1. Identify the unit, course, grade level for the unit, and unit length (assuming a 50-55 minute class period, five days per week—this can be adjusted for a block schedule)
Unit: Washington, DC: The City We Love
Grade level: 3
Unit Length: 2-3 Weeks
2. Explain your personal stake in the unit—why is it meaningful to you?
This unit is meaningful to me because Washington is the city I now live in. It is important for us all to know where we come from. While we all come from varied ethnic backgrounds, this is where we are now, and it is important for students to have a good understanding of their community and the resources it can provide.
3. Identify the unit topic and associated content and skills standards that are to be taught in the course
The unit topic is Washington, DC and the unit will cover DCPS Standards 3.1 and 3.1.1-3.1.6.
a. What are the big ideas that students should develop an enduring understanding of in this unit?
The big ideas students should develop from this unit is how to utilize a map of Washington, DC and gain a thorough understanding of the city’s importance as well as the resources it has to offer the students.
b. What is important for students to know and be able to do? What are the facts, concepts, principles, and skills that will promote the learning of the core ideas?
It is important for students to be able to navigate the city. They should learn how to read the metro map, the road map, and they should definitely know how to find important sights around the city. Students should be able to tell the difference between the various neighborhoods such as Dupont Circle, Georgetown, Foggy Bottom, etc). To promote learning, gaining knowledge of their town and what it has to offer will help motivate students. Learning how to read a map is also a useful skill that will help guide the process of the unit.
c. What knowledge, skills, and attitudes do we want students to encounter or be familiar with in this unit?
Ultimately, we want students to learn how to use a map, but more importantly, we want to develop an understanding of the city and learn how to fully utilize its potential for education and for entertainment. We want students to know about the historical sights as well as a brief synopsis of the “why” they are there. We want students to know how to navigate the city and how the metro works. We want students to understand how Washington has changed over the years to become the invaluable resource that it is today, especially within the students’ own neighborhood.
4. Identify the essential questions for the unit
What is a community?
What are some of the major historical sights and why are they significant?
What are the resources in your own neighborhood that you can utilize for learning?
What are the resources in the school’s neighborhood that can be utilized?
In what ways does the community benefit the school?
5. Identify/explain how student learning will be assessed
a. What indicators or evidence will demonstrate student learning?
Student learning will be assessed in several ways. One way I would like to assess student learning is through a project in which each of the students researches a different historical sight and presents it to the class. Another way I might want to assess student learning is through a full class project in which the class tries to utilize the community for some school gain (money for textbooks, venue for a play, tickets to a play, etc). Another way I would perhaps assess student learning is through a progressive journal. Similar to the neighborhood study, I would ask students to keep a journal where they find and describe various resources in the neighborhood as well as the entire city. Students would write entries into the journal based on first hand visits and through simple interviews of friends, family, etc. in which they ask about the educational resources, what they can be used for and how to access them. The DCPS standards provided an example for student assessment that I really liked in which each students draw their own map of a separate part of DC and the maps are combined to make a class atlas of the city.
b. How do the assessments reflect the content, skills, and attitudes outlined above?
The assessments reflect the content, skills, and attitudes above because the assessments try to focus on answering the essential questions as well as delve deeper into the aspired knowledge we hope the children gain. The historical sights project gives them background knowledge on the history of the city. The atlas gives them practice with maps as well as a better understanding of where various resources of the city are located. The class project gives should give them a deeper understanding of what it means to be a member of a community and how to utilize that community for its resources. The journal will provide students with a detailed list of various resources and how those resources can best be used.
c. How will you know what students do and don’t know at the beginning, middle, and end of the unit
At the beginning of the unit, I will analyze what students know about communities through discussions with the class about communities to get a feel for their background knowledge. Then we will delve into the historical sights and maps of DC moving along with the class atlas. As the unit progresses, we will begin the community project which the sophistication of their work will help me understand what they have gained from the unit. The journal is something they will be keeping throughout the unit and I something I will be monitoring throughout. Hopefully, as they learn more about the city, their entries will be more substantial as the unit progresses. I might end the unit with a simple map quiz asking students to locate various historical sights and community resources as well as have them write a reflection on the community project and their journal.
6. Sequence the content, skills, and attitudes identified in point 3 to build toward the assessments identified in point 5 (these will be the daily lessons)
a. How do knowledge and performance skills need to be sequenced?
The knowledge skills need to come first. First students need to learn about the city and its history and how to use the map, as well as what a community is. After the knowledge has been acquired, that is when the hands on work will start and students will really begin getting to know their community.
b. How can the knowledge and performance skills be most engaging for students?
I’m trying to make the skills be most engaging to the students by providing them opportunities for hands on work as well as plenty of chances to share their newfound knowledge with each other.
c. In what ways will students be able to practice and refine what they learn?
Again, the class project provides a way for the students to refine what they are learning as well as the class atlas. These will hopefully develop their knowledge and skills so they can use it in the future.
d. What connections exist between this unit and other content and skills students might encounter in other courses?
Students will definitely experience connections between this unit and other units throughout the year as well as in future history classes. Being a part of such a historical city offers so much more to those students as things such as the White House isn’t just a place on a map, it’s a part of their community.
e. How can students work together to help each other learn?
The students will be working together throughout the unit. They will work together on the community project as well as collaborate and share entries from their journal with each other to help the other students learn about different resources.
7. Identify where and how instruction can be differentiated once the teacher has diagnostic information from pre-tests and other formative assessments in the unit
I believe the curriculum offers a good deal in terms of natural differentiation. The journals, projects, and maps allow students to express themselves creatively and get what they can out of the unit. As for direct instruction, that can be differentiated by varying my lesson plans, incorporating videos, discussions, music (gogo music, to learn about DC culture, for example). Walks around the neighborhood with discussions of important institutions can help.
8. Identify how community and cultural resources will be incorporated into this unit
As previously mentioned, the resources will be incorporated through the use of journals and the class project in which students work together to use community resources to help better the school or to help better the community. Students will be learning the true value of their communities.
9. Identify the materials needed to complete this unit
Paper, pencils, journals, maps (old and new), relevant handouts on various resources around the community, guided internet practice for historical sight practice and community research, coloring utensils, music cd’s (gogo in particular)
