Post-Reflection

Now that all of the work is done, all I can say is "whew." That was a lot of work, but I learned so much from it at the same time. I really enjoyed working on this unit plan and had a lot of fun exploring things. Although I did not lay out all of the small details, like the worksheets I would use with the students, I was afraid of bogging down the unit plan with minor details. Using the worksheets would be another way to assess my students and their knowledge of historical fiction, as well as the their knowledge about the book. I wanted to leave space on the unit plan for all of the large assignments that I would like to accomplish with my students. I feel as though the assignments that I did create could not only be further expanded on over time as I found new resources to use with my students, but could also inspire additional lessons as I work with my students.

I think one thing that was somewhat difficult for me was not actually being able to implement or try these lessons out now. I think it would have been great if I could have taken the lessons I created and tried them out with students, so that I could tweak them even further if I did not like the way they work. However, when I do get the chance to implement this unit plan, I at least have a jumping off point.

Although I enjoyed working with Kirsten, I still would have liked to have worked with an actual classroom teacher. It would have been great to get their input and get their perspective on what I could have done for a historical fiction unit plan. On the other end of that though is the fact that all of the work would have fallen on my shoulders mostly so it was nice to share that responsibility with another person.

As my classmates go on and evaluate the unit plan, I am left with several questions. One: did I include everything that I could have included? Two: is there something that would have worked better than historical fiction? Three: is this really a unit plan that someone could use? Four: when will be the chance I get to use this unit plan? Finally, what did I learn from this experience? The first three questions are not really questions that someone can answer. I am a perfectionist and therefore, I don't know if I will ever be completely satisfied with my work without getting the chance to implement it. In regards to the fourth question, I can only hope that one day soon I can put this unit plan in motion in my own classroom. For the final question, I think I learned a lot, not only about myself, but about working with others. I learned that I am more than capable of completing a unit plan, and one that I can be proud of. I learned that I really do enjoy language arts and all the different things you can do with literature. I relearned that I do have a tendency to procrastinate at times, but when push comes to shove, I will put 110% into my work and get it done, and done well. Finally, I learned that working with another person can be hard, especially when not given the chance to see one another in class. I do much better at partner work when I can work one-on-one with another person. However, I discovered that I can be successful at working through emails.

In conclusion, this has been a great experience. I can't wait to get the chance to create a unit plan again, hopefully next time will be the time I get to actually use the unit plan!!

Assessmet

As this unit plan is coming to a close, we still have some work to complete. Although we have several lessons created, we seem to be using the same type of assessment, a KWL chart. As beneficial as a KWL chart is, I am hopeful that we might be able to find additional ways to assess what our students have learned. Kirsten did create a rubric for the interview assignment, and I have a lesson in the works for the summation of the unit that will require me to grade the students in a variety of ways. The students will have to provide proof of their understanding of the book and the time period. I am also working on another lesson that will require the students to keep a journal that records their feelings about the book in general and the projects that we are requiring them to complete. Also, we have to rearrange the layout of the lessons. The way in which they are set up now does not flow as well as I would like. Kirsten and I have agreed that we should move the lessons around, and that will be something we have to discuss as a collaborative team.

I am extremely confident that we will end up with a wonderful collaborative unit that could be used within a middle school language arts classroom. Between the two of us working on different lessons, it has allowed us each to use things we already know, and it has given us a chance to work within a new capacity. I have to agree with several of my classmates that finding the time to work on this assignment has been difficult, but I fortunately have some time off this week that will allow me to devout a lot of my time to this unit plan.

Kirsten discussed the ways in which she, as the school librarian, could communicate what the students had learned by writing a short narrative within a school newsletter, and about discussing with the other staff members the effectiveness of the collaboration within a staff meeting. I think these are great ideas for the school librarian and I completely agree with her choices. As the teacher, I would like to be able to post and/or display the student's interviews that they conducted in some fashion. This could be done by loading them onto either the teacher website, media center website, or the school website. With the culminating assignment, I would love to be able to have the parents, administrators, and other staff members be a part of the presentations. This would not only encourage the students to do their absolute best and create a worthwhile project, but it would also give the community a chance to discover what the students are learning in school. Finally, I would like to create a poetry wall with the students. In one of the lessons the students will be asked to draw upon on of their journal entries to write a poem about the time period, or the characters. These poems will be displayed in an area that will allow those coming into the building to see them and take a moment to read one or more of them.

Giving the students a variety of ways in which to showcase what they have learned allows them to take ownership of their work and learning. In addition, it allows the teacher and school librarian to find new ways to assess their students. Ultimately the goal is to make the students feel successful and feel as though they have truly learned something new and exciting.

Mid-Planning Blog

At this point I am feeling so much better about the progress of this Unit Plan. It appears as though my partner and I have finally been able to connect and make some things come together. Just within the last couple of days we have been able to develop a skeleton of four lessons that we would incorporate into the Unit Plan. The first two lessons I have created, while my partner has been working on the last two lessons. It seems as though the two of us are on the same track of wanting to create lessons that give students a chance to showcase what they have learned, and ways in which to incorporate the Media Center into each lesson. We still have to come up with a few more lessons to end the unit, but at least we finally have a good solid start on the unit. I suppose I am still a little unclear as to how many lessons we are supposed to have; unless we are supposed to base the number of lessons on how long it would take us to get through the unit itself?

