Jeewan Moktan

Stepping stone: Chapter 7 note:

Outline
1. Integral Unit
2. Nine steps in planning unit plan
3. Determining significance and relevance of topic
4. Formulate Unit for focus
5. Thematic statement
6. Guiding questions
7. Intended learning outcomes
8. Design and choose learning activities
9. Review and incorporate linkages with government-mandated standards and
outcomes.
10. Plan a schedule.
11. Select your resources.
12. Plan student assessment
Planning Classroom units
An integral unit plan is a portion of a course or program that has a clear
thematic focus that:
1. Has internal unity
2. Has external consistency
3. Includes pertinent and meaningful aspects of reality that are related to,
and may even go beyond, the main discipline focus of the units.
Nine steps in Planning classroom Units:
1. Consider the significance and Relevance of a topic
- Determining the significance and Relevance of a topic
I. How can the topic advance understanding the topic advance understandings
needed for responsible and responsive discipleship?
How can the topic introduce students to a Christian worldview, biblically
based values, ad our Christian and cultural heritage.
II. How is the topic relevant for your students?
How can the topic expand previous knowledge and deal with significant
issues?
Is the topic too general, without a clear focus? Or too narrow, restricting
substantive learning?
III. Can the topic meet students learning needs?
Is it suitable for diverse backgrounds, learning styles, aptitudes, and
developmental phrases?
Can it engender interest and encourage personal, meaningful response?
Can it include skill development in different modes of learning?
Are sufficient resource available?
2. Brainstorm Ideas
A. Make a web
B. work out your worldview for the topic
C. Consider which aspects of reality are parts of the topic issues
- Think about your unit focus. This could be a theme that incorporates enduring
understandings or Egans narrative structure together with binary opposites or
transcendent values. Some teachers like to add some open-ended guiding
questions that they want their students to answer as a result of the units
learning.
- Use charts suggested key values as a starting point for considering which
values to emphasize in your unit.
- Look at the types of skills you want students to learn, and indicate them in the
appropriate categories.
- Insert some sample activities in the appropriate cells.
Exploring a Christian Worldview Basis for a Unit theme
What is Gods intention for this area of reality or culture that will investigate?
What is its purpose and function?
We are to enjoy Gods garden, the earth, and the fullness He provides.
We are to take care of Gods garden (keep it holy for His intended purpose that
the earth be a beautiful and bountiful home for all creatures).
Creation: God gave us His creation Mandate.
What has gone wrong? How have humans deviated from Gods original intend?
Because of sin, growing food became more difficult (Genesis 3). Also, humans
have not always care for the earth and plants in a way that sustains food
production (e.g., soil erosion, lack of composting, use of pesticides that harmed
other life).
Fall: God gave his Great commandment.
How can we help our students develop a deeper understanding of, experience
and commitment to a Christian way of life? How can we give them hope for the
future?
We are to understand that the growing of living things is part of the human
praise response to God.
We are to be living lives of thankfulness for Gods provisions for life.
Fulfillment: God gave us His promise.
How does God want us to respond? What is a way out of the problems that exist?
How is or how can human activity be restorative?
. We can be good stewards in growing food and flowers, being faithful workers,
preventing erosion, being careful with fertilizers, and preserving the earth for
future generations.
Redemption: God gave us His great Commission.
Thematic statement:
A thematic statement describes the overall approach that will frame your units
teaching and learning. It describes your overall goals. In particular, the
statement includes.
The basic values, dispositions, and commitments that you want to foster
The enduring understandings, major concepts, and key skills that you want
students to acquire.
Guiding questions
3. Formulate a unit focus and intents. A thematic statement describes the overall
approach and main thrust of a unit. It includes the basic values, enduring
understandings, key concepts, and main skills you want students to acquire.
Intended learning outcomes (ILOs) specify and extend the thematic statement.
- Make assessments of student learning an integral part of your unit design.
- Emphasize formative assessment feedback.
- As much as possible, align learning outcomes, learning activities, student
products, and assessment strategies.
- Use varied assessment strategies.
- Use state standardized tests as only one of a broad array of assessment
strategies.
- Remember that not all intended learning outcomes can be assessed
immediately. Also, learning activities may have outcomes that are unintended.
9. Review the effectiveness of your unit.
To adapt a unit from other source (s), first determine your own focus and intents,
and only then, use and adjust ideas from the source (s) that are available.

Reflection:

This chapter provides thorough guidelines to make the unit plan. After

reading this chapter, I learned how to develop the lesson plan by step-

wise. Although most of the lesson is covered in the class, it helped me as

a guide to remind me when I needed. Particularly, it assisted me

formulate unit for focus, designed and choose learning activities. Besides

these, I acquired an idea to prepare engaging and effective guiding

questions for the unit plan. I have not merely learned the content but

applied it for the unit plan. However, I still have weakness to make goal

oriented assessment. I think this weakness will gradually turn into

strength.