There have been many changes to this Unit and outlined below are tables and screen shots displaying how I have changed the Unit and why. I have made a list of the recommendations I put forward based on the original unit and added many more elements to enable it to now be called a Unit of Inquiry rather than a Unit simply created to cover Curriculum content. Overall changes and appearance of the Unit Context For Learning: One of the major changes on top of my list of things I wanted to make sure definitely happened was creating a Context For Learning. A context for learning describes the scene in which the Unit was created and encompasses a more comprehensive list of what is involved. You will see that it includes special needs, different learning styles, class structure, theories and reasoning behind each lesson. It lists all the resources that are needed as well as an overview of how the students will be assessed at the end of the unit and reminders and suggestions for how the teacher can assess themselves also. One of the best additions is the use of what learning skills the students will walk away with at the end of the unit. Lessons: You will see I have changed the topic and structure of the lessons quite a bit. This is because I have now made sure each lesson includes higher order thinking skills, deeper questioning, lessons for reflection of the topic and internal emotional reflection as well as time to evaluate the sources they will be using. Also - There was a girl in the class with Down Syndrome so she has now been catered for in every lesson. Unit overview: It now is much more visually appearing and set out in a user friendly way with less text and more dot points. It also includes the links to the Australian Curriculum as well as different focus questions to enable deeper thinking and higher order thinking skills. I have created my own Unit Planning template as well which is now clear in showing Kath Murdoch's Phases of Inquiry as well as different elements of each Lesson. I though this was crucial in the Unit Overview so that the teacher has a good background knowledge of the features of the unit.
Table of Lesson Changes made by Author. Taken from Author's unit Recommended changes As you can see above and within the document attached, the lessons were changed quite drastically to incorporate all the necessary inquiry approaches. The below table outlines the specific recommendations that were suggested and how they were incorporated into the new unit structure.
Table created by Author Process of ChangeFigure 1 - Evidence of a Table of Contents. Screen Shot by Author from New Unit Figure 2 - Evidence of a Context For Learning. Screen shot by Author taken from New Unit Figure 3 - Evidence of Change of Essential Questions and Integration. Screen shot taken by Author from New Unit Figure 4 - Evidence of Unit Planning Guide. Screen shot taken from Author from New Unit Figure 5 - Evidence of Real Life Connections. Screen shot taken by Author from New Unit Figure 6 - Evidence of clear connections to Bloom's Taxonomy. Screen shot taken by Author from New Unit Figure 7 - Evidence of catering for special needs. Screen shot taken by Author from New Unit Figure 8 - Evidence of inclusion of Evaluation of Sources. Screen shot taken by Author from New Unit Figure 9 - Evidence of Student Choice. Screen shot taken by Author from New Unit Figure 10 - Evidence of Inclusion of Kath Murdoch's Inquiry Phases. Screen shot taken by Author from New Unit Self Evaluation for teacher. Peer/Individual Reflection of presentation Rubric to give students for their presentation (at the beginning of unit) Teacher's checklist prior to teaching/re-writing the unit Whilst this unit took quite some time to change and re-write, it was an extremely rewarding process. I will outline in my final reflection all the challenges and breakthroughs I made during the re-vamping process. I also made sure I created a document which was a tad more visually appealing. I know that it wasn't a vital component to make the unit 'look good' but I feel if the document is dull and boring, I wont want to pick it up!
Therefore, I added a little more sparkle and colour to spice it up as well as change the formatting around! I would love you to next read my reflection of the overall semester as well as how I found this Module of the Unit.
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Miss Megan ElizabethAustralian living in Johannesburg, Primary School Teacher, IT Teacher, World traveller |
The Yogi of Inquiry Learning and Re-search