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Sense and Meaning

Given the topic of the Constitution, this particular unit has been one of the units that has been difficult to connect students to because they view it as a boring document that does not impact them yet because they are only in middle school, yet this is actually our most meaningful unit. Each lesson begins by connecting to their prior knowledge in their Do Now portion, whether it be through Word Clouds, KWL charts, or review games of the previous lessons. This is important in activating their prior knowledge and building the connections so the new information has a better chance of making it to the long term memory. When writing my podcasts, I started each podcast by connecting new topic with the rest of the unit and weaving this prior knowledge throughout the podcast. While connecting to prior knowledge is important in ever subject, teaching an entire unit about one singular, yet important, document can be a large task because students don't understand that everything that they are learning is connected because it all comes from the same piece of work. When they learn the principles of the Constitution, they will see that these principles are used within the branches of government, the amendments, and the preamble. The entire foundation of the document is based on the same principles. If they don't understand one aspect of the Constitution, it makes it significantly harder for them to understand another part of the Constitution. The Constitution directly impacts what these students are able to do as people who lives in the United States and the rights that they have and in the amendment unit, my goal is to connect students with the Constitution by showing them all the rights that they have as citizens, which often leads to students building an emotional connection to the material. In each lesson, I also try to build multiple access points for the information; videos, charts, graphic organizers, pictures, discussions, group work, and more are utilized throughout the unit to appeal in as many ways to student learning so that they can better learn the material.

Wormeli, Rick. “Making Sense: More Than Making Meaning.” AMLE, Aug. 2010, www.amle.org/BrowsebyTopic/WhatsNew/WNDet/TabId/270/ArtMID/888/ArticleID/256/Making-Sense-More-Than-Making-Meaning.aspx.

Primacy-Recency

In my virtual setting, my classes meet for sixty minute blocks, which under the concept of primacy-recency, would be too long to spend on one specific topic or assignment if the goal is to optimize learning. Throughout most of the lessons, they are divided either into three twenty minute learning episodes or a forty minute learning episode and a twenty minute learning episode in order to optimize learning and processing. Shorter learning episodes lead to more retention. With integrating podcasts into these assignments, I wanted to be sure that the podcast was not too long and would not lose student retention. Each podcast is completed during the prime-time 1 portion of the learning episode and immediately followed by down time to practice and apply the information learning in the lesson on their note sheets. Brain breaks are used to divide up some of the learning episodes, especially lessons that are heavy on videos, in order to give the brain a chance to process the information better. Additionally, prime-time 2 in each lesson includes the lesson closure so that content is reinforced at the end of each lesson, although a variety of different methods are used depending on the lesson. Debriefing at the end of a lesson is important and will reinforce the key concepts of each lesson.

Sousa, David A. How the Brain Learns. Corwin, 2006. https://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/secondary/math/download/file/How%20the%20Brain%20Learns%20by%20David%20Sousa.pdf

Transfer

There were two major aspects of transfer to consider when lesson planning - how would students use prior knowledge in learning the new information and how would they transfer what they were learning for future use. Each lesson in this unit builds heavily off the previous lesson so activating that connection at the beginning of each class was key for the open of each lesson. In our discussions on the 2020 election and in our lessons on the Declaration of Independence, as a part of Unit 2, we heavily discuss the founding principles of the United States and the way that the colonists feel about the British. This content needs to transfer to Unit 4, the Constitution unit, because the Constitution is specifically designed with the principles and causes of the American Revolution in mind. Transferring the Constitution forward is key because students need to know what rights they have as citizens when they are out in the "real world." To maxamize transfer forward, I incorporated a lot of interpersonal and intrapersonal learning with discussion boards that are followed by discussions in the meet, as well as small group discussions. Students also complete current event assignments whenever our class meets on Fridays and during Unit 4, I select current events for students that show how students are impacted by the Constitution so that they understand that this is not a document that specifically starts impacting them when they turn 18, but actually impacts them right now.

