Reading Note

Steppingstone chapter 7: Planning Classroom Units

An integral unit is a portion of a course or program that has a clear thematic focus and
that:
1. Has internal unity: this is all responsibility of a teacher, because a teacher has to
think about the activity, or anything else they want to do in the class.
2. Has external consistency: this steps talks about whole concept of the school,
because teachers have to make a target of subject discipline, where school can
have better plan to learn.
3. Includes pertinent and meaningful aspects of reality that are related to, and may
even go beyond, the main discipline focus of the unit: this step talks about beyond
the general concept, because teacher have to make a plan, from where students
can learn about diversity and have a good relationship with each other.
4. Design, balance, and sequence learning activities. Include a motivational
introductory activity and a culminating summative one.
5. Review linkages with state or provincial standards and/or curriculum guides,
adding or revising learning activities accordingly.
6. Plan a schedule.
7. Select your resources.
8. Plan student assessment. Throughout the unit, consider what evidence will show
that you have met your intents.
9. Review the effectiveness of your unit.

Nine Steps in Planning Classroom Units:

1. Consider the Significance and Relevance of a Topic: As a teacher, we have to be
more careful with topic or the lesson, because our topic will determine what our
students are learning. Teacher should always pick up the topic which is relevant to
our topic, and in which teachers are confident, so when teacher deliver the lesson,
students can learn good and right knowledge.
2. Brainstorm Ideas: A teacher should always make a brainstorm questions or ideas
after figuring out the topic for the unit. Teacher should make a large or big idea
brainstorm questions, so that they can share with their friend teachers, because
sometime other teachers can take each other class.
3. Formulate your unit focus: in this part, enduring understanding is very important,
because teacher have to make sure that what students have learn from the lesson.
Teacher have to help students about what they have learn, how will they apply in
their life.
4. Design and choose learning activities: teacher have to think always about their
topic before making learning activities, because activities should ab always
sufficient for the students. If learning activities are the relevant with topic, and
revising the unit, then that will be effective for the students.
5. Incorporate government standards: A teacher have to think about learning
outcomes of the units, because while making units, teacher have to think that what
outcomes I will get from this unit or topic.
6. Plan a schedule: Basically this means, teacher should make a plan for the
teaching. How much time teacher will use on each unit or lesson for week, and
have to make how many units will cover in a year. This is a way of managing time
for the class.
7. Select resources: A teacher have to think and teach about using resources, because
there are many types of resources which teacher and students can use in the
school. Big text book, media or internet resource, because internet has so many
resources which students and teacher can get for good reason.
8. Plan student assessment: A teacher have to think wisely while making assessment
and assessing students, because students have to get an assessment which is
relevant to topic, and from where students can learn new ideas and knowledge.
9. Review the effectiveness of your unit: A teacher always have to review their units,
so that they can find out whether their lesson went well or not. If units didnt work
well then they can improve their units for the next lesson. This is how a teacher
can make good and an effective units.

Reference

Van Brummelen, Barro. (2002). Steppingstone (2nd ed.). Colorado Springs.