1. Date and Reflection

The Unit Plan is co-constructed with students that makes connections between units (big ideas) and ideas within the unit. Because it is done WITH students, they are practicing collaboration and the teacher can use Phase 1 as formative assessment so teachers know what students bring. 
We worked together as a group to develop a unit about Talking Together,  The activity allowed us to grapple with the process and utilize the checklist.  We then added feedback in the gallery walk, then reviewed our feedback. 
This would be a great application for some of the initiatives that we work with to guide learning (for example, PBIS)

7/23/15

I participated in a phone conference with Helen and Jocelyn on August 29, 2017. We discussed the components of the Unit Organizer. We were provided online resources to help us develop our drafts.

I found creating the draft of the Unit Organizer easy. There is a natural flow to it, which I believe my students will enjoy and understand. The practice of creating the draft allowed me to identify potential uses for the Organizer in my classroom. I see the potential to use it continually through the year and when it comes to reviewing material for the SOL the organizers could be used to reference and guide students in the review. 
While I made my draft of the Unit Organizer on the Solar System. I intend to use the Organizer to launch our next unit of Topographic mapping next week. 

I participated in a phone conference on 8/29. During this conference we discussed the parts of the organizer. I created a sample and sent it to Jocelyn. We spoke by phone on 9/25 to discuss. I had some difficulty because of the material I had selected. I will look at our curriculum framework and create a  second draft with different material. 

UO draft

Unit Organizer Routine draft submitted to Helen Barrier and Jocelyn Washburn for review on September 26, 2017.

After participating in a virtual conference call, reading the Stratagem article, and watching Organizer Routine video Parts I and II, I completed a draft UO for World Geography. The unit is Physical Geography, covering climate regions, climate, weather, and ecological processes of the world regions.

Posted on 9/30/17

I used this draft to help organize and prioritize the unit on Rocks that was taught beginning 9/29/17.  The unit will culminate in an assessment on 10/12/17.  The organizer was helpful in collecting my thoughts and ideas about the unit, and the order in which concepts were taught.  It gave my students an idea of what was coming up in the unit.