our team: Jules, Megan, Ashley, Kelly Carolyn and Shari What Makes a Good Citizen Unit Reflection on Planning our team: Jules, Megan, Ashley, Kelly Carolyn and Shari

How was this lesson different from writing one individual lesson? “To get started, we had to set larger unit goals and then work backwards to decide what individual lessons would be required to meet those unit goals.” “Because this was intended to be an integrated unit, it took planning and attention to detail to be sure we covered all of the subject areas.” “Unlike a single lesson with two or three student objectives with standards, dozens of objectives with aligned standards will be met upon completing this unit.” Shari Walker

What content decisions did your group make? How did your group use the textbook as a resource and then how did it develop into the unit? “Our group used our text for a resource in order to create a content analysis. We used our content analysis as a building block in order to make a decision on what content to use for our unit plan.” What content decisions did your group make? “We chose how to be a good citizen for our unit plan because we felt that is an essential component of social studies curriculum.” Ashley Hoffman

What were some planning challenges? “One of the biggest challenges we ran into was making sure every standard was met throughout our twelve lesson plans. Some of us had to change our lessons around to make sure we fit the certain standards in.” “Another planning challenge we came across was coming up with many different activities to hit the many different learners in the classroom. Even though there were twelve lessons, it was hard to come up with different types of lessons to accommodate all learners, in a way that still taught them the key concepts.” Kelly Malkinski

What was the most fun about the experience? “When creating this unit plan, we found that making the website was the most fun. We liked placing everything together on a website because it will be easily accessible in the future.” What aspect of it did the group enjoy planning the most? “The aspect we enjoyed the most while creating this plan was writing and formulating the lessons and activities. Everyone has different lesson planning styles, so it was enjoyable to come together to unify our styles to make one unit plan.” Why do you think that was? “It was also nice to see the process of how the unit came together. At first, we had pages of ideas that showed our various styles. After the unit was completed, it was nice to see the finished product as one cohesive unit plan.” Julianne Alexander

How was it planning with 5-6 other people? “When planning with five other people, it was difficult for everyone to get together at one time to work on our unit. We ended up using a Google Doc in order to communicate with each other while working through this unit and it worked really well for us.” How was collaboration something you might need to consider when working in a school and collaborating with other colleagues? “We all worked well together, helped each other out if someone was struggling, and were able to bounce ideas off of each other. This collaboration is extremely important when working with colleagues because you have to be able to effectively communicate with others both in person and through other means. Collaboration is a necessary skill because in order to be an effective teacher, you need to be able to have others help you and share resources and ideas.” Megan Daroshefski

This unit was created without specific school/classroom/students This unit was created without specific school/classroom/students. How might it change if you use it for your student teaching? “If I were to use this for my student teaching field experience, I would need to tweak the lessons slightly to adapt to Kindergarten, First, Second, or Fourth Grade students. I feel that each grade should be required to touch on the topic of Citizenship and why it is important that we are all good citizens to better society.” “It is important to get to know all of your learners and be able to give assignments that challenge them but at the same time are not too difficult to provide a response. It is important that every child is thought about when creating lessons.” Carolyn McCarron