The next step in designing this unit is, of course, the planning of the lessons! Back in university, and in my prac student days, I was taught to plan my lessons out individually and to justify links to outcomes within each individual lesson plan. I can't say that this approach has ever really appealed to me, and I didn't stick with it long once I became a full time teacher because I never found it particularly practical. I'm sure it works for many but, much like learning and students, I find that teaching and teachers isn't a one-size-fits-all situation.
I have always preferred to plan out my lessons for a unit within a single document. It might sound like such a simple and silly or obvious thing, but it didn't occur to me when I first started teaching that I could consolidate all my lessons into one table. I've found that, with teaching, it's not always possible to box each lesson into a single period because students are a live and unpredictable audience. I don't find flexibility feasible if I'm looking at a lesson plan that's screaming at me, "Finish me off before the bell goes!" So I like to have everything placed into a single sequence, and then I can progress through it at the pace that best suits the class... I can move things around and keep track of the general sequence that things should be happening in. I tend to keep a whole unit together in a single hard copy folder and leave it in my classroom, then whenever I have a lesson I just wander over to my room and everything's there waiting for me, ready to be picked up from wherever I left off when I last taught same said class.
Nearly 2 years ago I undertook GERRIC training with UNSW, which taught programming methods for teachers looking to accommodate gifted and talented students. The best thing that I probably took away from this unit is their model for differentiated programming - a five column table into which lesson plans can be sequenced and adapted for multiple streams of ability within a classroom. I've tweaked it a little over time to incorporate syllabus continuum information and my own preferred way of coding resources, but the premise has remained unchanged - it's an uncomplicated way to approach differentiation, which is admittedly a fairly complex way of delivering lessons.
Over the next few weeks I'll be sharing some of the resources and lessons I've created for my Year 10 20th Century China History unit (now titled The Rise of China). Before I do so though, I thought I'd explain the way I program (hence the lengthy preamble) and share the proforma that I use:
You can download a blank one here if you're interested in giving it a burl for your own programming. I just think it's a great standardised way to approach differentiated programming, and it's worked quite well for both myself and a few of my colleagues (thanks GERRIC!)
For more information about GERRIC go here: https://education.arts.unsw.edu.au/about-us/gerric/for-educators
Great work, Luke :) Inspiring :)
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