Unit Planning
At Rocketship, the unit plan is called a "Vision of Excellence," (VoE). We refer to it as a "Vision of Excellence" because we are expecting our students to strive for excellence. As I go through this planning process, I think of what I want my students to be able to do. I also think through what they need to be able to do to be successful in their community, the Silicon Valley. In the VoE process, teachers unpack the standards and internalize each standard to be taught in the unit. I look at the daily objectives and plan out instructional strategies I will use that will support every student. For example, I incorporate the anchor charts and the chants I will use to help students master the standards. My school provides us the objectives and texts to be read each day. In the VoE, teachers capture notes and ideas we will use for each day. As we meet with our coaches we capture the questions we will ask during read alouds that directly connect to each objective. I think through how students can use these standards and daily objectives in their every day life. I think through their oracy and communication abilities and where they need to be. I process how students will be able to communicate these skills through end of unit presentations and how they will be able to prompt one another to ask questions to better understand the content.
Below are images of a VoE Standard Analysis.
Below are images of a VoE Standard Analysis.
While unpacking each standard through Standard Analysis, I reflect on the alignment to first grade standards. I am familiar with first grade standards as they are similar to kindergarten standards. I can draw upon my knowledge of content areas and first grade curriculum while planning to ensure my students are being pushed to achieve the rigorous Common Core goals. By understanding the first grade content area and curriculum I can differentiate instruction for my higher students. During the unit lessons, I target questions to students depending on rigor and student level. Students are either below basic, basic, proficient, or advanced. I can target questions aligned to the kindergarten standards to below basic and basic students to ensure they are getting multiple grade-level "at-bats." I can target first grade level questions to the proficient and advanced students to ensure they are being challenged. I believe it is important to challenge students so they continue to strive for excellence and feel supported at their levels. By differentiating questions and being knowledgeable of first grade standards, I am able to support each student's individual needs.
Below are examples of aligned student work. These are samples of work students complete during centers as I am doing guided reading small-group instruction. This work is differentiated for students based on their reading levels. These work samples are aligned to standards RL.K.2- With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details and RL.1.2- Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrates understanding of their central message or lesson, recount a story including the STORY elements.
Click to enlarge images.
Below are examples of aligned student work. These are samples of work students complete during centers as I am doing guided reading small-group instruction. This work is differentiated for students based on their reading levels. These work samples are aligned to standards RL.K.2- With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details and RL.1.2- Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrates understanding of their central message or lesson, recount a story including the STORY elements.
Click to enlarge images.
Understanding the community I serve and my individual students is vital while planning. A part of my unit plan includes a "Vision of Mastery Synthesis," shown above. In this portion of the plan, I think about the end of unit goal I have set for students and how I will present the plan to students. When planning this portion I think through my students' current needs and the community we are surrounded by. To truly understand my students' needs and community, I complete a home visit for each student. I meet with the student and their families to learn their interests, hopes, expectations of parents, etc. I know many of my students did not attend school prior to kindergarten because their families could not afford pre-school. They are new to school and coming in behind grade level. Using what I know about my learners and the community context I am able to think through how students will perceive the unit, feelings they will face, and how to help them identity and express feelings.
In addition to knowing my students and community, I also think through how the unit will connect to cross-disciplinary skills and pedagogy. First, I include aspects of students oracy skills. My goal is for students to be confident speakers and able to articulate their thoughts. Many of my students are English language learners and need support in oracy. I plan for an end of unit presentation for students to build their oracy skills. Students present a writing piece they complete by telling their peers the story and asking or answering questions. I think about how the reading comprehension unit plan connects to the other blocks of my class and cross-disciplinary skills. For example, this unit connects to guided reading because in both reading comprehension and guided reading students are retelling stories in sequential order. During guided reading, students are also identifying STORY elements and key details of a text. If I see a student is not mastering standards from reading comprehension, I can connect that standard to guided reading to ensure I am supporting each student and ensuring they are getting multiple chances to master the standards. While thinking through how this unit will connect to other class blocks, I am effectively planning by connecting content and intertwining standards to various blocks. In addition, I believe this unit also connects to math because students are beginning to explore math stories and word problems. Students will be able to isolate the story details and equation. Then, students can focus on the equation at hand rather than story details for that problem.
In addition to knowing my students and community, I also think through how the unit will connect to cross-disciplinary skills and pedagogy. First, I include aspects of students oracy skills. My goal is for students to be confident speakers and able to articulate their thoughts. Many of my students are English language learners and need support in oracy. I plan for an end of unit presentation for students to build their oracy skills. Students present a writing piece they complete by telling their peers the story and asking or answering questions. I think about how the reading comprehension unit plan connects to the other blocks of my class and cross-disciplinary skills. For example, this unit connects to guided reading because in both reading comprehension and guided reading students are retelling stories in sequential order. During guided reading, students are also identifying STORY elements and key details of a text. If I see a student is not mastering standards from reading comprehension, I can connect that standard to guided reading to ensure I am supporting each student and ensuring they are getting multiple chances to master the standards. While thinking through how this unit will connect to other class blocks, I am effectively planning by connecting content and intertwining standards to various blocks. In addition, I believe this unit also connects to math because students are beginning to explore math stories and word problems. Students will be able to isolate the story details and equation. Then, students can focus on the equation at hand rather than story details for that problem.
During the unit planning process, I also create a theme statement for each text, shown in the above "Text Study." The theme statement includes the lesson students should learn while engaging the in the text. Although it is not covered in kinder standards for students to find the lesson of the story, it is in first grade standards, specifically RL.1.2. This planning helps students lead toward achieving rigorous goals because they are already being held to first grade standards. In addition, I am planning questions for the text to help students understand the lesson. Not only are these questions effectively planned to find the lesson, but also connected to the standard and objectives of the lesson. These questions are also aligned to the independent work students will be doing not only in reading comprehension, but also centers and "do now" work.
During the unit planning process I take the end of unit assessment and think through the potential distractors and misconceptions. In this assessment, I mark the correct answer and the distractor. I capture why an answer is the distractor so when planning I can address these potential misconceptions. This assists in my effective planning because I am already aware of the holdbacks students may have and can craft questions in the text to target these misconceptions. We backwards plan our lessons and plan to use strategies to address the potential misconceptions we revealed in the unit assessment. All of the instructional strategies and question types from the unit assessment analysis are noted in the VoE.
Below is a unit assessment analysis I completed for a VoE.
Below is a unit assessment analysis I completed for a VoE.