The two lessons that I have been working on are the introductory lesson to Historical Fiction, and creating a timeline of the events that impacted the Civil Rights Movement. The first lesson is requiring the students to work on creating a K-W-L chart about Historical Fiction. I want to know what the students already know, and what they hope to learn while studying Historical Fiction. The second lesson will require the students to research important events that impacted the Civil Rights Movement, with the help of the school librarian, and present the information in some format, whether in a poster format, PowerPoint presentation, Publisher presentation, or any other form that they find appropriate. At this point in time, for the two lessons that I have created, I have not given much thought to the underrepresented groups in my classroom. As stated previously, these lessons are skeletons of what I hope to develop into more elaborate lessons.

I have really enjoyed working on this Unit Plan since we have been able to be in communication and get things going. Kirsten is really a good partner to work with. I have loved the input that she has been able to provide, and I just hope that I have been able to give her some valuable insights. I just hope that this Unit Plan develops into the unit plan that I think it can with the hard work we are now investing into it.

Early Planning

Where to begin to discuss the progress of this unit plan. To be completely honest I have not devoted nearly enough time to this assignment to this point as I would like to. I have found that it has been extremely difficult to get motivated to get further along than my partner and I are at this point. Add on to the fact that it appears that my classmates have a much better idea of where they are headed with this assignment. I am disappointed in the slow progress my partner and I have made, but I know in the end we will have a great unit plan. Although I have a lot on my plate, working, school, tutoring, planing a wedding and a class reunion, that is no excuse for my lack of progress. For now, I need to step it up and really start to focus on this assignment. I have to agree with Kirsten, that having only collaboration through the Internet makes it difficult, and for me somewhat frustrating because I do work so much better when I am able to interact with someone face to face. Maybe that should be our next option, seeing if we can't maybe meet in person to work on some of this unit plan.

With all that being said, we have made some decisions thus far, in addition to some progress. We have decided upon using the middle school that I currently work at as our school. I have researched the school and the school district and the demographics are ready to roll. I know that my partner has researched the standards for 8th grade, which is the grade level we have decided upon. I suppose I should state that we have decided to focus our unit plan on Language Arts, more specifically Historical Fiction. Now, we will have to begin to put things together and post them to our wiki.

Although the two of us have not stated our essential questions to one another, I do have several I have thought about. What is historical fiction? What are the characteristics of historical fiction? Why are historical fiction books written? I know that many times these are the questions that students ask the teachers within my building and I want to be sure that we answer them. I have a teacher at the school I work at that is willing to contribute as much as she can, and I now know that I need to use her as a resource and gain as much information as I can so that we can proceed with this unit plan. My promise is to make more of an effort towards this unit plan from this point on!!

Stacey

Pre-Planning

Alright, so I realize that I am somewhat behind the rest of the group, but I chalk that up to not realizing that a blog and a wiki for this assignment really are two different things. I kept clicking on only the names or teams of my classmates, without realizing that I was supposed to click on their pictures to see their blogs. I suppose I need to read the directions many times and be sure that I actually understand what is being asked before assuming that I am up to par on everything. I thought that the wiki was the place for us to post our blogs, but I was way off key. With that being said, I suppose you can say that I am pretty nervous about the rest of this unit plan.

Prior to the changes, I had a teacher at my school all lined up to work with me and then things changed. However, at the same time I am very excited about working with a classmate on this assignment. I am very hopeful that we will be able to complete this assignment the way that it is expected. Although, as I previously stated I am somewhat nervous since I was so unsure of how to actually start this blog.

I am quite hopeful about this assignment though because I do work with a school and have a lot of individuals that I can rely on to ask questions while planning a unit plan. Also, my teammate works within a public library, so I am hopeful that she will be able to bring a lot of experience from her angle as well. Since I work within a middle school, I think my teammate and I are going to focus on that age group, what grade specifically I am not sure at this point. In addition, I am certified in Math and Language Arts, so I am thinking we will plan a unit around one of those two subjects. I was thinking Math since many times Math is a topic that is overlooked within a library, but Language Arts has so many topics to chose from that it might be fun to explore one of those topics. I will have to see what my teammate would like to do.

Although I work within a middle school, I do not have my own classroom, which could in turn be a weakness. I am a substitute teacher within a middle school so I am never completely in the same classroom on a day to day basis. However, I have worked within this particular school for the past four years and have a great rapport with the staff and I know the curriculum quite well that I am confident that I will be able to do well on this assignment. In the same respect that is my strength. I am within a building where I am exposed to the curriculum and the GLCE's which will be beneficial to this collaboration.

I have heard a lot of great stories of ways in which teachers and school library media specialists have collaborated together successfully, but I have never been a witness. I have seen teachers within my building ask my media specialist to speak with their students about different genres for literature, or need books about different countries for a social studies project, but never have I seen a teacher work with her to plan a unit. The only other instance I have seen a teacher work with my media specialist is when an English teacher asked the media specialist to design a rubric and a project for her students about an award for their books they were reading. Never did they collaborate. Basically the media specialist had to research the different awards out there, like the Newberry Award, and give an explanation of them to the students. She then created the rubric as to how the students' awards would be graded. The teacher was the one who was going to grade them, but she never gave any input as to what she was expecting from the students or the assignment. So, have I seen successful collaboration, no. Do I believe it is out there, yes.

So, in conclusion, I am slightly frustrated at myself for not realizing the difference between a wiki and a blog. I thought I was pretty proficient on the new technologies, but obviously not. I have always been so on top of things for my schooling and the fact that I have faltered a little, makes it very difficult for me to not be so hard on myself. I have always prided myself on doing my assignments and doing them well. It is really hard to not get to upset by my mistake. However, I am hopeful that I am now on the right track and will stay that way. I am very excited about this project and all the things I hope to learn and gain from this experience. It can only get better from here!!