Multiple Intelligences

Because I wanted to emphasize to students how the Constitution impacts them, I incorporated interpersonal and intrapersonal lessons, especially for Lessons 6 and 7, which focus on the amendments. Visual-Spatial is used throughout this unit when students have to design their own infographics in Lesson 1 and when students create their Help Wanted advertisements in Lesson 5. Visual-Spatial is also utilized when students make mindmaps and word clouds because it provides a way for the brain to make visual connections between the information. They will also use that visual-spatial skills, along with interpersonal and intrapersonal, when they create their own government on Google Slides while working with a group. Students also have a choice in Lesson 4 on how they want to represent their principle of the Constitution and giving students the choice between a poem, a speech, a comic strip, or a poster, appeals to visual-spatial and linguistic. The virtual setting limits my ability to incorporate Bodily-Kinesthetic learning, especially because with 8th graders, they are reluctant to turn on cameras, but there will be opportunities for students with strong bodily-kinesthetic intelligence to have some movement throughout the lesson with our brain breaks.

Gardner, Howard, et al. “The Theory of Multiple Intelligences.” Howard Gardner, howardgardner01.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/443-davis-christodoulou-seider-mi-article.pdf.

Learning Styles

In converting this unit to a virtual lesson, it was not difficult to ensure that the needs of visual, auditory, and reading students were met, but it was difficult to find a way to appeal to kinesthetic learning styles. When creating the podcasts, which works well for auditory learning, the video aspect appeals to visual learning and I designed the video to be complementary with pictures and short text. There are also transcripts provided for reading. I think that it is beneficial to incorporate kinesthentics into brain breaks. I typically give game winners (from the beginning of class) the choice between breathing excercises from Youtube or Calm or stretches from Youtube videos of from Brain Break Bingo. It is difficult for students to sit in front of the computer for an entire hour so it is important to encourage them to move throughout class.

While most of the lessons are based on students working individually, especially given the inclusion of podcasts, there are opportunities for students to work in groups. Students will work in groups in Lesson 2, Lesson 4, and in the unit project. Students will also interact with one another through Jamboard and class discussions.

SAMR

Because this unit will be taught entirely virtually, it requires a lot of substitution. Google Meet will substitute our physical classroom, and while I cannot replicate the posters, design, desks, and other features of my classroom in Google Meet, I can still attempt to build the same community and connection with the class. The chat and the extesion Google Meet Plus must also serve as a substitution for talking to my students, unless they choose to unmute themselves and respond that way. The breakout room feature on Google Meets also substitutes for my students' ability to work in groups. I also utilize Jamboard as an augmentation of class discussions becuase students now have the ability to write, draw, and discuss a topic all on the same screen, rather than looking at it on the smart board. By adding podcasts to this lesson, it is a form of augmentation, because while does replace an in class lecture, it does allow for students to rewind, replay, and have a visual aid to the information, so it's not the same as substitution. Including podcasts from other sources, that are not teacher created, is a form of redefinition because many podcasts allow students to hear from experts in the field of politics and government, like in the Civics 101 podcast that I selected, and students would not be able to hear from these experts in our regular classroom. Some examples of modification throughout the unit are the use of collaborative mind maps on bubbl.us in Lesson 4 and the unit project, where students collobrate on the same Google Slide show while discussing the project in a Google Meet and utilize a variety of web resources to amplify their project.

TPACK

For this unit, I drew on resources that specifically fall under the concept of TPACK. Throughout the unit, students have multiple opportunities to explore readings and games from iCivics, which is one of the best resources that I could draw on for this unit. Although it seems strange to rely on games for a unit, the Constitution can be seen as a bit dry and boring and games help students stay engaged. The games designed by iCivics are high quality, highly accurate, and built by an organization founded by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. There are very few people more qualified to lead my students in their civic education than Sandra Day O'Connor. I also prefer many of the readings that iCivics has over those of sites like Newsela because the information is chunked and includes images, which works better for many of my 504 and IEP students. Additionally, I drew on TedED, Crash Course, Newsela, and the Civics 101 Podcast. All of these are reputable educational resources. I particularly enjoy using TedED because the animated videos are not done in a childish manner, which makes them age appropriate, but more engaging for my students than watching history experts discuss the same information.

