Understanding By Design Unit Template

The Explorations of Christopher Columbus Title of Unit Spanish, math, English, social studies Subject Time Frame Natalie Beeg, Diana Berlanga, Andrew Otten, Hannah Stelpstra Developed By Grade Level 15 days - 50 minute lessons 8th grade

Stage 1 - Identify Desired Results

Broad Areas of Learning How are the BAL incorporated into this unit?

Essential Question: Was Christopher Columbus a hero or a villain? Throughout this unit students will explore and discover different pros and cons of Christopher Columbus and his legacy.

Cross curricular Competencies How will this unit promote the CCC?

Math: Students will be able to find numerical evidence to support each side of the argument. Spanish: Students will use Columbuss story to compare and contrast villains of Latin America while scaffolding in some vocabulary, writing, and speaking skills. Social Studies: Students will explore various aspects of Christopher Columbus voyage in the New World. English: Students will identify character traits, text features, and compare and contrast different aspects of Columbus.

Learning Outcomes What relevant goals will this unit address? (must come from curriculum; include the designations e.g. IN2.1)

Learning will look different in each class. Mostly, the students will learn how to collect, organize, criticize, scrutinize and interpret data based on the essential question. The students will have different final assessments in each content area to assess learning.

Enduring Understandings What understandings about the big ideas are desired? (what you want students to understand & be able to use several years from now) What misunderstandings are predictable? Students will understand that... Events in history and the way events are taught always the same, so they arent always truthful.

Essential Questions What provocative questions will foster inquiry into the content? (openended questions that stimulate thought and inquiry linked to the content of the enduring understanding) Content specific. Is Christopher Columbus a hero or a villain? How do the people from the Americas view Christopher Columbus? How do people from Spain view Christopher Columbus? Why are we taught that Christopher Columbus was a good guy Is the history we always learn always true?

Related misconceptions
Sometimes we dont teach our students to be learners instead they become knowers. They are always taught to see what we teach them as truth. Through this interdisciplinary unit we are teaching students to learn for themselves what is truth and what is not.

Multicultural, cross-curricular

Knowledge: What knowledge will student acquire as a result of this unit? This content knowledge may come from the indicators, or might also address pre-requisite knowledge that students will need for this unit.

Skills What skills will students acquire as a result of this unit? List the skills and/or behaviours that students will be able to exhibit as a result of their work in this unit. These will come from the indicators.

Students will know...

I analyze and interpret texts about Christopher Columbus I can cite textual evidence about the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus. I can generate an opinion of my own I can compare and contrast historical events I can use Pythagorean Theorem and properties of spheres to calculate distances and volumes. I can write a summary of the events of Christopher Columbuss voyage. I can successfully build a timeline using knowledge obtained through resources given in class. I can analyze the historical effects of Christopher Columbus to generate an opinion if he was a hero or a villain.

Students will be able to

Read Write Interpret Analyze Synthesize Use formulas Compare and contrast Converse Scrutinize Critique Hypothesize Justify position

Stage 2 Assessment Evidence

Performance Task Through what authentic performance task will students demonstrate the desired understandings, knowledge, and skills? (describes the learning activity in story form. Typically, the P.T. describes a scenario or situation that requires students to apply knowledge and skills to demonstrate their understanding in a real life situation. Describe your performance task scenario below) By what criteria will performances of understanding be judged? GRASPS Elements of the Performance Task G Goal Students will take and defend a stance on the essential question: Was Christopher Columbus a hero or a vilian?
What should students accomplish by completing this task?

R Role

What role (perspective) will your students be taking?

A Audience S Situation

The students will take the role of a detective. They will be able to explore, synthesize, and collect data to support their opinion of the essential question. For this assignment, the audience will be the teacher and the peers. To take a stance and defend his or her view on whether Christopher Columbus is a hero or vilian. All content areas have a different product see Weebly.

Who is the relevant audience?

The context or challenge provided to the student.

P Product, Performance

What product/performance will the student create?

S Standards & Criteria for Success

Create the rubric for the Performance Task

Attach rubric to Unit Plan Student Self-Assessment How will students reflect upon or self-assess their learning?

Other Evidence Through what other evidence (work samples, observations, quizzes, tests, journals or other means) will students demonstrate achievement of the desired results? Formative and summative assessments used throughout the unit to arrive at the outcomes.

Written work Collaboration Oral exams Write-up in Spanish Discussions Tests Quizzes Group work Class work Journals Notes Timelines

Mid-way through the unit, all students will take a survey on Google Survey to show their opinion (at that time) and use knowledge to back it up. Questions: Was Christopher a hero or a villain? Write 3 sentences/facts explaining why you feel this way. Do you think your opinion will change?

What teaching and learning experiences will you use to: achieve the desired results identified in Stage 1? equip students to complete the assessment tasks identified in Stage 2? Where are your students headed? Where have they been? How will you make sure the students know where they are going? What experiences do the learners bring to the unit? How have the interests of the learners been ascertained? Have the learners been part of the pre-planning in any way? What individual needs do you anticipate will need to be addressed? Learning environment: Where can this learning best occur? How can the physical environment be arranged to enhance learning?

Stage 3 Learning Plan

How will you engage students at the beginning of the unit? (motivational set)

What events will help students experience and explore the enduring understandings and essential questions in the unit? How will you equip them with needed skills and knowledge? # Lesson Title Lesson Activities CCCs Resources 1

Assess and Reflect (Stage 4)

Considerations
Required Areas of Study: Is there alignment between outcomes, performance assessment and learning experiences?

Comments

Adaptive Dimension: Have I made purposeful adjustments to the curriculum content (not outcomes), instructional practices, and/or the learning environment to meet the learning needs and diversities of all my students?

For struggling students:

For students who need a challenge:

Instructional Approaches:

Do I use a variety of teacher directed and student centered instructional approaches?

Resource Based Learning: Do the students have access to various resources on an ongoing basis?

FNM/I Content and Perspectives/Gender Equity/Multicultural Education: Have I nurtured and promoted diversity while honoring each childs identity?
From: Wiggins, Grant and J. McTighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, ISBN # 0-87120-313-8 (pbk)