When we we tasked with creating a unit plan for math, we were allowed to choose whatever grade and strand that we liked. Now, when I'm usually faced with this position, I tend to choose something that I'm familiar with because I know better how to complete the task successfully. However, in this case, my group and myself decided to challenge ourselves with a grade that we weren't as comfortable with. All of us agreed that the idea of intermediate math seemed a little bit more daunting, so we went ahead and chose Grade 7 measurement.
Grade 7 measurement definitely seemed like it had possibilities to be a successful unit, but having no experience of creating a math unit plan, the process seemed difficult. So we started like I start every unit plan, and came up with a theme and big idea for the unit. We came up with the idea of having the students create their own buildings for a green space; an idea that we were extremely proud of! But the concept of the unit was just the beginning, and there were definitely some hurdles to come.
First up was the length of the unit. How long should the unit be? How do we make sure that we teach enough in the unit given the time frame? How do we know how much time to give to each lesson? Ahh and the questions continued. Luckily for us some of these questions already had answers. Based on our outlines, we were to make our unit plan for up to 15 days. However, the next questions of how much time to give the students on topics within the lesson still remained. I think that in the classroom, this might be easier to judge because you know your students and their capabilities. However, it is still difficult to gage how much time will be needed to get through certain topics, and we didn't want to give too much/too little time. Despite having been able to come up with a good sequence of lessons, it is an ongoing struggle of unit planning.
Next up we had the trouble of making sure that the unit actually followed the expectations. This seemed like an easy task, but was actually trickier than we expected. We had this great idea of creating the buildings, but we had to make sure that the lessons all fell in to the curriculum. We had to make sure that the students were actually learning what they needed to learn and developing the new skills necessary for Grade 7. It's easy to get wrapped up in the excitement of a lesson or unit plan, but it's important to make sure not to stray so far from the curriculum. At some point, as we found out, you have to dial back on the extravagancies and make sure the students are fully understanding the actual concepts.
Needless to say, these few struggles that we went through were worth it, because now our group definitely feels like we have a successful unit plan. It was not an easy journey to get to where we are. I can definitely see how it would be easy to fall into the routine of just following a textbook. We were able to create a unit that we thought ties in a lot of good concepts of math with real life application. A unit that, after some hurdles, we are proud of.
Great post Elizabeth! I completely understand where you're coming from. Creating a unit plan full of rich and engaging tasks can be difficult at times. There are so many great ideas that you would like to touch upon. However, as you noted, it is important to make sure we are creating lessons that make direct connections with our curriculum. It can be a difficult journey, but the outcome that the students receive is truly rewarding.
ReplyDeleteHi Lizzy, I thought you chose a great topic for this weeks blog. Our group had the same thought as yours, in that we decided to do grade 7 measurement as well. I really like your idea about creating a building design with a green space because it offers flexibility to cross curricular, and it's a relevant topic for students to engage with. I definitely agree with you that trying to figure out how much time to a lot to each lesson. I think this is where flexibility and allotting time for assessment to judge students learning and understanding of the lessons come into place. The goal is to make sure students have a firm understanding of key ideas, so this may mean adding/removing lessons to suit students needs. Great post Lizzy!
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