Embedded Files
Unit Plan
Unit Plan
When planning a social studies unit, there are three different ways a teacher can organize it. The teacher can organize it chronologically, sequentially, or thematic. In a chronologically organized unit, the students look at cause and effect relationships. In a sequentially organized unit, the students focus on step-by-step procedures of the content. In thematic organized units, the unit is usually interdisciplinary and encourages deeper understandings of the content. Most social studies units are organized chronologically. In the unit plan to the right, the lesson focus is on the Building of a New Nation from the years of the 1770s to the 1790s. It incorporates the different aspects the Founding Fathers implemented into the United States government that still impact us today. The first lessons are over federalism and the organization of the government, and it moves to rights of states, then individual rights. This unit is part of a chronologically organized set of units because the unit before focuses on the American Revolution. Units allow for teachers to organize individual lessons in a sequentially appropriate way, so that student can get the most out of their education. I would use this unit plan in my future because I think it is well organized; however, I might change some of the individual lessons within it because the ones already planned may not be the best fit for my future students.
Direct Instruction
Direct Instruction
The direct instruction lesson model was popularized by Madeline Hunter. It is a teacher centered approach to instruction where the teacher is modeling and delivering instruction to the students. Direct Instruction is good for teaching students facts on a topic, procedures for activities, and basic skills. This instructional method is a traditional way of teaching. This is very similar to the gradual release model, but the direct instruction is only the objective, input, modeling, and check for understanding part of gradual release. The lesson to the right is a direct instruction lesson. This lesson teaches students vocabulary words. It goes through the Frayer Model for vocabulary, but this lesson is designed for the teacher to give students the vocabulary words and the definitions. Vocabulary words are often meant for memorization, so the direct instruction model is a good instructional technique to use. This is a very teacher centered lesson because the teacher is relaying information to the students. I would use the direct instruction model when I need to be explicit with my instruction. I would use this lesson templet when teaching vocabulary again because I think it is a good way for students to initially learn vocabulary.
The parts of Direct Instruction are highlighted in yellow.
Gradual Release
Gradual Release
The gradual release lesson model is very similar to the direct instruction model; however, it adds the anticipatory set, guided practice, independent practice, and closure to direct instruction’s objective, input, modeling, and check for understanding. The gradual release model slowly shifts the focus from the teacher to the students. The gradual release model has built in scaffolds to a lesson because the teacher models the skill for the students, next the teacher and the students do the skill together, and finally, the students do the skill on their own. This lesson plan is good for teaching skills because the students are provided with an example and guidance through their learning. In the lesson to the right, the teacher starts analyzing a primary source, then the students analyze a primary source in groups with the teacher’s guidance, and lastly at the end of the lesson, the students are analyzing a primary source by themselves. I really like the gradual release model because it allows the teacher to give the students the information they need, practice the information with the students, and have the students interact with the information by themselves. I think this is a very beneficial model for students to learn from, and I would teach this lesson to future students.
BDA- Before, During, and After
BDA- Before, During, and After
The Before, During, and After Reading strategy is a great interdisciplinary lesson model. The Before, During, and After Reading strategy allows the students to engage with the text in three different ways. In the Before part of the lesson, the students are building background knowledge and predicting what the text will be about. In the During part of the lesson, the students are interacting with the text to promote comprehension of the text. In the After part of the lesson, the students are reflecting and summarizing what they have read. This can be interdisciplinary because the students can read a fiction or nonfiction social studies text and employ the BDA reading strategy. In the lesson to the right, the students and teacher read a fiction book about economics, and throughout the reading the teacher is doing a think aloud to help students with each stage of the BDA reading strategy. The BDA lessons are a great way to promote comprehension of text, and I would use the BDA lesson in the future when teaching interdisciplinary reading and social studies.
Page updated
Report abuse