The overall purpose of the unit assignment in Phase III is to guide interns in the development of their competency in the complexities of long term planning, in using assessments to guide instruction, and to evaluate the impact of their instruction upon the students in their class. Also, it provides a sample of the interns’ work as a teacher.

            Specifically, through the unit assignment, interns will demonstrate the following:
 

• Knowledge of the children in the assigned classroom
• Knowledge of the unit’s content
• Knowledge of appropriate state content standards, pacing suggestions, and sequencing
• Effective planning by
  • Using knowledge of children, learning theory, curriculum, and content to develop appropriate learning opportunities for the students
  • Using multiple teaching strategies
  • Providing learning opportunities that encourage problem solving and creativity
  • Adapting for diverse students
  • Using analysis of pre-assessment to select learning opportunities for the students
  • Using multiple assessments to guide daily instruction
• Quality analysis of the post assessment and the instructional impact on the students.
• Ability to reflect on long term planning, implementation, assessment, and impact on students.

     You will be planning for either two five-day units or one ten-day unit.  The entire process of planning, implementing, and assessing the unit will be completed in stages.  The first stage involves gathering background information and planning an overview.  Stage two is the actual planning and implementing of the unit lessons.  Stage three is the analysis of the post assessment, the reflection on the implementation of the unit, and the impact on students.  Before beginning the unit planning, review the rubric that will be used by the mentor teacher and the university supervisor to assess the assignment.  (See the last pages of this assignment.)

1. Meet with your mentor teacher to discuss possible unit topics.
2. Begin gathering information about the students you will be teaching.  Consider the geographic location of the school, community and school population, socio-economic profile and race/ethnicity of the group.  Consider the student characteristics such as age, sex, exceptionalities, achievement, developmental levels, culture, language, interests, learning styles, and skill levels.
3. Decide on a unit topic.
4. Review state standards and suggested pacing schedule.
5. Research topic and locate possible resources.
6. Think about the needs of the children.  How will you engage the children?  What will the students know and be able to do at the conclusion of the unit?  How will they represent their learning?  What impact do you hope to have on them?
7. Decide on your overall goals of the unit.  Record a draft of your goals and identify the appropriate content standards.
8. Develop a pre-assessment to see how many of the major ideas and expected skills the students know already.
9. Conduct the pre-assessment, tabulate or grade, and analyze the results.
10. Reflecting on the information gathered about the children, the content, and your learning expectations for the children, sketch out an overview of your unit lessons.  This will provide a timeline and a sequence guide.
11. Prepare and set up time for your Unit Pre-Instruction Interview with the University Supervisor.  (This may be in conjunction with a regular observation or it may be a separate conference.)
12. Have ready for the interview the following materials:

• A page summarizing the knowledge you have learned about the children.  Entitle this page Background/Contextual Information.
• Your unit goals.
• The sketch of your overview of the unit.
• Listing of the resources that you are using or plan to use.
• A copy of your pre-assessment and the analysis of the results.

     13.  Put these materials in your Unit Binder.

     14.  The University Supervisor will ask questions concerning the background information collected, the topic goals, timeline and the pre-assessment.  (See the      questions on the Unit Pre-Instruction Interview Form.)  The university supervisor will offer suggestions and confer with the mentor teacher.  At the conclusion of the conference, the university supervisor will sign the form.

     15.  Put the signed form in your Unit Binder.

 During the second stage of the unit, you will actually create the lesson plans to teach the unit.  Each lesson will be completed on TaskStream using the long lesson plan form.  At the end of each lesson, you will reflect on the lesson and changes to the lesson if you were to teach it again.  Put all lessons in your Unit Binder.  Note that even though you plan a five day unit or a ten day unit, the actual teaching of the plans may take additional days.  Your university supervisor will observe one of your unit lessons unless there is some type of scheduling conflict.  During the follow-up conference they may ask you about other lessons in your unit.  So, as you are developing your plans, keep asking yourself the following questions?

1. Am I creating learning opportunities that reflect the developmental characteristics of the children?  Have I considered the cultural context of the class?
2. Am I creating meaningful learning experiences that develop the students’ competence in subject matter?
3. Am I creating learning experiences that are appropriate for the curriculum goals and how children learn?
4. Am I using a variety of teaching strategies?  Have I allowed student choice?  Have I promoted creativity and problem solving?
5. Am I using a variety of assessments?  Have I considered multiple ways the children can demonstrate their learning?  Have I included a post assessment?
6. Am I adapting instruction for diverse students?

During this stage of the unit process, you will be doing reflections and analysis of the students’ learning.  They are as follows:

1. Analyze the results of the post assessment.  Look at the class as a whole and look at two subgroups (girls vs. boys or middle ability group vs. high ability)
2. Put into your Unit Binder a copy of the post assessment and your written analysis.
3. Record your reflections by answering the following questions that are appropriate for the unit you taught:
   1.  What was the best lesson of the unit?  Why?  Which lesson needed the most improvement?  Why?
   2. What learning opportunity demonstrated that you really understood the developmental levels of the children?
   3. How did you vary the curriculum to challenge all the children?
   4. In what ways were the children able to demonstrate their increase in academic and social competence?  What evidence do you have of student impact?
   5. How did you engage the children in problem solving or creativity?
   6. What variety of assessment did you use?
   7. What things would you change if you could teach the unit again?
   8. What was your most significant learning from the unit development?
4. Add these reflections to your Unit Binder.  The mentor teacher and the university supervisor will read these reflections to assist them in assessing the unit assignment.

Grading: 

      The completed Unit Binder is to be submitted first to the mentor and then the university supervisor for assessment.  The Unit binder represents a sample of your teaching – a Teacher Work Sample.

The following items are to be in the Unit Binder:

1. Title page with Unit Title, the intern’s name, and the date.
2. Background/Contextual Information page.
3. Listing of Unit goals.
4. Overview of the Unit.
5. Pre-assessment and analysis.
6. Unit Pre-Instruction Interview Form
7. Daily lesson plans with reflections and appropriate student products.
8. Post assessment and analysis of performance of the class and two subgroups.
9. Written reflections answering the questions listed in Stage Three.

     The mentor teacher and the university supervisor work as a team to determine the score on the rubric after both have had time to review the materials in the Unit Binder.  The rubric included will be used to assess the Unit Assignment.  The score is shared with the intern.  If the score is in the unacceptable range, the mentor and university supervisor will conference with the intern explaining what parts need to be resubmitted.  The intern needs to score in the acceptable range or pass ELED 495 Teaching Internship II:  PreK-8 Programs.

     If two five day units are developed during the semester, only the second unit will be graded.  The unit assignment needs to be graded prior to Portfolio Night as the intern may wish to include lessons, student products, assessments, and evidence of student impact from the unit in their portfolio.

     The scored rubric will be collected by the university supervisor during the final conference.  The unit rubric is one of the materials collected by the University Supervisor for submission to the Placement officer at the end of the semester.

     On the following pages you will find the Unit Pre-Instruction Interview Form and the Unit Assignment Rubric.