"S" is for Students...."T" is for Tasks
As you develop your unit plan, consider:
- What do your students know, what can they do, and what are they learning to do?
- What do you want your students to learn? What are the important understandings and core concepts you want students to develop within the learning segment?
- What educational technologies do you have access to? What ed tech do the students have access to?
- What instructional strategies, learning tasks, and assessments will you design to support student learning and language use?
- How is the teaching you plan informed by your knowledge of your students?
Necessary Unit Plan Components (STAIR)
- Students- context for learning
- Tasks- content and ISTE-S standards & learning objectives associated with the standards
- Assessments- formal and informal
- Instructional tasks- 5 embedded ed tech components
- Reflective- component
1. Students. Before a teacher can begin to plan a lesson, they must first identify and analyze the characteristics of the students. This information will guide future decision making during the design of the lesson. In other words, who are the students and what do they already know? Student diagnosis breaks down into three key areas:
- general characteristics
- specific beginning competencies (knowledge, skills, and attitudes about a topic)
- any required or needed supports, accommodations, or modifications that will affect your instruction.
These students might include:
For example, here is a analysis of a 2nd grade classroom with the three key areas identified:
General
- English language learners
- Gifted students needing greater support or challenges
- Students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or 504 plans
- Struggling readers
- Underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge
For example, here is a analysis of a 2nd grade classroom with the three key areas identified:
General
- 25 students (12 female/13 male)
- Homogenous classroom culture
- No English Language Learners (ELLs)
- 50% qualify for free and reduced lunch
- Mostly 7-8 years of age
- No major behavioral issues
- 2 boys on Individualized Education Plans (IEPs)- low learners, have shown limited academic growth, undiagnosed ADHD issues.
- 7 students in a reading pullout program
- 1 student works with a speech therapist
- 4 students could qualify for Talented and Gifted (TAG) services in reading/3 TAG in math
- Kinesthetic/audio/inquiry based learning
- Only short attention spans for direct instruction
- Have had iPads for more than one year
- Familiar with basic functioning of their iPads (logins, basic navigation, playing with apps)
- No internet research skills
2. Tasks. Effective teachers begin their instructional planning by determining what tasks they want student so know and be able to do. The STAIR Model follows an increasingly popular approach called backwards design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). Backwards design begins with the end. Teachers first identify the desired end results in terms of knowledge and skills that students should attain. Begin with the required content and technology standards (CCSS & ISTE-S). List them first.
For example, here are the Common Core content & ISTE-S standards for a second grade research paper unit plan:
Common Core Content Standards
Text Type and Purpose
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
Production and Distribution of Writing
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.5
With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.6
With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
ISTE-S
Communication and Collaboration:
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
Research and information fluency:
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
The next step is to identify your central focus, or big idea. What do you want students to be able to know as a result of this lesson? What questions or big ideas drive your unit? The big idea is a short description of the important understandings and core concepts you want students to develop. The big idea should go beyond a list of facts & skills and align with the content standards and learning objectives.
For example, here is a big idea with core concepts for that second grade research paper.
How do we share and explain ideas through writing? This unit will introduce students to the steps necessary to research, produce, and share a piece of informational text using 21st century best practices.
Finally, you want to specifically list your learning objectives as specifically as possible. What do you want students to be able to do as a result of each lesson? This should include academic language and vocabulary objectives as well. Well-stated objectives name the learners for whom the objective is intended, the action (behavior) to be demonstrated, the conditions under which the behavior or performance will be observed, and the degree to which the new knowledge or skill must be mastered. For this class, the condition will include the use of technology and media to support learning and to assess achievement of the standard or learning objectives.
A unit plan may contain several individual lessons. Each lesson should have measurable objective using the ABCD format:
For example, here is a lesson objective for that 2nd grade unit:
For example, here are the Common Core content & ISTE-S standards for a second grade research paper unit plan:
Common Core Content Standards
Text Type and Purpose
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.2
Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
Production and Distribution of Writing
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.5
With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.6
With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
ISTE-S
Communication and Collaboration:
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.
- Interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media
Research and information fluency:
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
- Plan strategies to guide inquiry
- Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media
- Evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks
- Process data and report results
The next step is to identify your central focus, or big idea. What do you want students to be able to know as a result of this lesson? What questions or big ideas drive your unit? The big idea is a short description of the important understandings and core concepts you want students to develop. The big idea should go beyond a list of facts & skills and align with the content standards and learning objectives.
For example, here is a big idea with core concepts for that second grade research paper.
How do we share and explain ideas through writing? This unit will introduce students to the steps necessary to research, produce, and share a piece of informational text using 21st century best practices.
Finally, you want to specifically list your learning objectives as specifically as possible. What do you want students to be able to do as a result of each lesson? This should include academic language and vocabulary objectives as well. Well-stated objectives name the learners for whom the objective is intended, the action (behavior) to be demonstrated, the conditions under which the behavior or performance will be observed, and the degree to which the new knowledge or skill must be mastered. For this class, the condition will include the use of technology and media to support learning and to assess achievement of the standard or learning objectives.
A unit plan may contain several individual lessons. Each lesson should have measurable objective using the ABCD format:
- A- Audience, the specific group of students
- B- Behavior, the verb describing the new capability the students will have after the instruction (Use the Helpful Hundred for help)
- C- Conditions, what tools or materials will student be allowed (or not) to use to demonstrate mastery of the objective
- D- Degree- the degree of accuracy or proficiency by which minimally acceptable performance will be judged.
For example, here is a lesson objective for that 2nd grade unit: