EDA-236

EDA-236 UNIT 1, 4 WEEK UNIT

I selected this artifact that I feel is best because this is a rigourous, 4-week, fifth grade unit. This unit is relevant to students lives as well as it follows the outlines and expectations in the district I would like to work in, Lincoln Park. This unit includes, mini-lessons, making-meaning lessons, as well as a 20-day plan for what to specifically teach in regards to the objectives. 

I have gained a lot of skills with this project. I have gained great curriculum development skills. Writing a unit that includes reading, writing, and literacy skills involves careful planning and organization. I planned learning objectives, activities, assessments, and more. I developed skills in designing a cohesive unit that aligned with common core standards and catered to the needs and interest of fifth graders. I also deepened my understanding of literacy concepts, reading strategies, writing techniques and language development through researching and selecting appropriate texts, resources, and instructional materials for the unit. I also gained skills and knowledge within differentiation. Creating a reading and writing unit involves considering the diverse needs and abilities of students in the classroom. I learned ways to differentiate instruction to support learners at various levels as well as including students who are ELL. I also learned how to develop assessments to measure student progress and understanding throughout the unit. The last thing that I take away from this project is collaboration. Writing a reading, writing, and literacy unit often involves collaboration with colleagues, administrators, and other stakeholders. In this project I got to research some of those items myself but I also got to collaborate with a classmate in creating this whole unit. 

This particular artifact addresses three standards. First, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.1: Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. This unit addresses this standard because students are asked to use direct quotations in an opinion writing piece, they are asked to draw inferences from texts in their readings, as well as use exactly what the text says to make inferences quite often in this unit. The next standard is CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.2: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. Students are asked to determine the overall message of mulitple texts reguarding changes that occur. The outstanding theme of the unit, along with the theme of several readings, are that even though change might be scary, it can be a positive thing in life. The last standard is CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.3: Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text. This standard is addressed in the unit when we do scenario based learning. Students are asked to re-enact scenarios, read about scenarios, and make up scenarios in this unit about change. Students are to evaluate and explain the relationships of characters and make inferences about them. 

Overall, I have had a lot of professional group in my understanding of how a unit integrates with daily reading and writing blocks.