For technology, my students have been entirely virtual for this school year so I relied on the same technologies that I have seen work this school year. Each student is given a Chromebook by the school district and is familiar with Google Suite. Our class meets daily on Google Meet, which is not the best video platform, but it is required by the school.

Bloom's Taxonomy

In each lesson, the intention is to have students begin at the bottom categories of Bloom's Taxonomy, with remembering and understanding because we are activating the prior knowledge and assessing what students remember or understand. As the lesson progresses, students move up the taxonomy and produce at least one learning product that fits either the apply, analyze, or evaluate category. While many of the objectives involve the word "create," which is the highest order of thinking on Bloom's Taxonomy, they often utilize the apply, analyze, or evaluate category thinking skills than they do the create. For example, when students create an infographic comparing and constrating two different forms of government in Lesson 1, they are using their analysis thinking skills. The unit draws on higher order thinking skills, especially in the unit project, as students will create their own government, while utilizing key concepts that we learned in class. Students are not replicating the United States government, or any country's government, but are taking their own approach and developing their own ideas about what a government should be like.

504 and IEP Students

Each lesson includes accomodations for ELL, 504, and IEP students. With the exception of any extraodinary circumstances, most of the IEPs and 504s run in similar veins so I often modify assignments in a similar manner. For example, both groups of students receive extra time on assignments, varying between usually 50% more time or 3 additional days, depending on the students. For the unit test and DBQ, the Google Forms are chunked into sections so that the material is not overwhelming for students. IEP students and 504 students are also permitted to take breaks outside of our brain break time. Many of the charts and graphic organizers will be partially filled in for IEP and 504 students or formatted in a fill-in-the-blanks manner. On the unit project, IEP students will also be encouraged by my co-teacher to work on a specific section of the project that has been pre-modified for the students so that their group mates do not know that the assignment has been changed slightly. Additionally, IEP and 504 students benefit from choice boards and incorporating multiple learning styles, which is included in the unit and explained in the Brain Research section.

ELL Students

Newsela and iCivics both include many materials on social studies subjects that are intended for ELL students. This allows me to post the proper materials depending on individual students needs. There is a great deal of content vocabulary in this unit and it is extremely complex. Students will need additional vocabulary support, on top of the Unit 4 Vocabulary. Additionally, iCivics has two of the games we play in this unit, Branches of Power and Do I Have a Right?, in an ELL format. Throughout the unit, I often asks for students' experience with what they know about government and ELL students will bring a unique perspective because they can share students about a different government than that of the United States and I would encourage those students who are willing to share to tell the class what their experience.

Many of the modifications for 504 and IEP students are also beneficial for enrichment. Providing student choice is beneficial because students can choose whichever options they want and all of the choice boards within this unit have different levels to appeal to all students. On the unit project, students are able to choose the format of their project and the type of government and use higher order thinking to create an entire government of their own design. Students also have the opportunity to move at their own pace with the use of podcasts and EdPuzzle. Additionally there are a variety of extension activities and materials provided. Students are encouraged to play the iCivics games "Do I Have a Right?" or "Race to Ratify" whenever they finish early because it uses hgher order thinking. Throughout the school year, students are always allowed to play on iCivics in my class because while I have chosen to focus on the games "Do I Have a Right?", "Race to Ratify," and "Branches of Power," there are other games on iCivics that allow them to play the role of the Supreme Court, the role of the president, the role of the legislative branch, and see their civic responsibility. On my teaching website, students also have access to a variety of websites, including a Wakelet page which is an archive of resources for students to explore. I create a Wakelet page for each unit because students often want to do a deep dive into topics that we don't have time to discuss more fully in class.