Philosophy: General Philosophy Statement
> Philosophy on Teaching Social Studies
> Curriculum Unit
Curriculum Unit Plan
Secondary History/Social Studies
Methods
M.A.T. Program
University of Alaska Anchorage
Barbara L. Wilt
The Curriculum Unit Plan below was created as part of the Secondary History/Social Studies Methods course at the University of Alaska Anchorage in the Fall of 1998. The purposes of this particular unit are described in the Goals and Objectives below. The Unit is designed to address the Alaska Social Studies Standards as well as the National Standards for History created by the National Center for History in the Schools at UCLA.
A primary reason for putting this unit on the Web is to afford other students in the class as well as other teachers access to the work. Comments and suggestions are welcome. We hope to encourage other teachers and student-teachers to put their curriculum units on the Web.
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Essay: Basis for Unit
The essay is intended to establish that the issue that the unit explores is: (1) historically significant; (2) genuinely controversial among historians; (3) relevant to students’ lives; and (4) researchable.
Self-Determinism
and the American Revolution
Goals & Objectives
As noted above, the unit must address state and national standards. In addition, the unit needs clear objectives so that student progress can be measured to inform both the teacher and the students.
Activities & Assessment
For each of the activities, the unit includes the following :
- The goals and objectives the activity is designed to address.
- the mental tasks (recognizing, identifying, memorizing, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating. Etc.) that the teacher anticipates the students will be doing while engaged in the activity.
- the "hook" -- that is, an activity designed to pull students into the unit (sometimes referred to as an "anticipatory set").
- the materials — texts, videos, audiotapes, CD-ROMs, etc. — required.
- the assessment activity that would help both the teacher and students know whether they were achieving the objectives for the activity.
In addition, the activities, taken together, should meet the standards for authenticity established by Newman, Secada, & Wehlage in A Guide to Authentic Instruction. These are: (1) higher order thinking; (2) deep knowledge: (3) substantive conversation; and (4) connections to the world beyond the classroom.
We know that on-going, "formative" assessment of student learning that students themselves monitor is a critical dimension of learning. Consequently, to the extent possible, assessment is interwoven with instructional activities.
[Description of Unit Activities]
Lesson Plan/Alternative Activities
The assignment required that each student produce a sample lesson plan from the unit they created. In addition, the individual lesson plans will take into account the appropriateness of activities for the following students: Non-readers; poor or emergent readers; emotional, vision, hearing, or other physically impaired students.
Additional Links
My Other Educational Web Sites May Be Accessed At:
Portfolio: Evidence Rationale Statement
Curriculum Unit: Self-Determinism and the American Revolution
This unit was designed as part of the M.A.T. methods course taught at UAA. It is a cohesive unit consistent with my personal philosophy on group learning and meets requirements as stipulated in the professional standards two through seven. Details would be too exhaustive for the purpose of this statement; this evidence is only provided as a supplementary source. Yet, the unit demonstrates consistency between my beliefs and practice.
Evidence meets standard: Philosophy 1.2
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