Building Units: Curriculum Design as Staff Development

1. Building Units: Curriculum Design as Staff Development

2. Seeking Meaningful, Sustained Improvement in Teacher Quality: Some Problems • Standards Not Well Understood • Externally-Imposed Reform Efforts; Teachers as Objects of Reform • Isolation and Inconsistency • Instability (e.g., Teacher Turnover)

3. Misunderstood Standards Externally-Imposed Reforms Isolation Instability and Inconsistency Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy Teacher as Agent of Reform Collaborative Teacher Teams Curriculum Units as Stabilizers Solving the Problems

4. TEN CHARACTERISTICS OF UNITS 1. Units are organized around topics, themes, or projects and clusters of appropriate, related standards. 2. Each unit generally takes from three to five weeks to complete. 3. Units are written by teachers for teachers. 4. Units are written in narrative (story) form. 5. Units must balance direct instruction with student activity and exploration. 6. Units must incorporate Internet resources (either for teacher, for students, or both).

5. TEN CHARACTERISTICS (CONTINUED) 7. Units must include at least one formal, comprehensive assessment (e.g., unit test, project). 8. Units must be complete (including all necessary handouts, except those in text. For text material, page numbers should be identified). 9. Sufficient detail must be provided so that teachers are able to implement them without assistance or interpretation from others, with the amount of detail depending on the level of experience of the teachers. 10. All units must be formatted in the same way to promote widespread use.

6. I. Grade Level/Unit Number: Grade 4, Unit 3 • II. Unit Title: Colonization • III. Unit Length: 4 weeks • Indicators Addressed: V. Materials Needed: Harcourt text Milk cartons Attachments

7. Week 1 Day 1: Read aloud Attachment 3-1. Stop periodically and ask questions to check students’ understanding. After completing the reading ask students what they think happened at Roanoke; where and how did the colony disappear? Brainstorm and write ideas on the board. Then, have students write a brief essay on their personal opinion as to what happened (Attachment 3-2). Day 2: Distribute copies of Attachment 3-3. Have students read the material at the top and then work in pairs to develop a list ten things that colonists would have had to do within a short time after arriving in America (see bottom of Attachment 3-3). Conclude by talking about what they have to find when they arrive in order to do them and what they would have to bring with them. Tell them they are going to think more about what they would bring with them tomorrow.

8. Week 1 (continued) Day 3: Distribute copies of Attachments 3-4 and 3-5. Divide students into groups and refer to Attachment 3-4 for directions. Each group will complete Attachment 3-5, deciding on items that will be needed for the trip. Have each groups will share their trunk contents with the class. Day 4: Talk with children about life in the colonies (see Attachment 3-6). Focus on the homes, school, daily life, differences between girls and boys, and the role of religions in daily life. Using a double-bubble map or a two-dimensional table, have students compare their own lives with those of children in the colonial times. End by having students make a whirligig (Attachment 3-7).

9. Week 1 (continued) Day 5: Read aloud Attachment 3-8A (Colonial Life); distribute copies of Attachment 3-8B and have students complete it. Distribute copies of Attachment 3-9 and discuss the division of the thirteen colonies into three groups: New England, Middle, and Southern. Have students compare the three groups in terms of the four major columns (year founded, chief crops/trade, government, and religion). Use a triple-bubble map as a graphic organizer to help students with the comparisons.

10. Unit 3 Assessment Write a Brochure There was always a need for people to work in the British colonies in America. One way people in the colonies met their labor needs was by hiring indentured servants. Colonists would pay the cost of a worker’s trip to America. In return, the person would work for that colonist for a set period of time without pay. In this activity, you will create a brochure that would attract people in Britain to come to America as indentured servants. In planning your brochure, keep these things in mind. First, you should include the points of view of at least 4 people: plantation owner, his wife, a male indentured servant, and a female indentured servant. Second, the brochure should give information about the benefits of coming to the colonies, the type of work to be done, and the number of years the person must work as an indentured servant. It should also describe the climate, food, recreational activities, and lifestyles in the colony. Finally, you should use illustrations such as drawings, pictures, or clippings from Internet sites.

11. Guidelines for Grading Brochures Title 5 Points Plantation owner point of view 15 Points Wife’s point of view 15 Points Male indentured servant’s viewpoint 15 Points Female indentured servant’s viewpoint 15 Points Illustrations 10 Points Complete information 10 Points On Time 10 Points Neatness 5 Points Note. Rubrics for these guidelines are available.