject is supposed to flow. Then I mark off how long the unit is supposed to take on a blank calendar. This way I am fully aware of how long I have so I can narrow my scope. After narrowing myself down mentally, I look at the compelling question for the unit. The compelling question is what the essay given by the district is supposed to focus on, allowing me to focus my thoughts on the unit even more. The district sometimes has supporting questions that fall under the compelling question to help narrow down lesson topics. Along with all this, the district provides a day-to-day schedule with the topics that should be covered. If all of this isn't enough to be helpful in planning the unit and subsequent lessons, the district also provides required and suggested resources.

Following this roadmap has been helpful in planning my units. I do the same basic thing for lesson plans as well, though there are more steps.