Creating Thematic Units Using Inquiry - BCTELA October 23, 2013

Multiple Pathways: Diverse TextsBCTELA Conference 2013

Creating thematic Units Using Inquiry

Presented By Jonathan Vervaet@jonathanvervaet

October 25th, 2013

Inquiry is important because…

“If students have not been told where they are going, it is

unlikely that they will arrive.” – Shirley Clark

The Plan

• Backwards Design planning.• Enduring Understandings• Essential Questions /

Inquiry• Theme vs Genre Based• Summative Assessment• Curriculum Mapping

Understanding by Design

Backwards DesignCurricular Design

McTighe & Wiggins, 2001

Understanding by Design (UbD)

A framework for designing curriculum units, performance assessments, and instruction that lead your students to deep understanding of the content you teach.

Wiggins and McTighe (2005)

Understanding by Design (UbD):

“The Shift”

Instead of :

• What book or texts will we read? •What activities and assignments will we do? • What will we discuss?

Understanding by Design “The Shift”

The questions become:

• What should they walk out the door able to understand, regardless of what activities or texts we use? • What is the evidence of such ability? • What texts, activities and methods will best enable such a result?

Wiggins and McTighe (2005)

Deliberate use of Backward Design (UBD) for planning results in more clearly

defined goals, more appropriate assessments and more purposeful teaching.

Stages to Consider

1.Identify desired results.2.Determine acceptable

evidence.3.Plan learning experiences

and instruction.

2Characteristics of Good Design

1. Clear goals explicit performance requirements.

2. Many models and modeling provided.3. A genuine challenge/problem frames work

that stretches you - real, meaningful work, with meaningful purpose/audience/situation.

4. Transparency - clarity about the big picture and how current work relates to it.

5. A good mix of group/solo work and collaboration.

Take a minute or two… What aspects of

Backwards Design exists in your

current classroom practice?

Asking QuestionsWhat are the benefits of getting students to ask their own questions in your classes?

How have you encouraged / taught students to ask their own questions?

What have you noticed?

Planning an Inquiry UnitStep 1: Essential Question

Step 2: Conceptual andProcedural Knowledge

Step 3: Culminating Project

Step 4: Scaffolding Activities

Step 5: Assessment

(Wilhelm, Wilhelm and Boas, 2009)

Enduring Understandings are the “big ideas” of the curriculum. They are

more than goals for a unit or grade; they are the rationale for engaging in

discipline.

Enduring Understandings: From ELA Curriculum

- A good thinker uses interpretations, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation to deepen and enhance understanding.

- Meaning making is a constructive and creative process; the quest for meaning is never complete.

- We need to reflect on, monitor, and regulate our own learning in order to improve.

Essential Questions“The best questions serve not only to promote understanding of the content... they also spark connections and promote transfer of ideas.”

- Wiggins and McTighe

An Essential Question will be successful if it meets two criteria:

If it is phrased in a way to be interesting or compelling to

students.

If it gets after enduring understandings from the

discipline(s) being studied.

Essential Questions increase the level of critical thinking by

- Showing students there are multiple perspectives to an issue.

- Content becomes an issue to be discussed rather than memorized.

“Essential questions provide for richer teaching and lead to greater

understanding because they point to a relationship between two or more things,

as opposed to a topic that is one – dimensional.”

- Damien Cooper

When we organize our curriculum conceptually around enduring understandings and/or

inquiry questions, we create a context for learning about ideas, concepts, and

interpretive literacy processes students need to become accomplished readers, writers, and

thinkers.

What themes do you already

introduce your students to in your

English classes?

• Some themes: • Citizenship –

digital and physical

• Community• What does it

mean to love? • Exclusion • Predjudice• Poverty• Storytelling • Joy of Learning

• Joy of language• Progressing • Regressing• Fear• Define yourself:

who am I? • Fiction and

non-fiction connection

• Integrity• The nature of

evil• Parent child

paradox• The American

dream• Every action

has an equal and opposite reaction

• Ethics• Resiliency• Social justice• Footprint• The meaning of

life

What essential questions could you ask students to help them begin to think

about or engage in each of these themes?

What elements of the story are revealing of life? How has conflict shaped my identity? What would happen if everybody cared? How can a moment of truth impact or change your life? What can happen when one is in denial of the truth? How do the choices we make impact others? To what extent are friendships related to one’s identity?Are people inherently judgemental? Can a person be hateful and caring all at the same time? Where do everyday people find the courage to do extraordinary things?How do people overcome suffering? Is fear the same around the world and through time? Is it cultural, age, or gender specific? What is the evidence of a successful life? What is fair? How do you progress in fear? How do you know what you know?

What texts are you currently using that can inform the

themes used in our classes?

- Egghead (bullying) Easy read, grade seven - Trevor Green (survival, remembrance day, brain damage) - Shattering Glass (decisions gone wrong) grade 10- Maus (survival) 10-12, could be younger- The Crazy Man (poverty, social justice, disability) intermediate- The Shadow Club (choices, impacting others) grade 7- Gargoyle ( identity) 11-12- In The Garage (identity, gender suicide) 9-10- Zed For Zachariah (survival) 8- What Happened to Ivy (euthanasia, ethics) short read- Hatchet (survival) intermediate- The Things They Carried (short stories, identity, growing up) senior- The Absolute True Diary of A Part Time Diary - Touching Spirit Bear (aboriginal) intermediate- Walk Tall (video, racial injustice/justice) - I A Genius Of Unspeakable Evil And I Want To Be Your Class President (individuality

and exclusion) - Stick Boy, Shane Koyczan- FAST – Free Resouce Kit – Survivors of hate crimes

What will the ‘acceptable evidence’ of a thematic unit

look like?

Curriculum MappingLearning Intentions – PLOs

Big ideas / Enduring UnderstandingsEssential Questions

Concepts – Things to knowSkills / Strategies

Formative Assessments / Instructional ActivitiesSummative Assessment(s)

Resources

Something I can take from this session today to support my current practice

is…

Something new I learned in this session I can see working in my

practice is…

Contact Information

Jonathan VervaetEmail:

jonathanvervaet@gmail.comTwitter: @jonathanvervaet

Blog: jonathanvervaet.wordpress.com