1. K-12 Social Studies Unit Development Training
Log onto the internet.
Part II
K-12 Social Studies Unit Development Training

2. A morning break around 10:30 Lunch at 12:00 noon
Afternoon break around 2:30
For unanswered questions and additional discussion use the Parking Lot.
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3. Ground Rules A few agreements for our two days together:
TRUST THE PROCESS
Place electronic devices on vibrate or off
Participate fully
Limit side-bar conversations
Respectfully disagree
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4. Ahas & Oh Ohs From Yesterday?
Source:
Source:
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Notes:
Exit Ticket
Day One Exit Ticket

5. Trust the Process!
It really does work.

6. The Goals of Yesterday’s Session Were To…
Reflect on what you understand about concept-based unit development.
Engage in the 12 Step Process of Conceptual Unit Development.
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7. Today’s Purpose & Expected Outcomes
You will be able to:
Learn how to scaffold generalizations in order to strengthen them and increase rigor.
Learn the purpose for the guiding/essential questions and how to write your guiding questions so that they lead students to inductively arrive at the generalizations.
Learn how to develop performance tasks that assess the KUD (Know, Understand & Do).
Determine next steps for your district/school to begin designing concept-based units of instruction in preparation for the session in March.
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Notes:

9. GENERALIZATION= Enduring Understanding
Two or more concepts in a relationship...
Concept
What do I understand as a result of this study?
CONCEPTUAL IDEAS THAT TRANSFER
& DEVELOP “DEEP UNDERSTANDING’ 70 9

10. Helpful Guidelines To Remember When Writing Generalizations
Full sentence statements, describing what, specifically, students should understand about the critical concepts in the lesson
Guidelines:
No proper or personal nouns or pronouns
Use a present tense verb
Show a relationship between at least two concepts
Transferable idea that is supported by the factual content
Sometimes needs the use of a qualifier (often, can, may)
Think about the connections between and among concepts in the various strands from your web.
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11. Common Errors
Use of past tense verbs or proper nouns which makes them facts instead of generalizations
Use of proper nouns or pronouns
Only one concept represented
Use of value statements
Lack of clarity (poor word choice or sentence construction)
Use of level 1 verbs: impact, affect, influence, is, are, have (need to scaffold)
Presenter:
Justyn
Notes:

12. Let’s Look at our Generalizations From Yesterday
Google Document 12

13. What is a Level 1 Generalization?
Use the following verbs:
influence, impact, affect, is, are
Lack clarity and specificity
These are the generalizations we should scaffold to Level 2.
Notes:
We used level 1 verbs to get you starting thinking about essential understandings.
You should never teach to level 1 generalizations because they lack clarity and specificity.
To get a deeper level of understanding, you want to scaffold thinking to level 2 & level 3 generalizations.

14. Scaffolding Thinking The ideas in your generalization…
Should grow in sophistication.
Should become clearer from level to level because of increased specificity use of more specific concepts.
The verbs should be active and present tense.
Should be based in fact. (Use “often,” “can,” and “may” if not true all the time, but still important)
Should be important and developmentally appropriate.
Presenter: 14

15. Scaffolding Thinking
The verbs in your generalization…
Should be active and present tense.
Should be clear and specific.
Impacts, Influences, Affects, Is, & Are…(are always Level 1 verbs only)
Level I verbs should be replaced to provide you with a generalization that presents a clearer and more specific idea.
Presenter: 15

16. Presenter:

17. Scaffolding From Level I to Level II Generalizations
To scaffold a Level 1 generalization to Level 2 ask “how?” or “why?”
Level 1
Government policies are influenced by societal norms.
Now ask the question: (How? or Why?) How are governmental policies influenced by societal norms?
Level 2
Governmental policies differ based on time, place, values, and beliefs.
Presenter:
Notes: 17

18. Scaffolding From Level I to Level II Generalizations
To scaffold a Level 2 generalization to Level 3 ask “so what?”
Level 2
Governmental policies differ based on time, place, values, and beliefs.
Now ask the question: “So what?” What is the significance or effect that these factors have on governmental policies?
Level 3
The more a country’s people participate in the political process, the more the Governmental Policies should benefit the General Welfare over the welfare of Interest Groups.
Presenter:
Notes: 18

19. Let’s Look at our Generalizations From Yesterday Do Any Need To Be Moved To Level II Generalizations?
Google Document 19

20. Practice Evaluating & Scaffolding
Your Task….
Evaluate each of the generalizations you and your group wrote for homework.
Scaffold ALL level 1 generalizations up to level 2.
Choose one of your new level 2 generalizations to scaffold up to a level 3.
Level 2 Generalization
Level 3 Generalization
Presenter: 20

21. Evaluating Scaffolding Criteria
Do the ideas should grow in sophistication?
Do the ideas should become clearer from level to level because they are more specific (use more specific micro concepts)?
Did the writers answer their question at each level?
Did the writer avoid using impacts, influences, affects?
Are the verbs active and present tense?
Are the ideas based in fact? (Use “often,” “can,” and “may” if not
true all the time, but still important)?
Are the ideas developmentally appropriate?
Presenter: 21

22. Presenter:
Notes:

23. Writing Guiding Questions
Step 7
Writing Guiding Questions

24. Guiding/Essential Questions
Guide student thinking through the factual material to inductively arrive at the generalization
Can be factual, conceptual, or provocative (debatable)
Engages student interest and intellect
Promotes discussion and debate
Promotes inquiry
Each generalization should have 3-5 questions
A complete unit should only have 1-2 provocative questions for the entire unit.

25. Let’s Observe Teachers Working On Guiding Questions For Their Unit

26. Locked in time, place, or situation
Factual Questions
Locked in time, place, or situation
Example:
In what ways did the increasing industrialization and overproduction in the late 19th century in the U.S. lead to a need for foreign markets?
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27. Conceptual Essential Questions
These questions can transfer over time and space.
Example:
Why do stronger nations conquer weaker nations?
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28. Provocative Essential Questions
These questions have no right or wrong answer and should stir debate.
Examples:
Was the New Deal a fair deal or a raw deal?
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Is war ever justifiable?

29. You decide….
How did native peoples in Europe and South America use and adapt to their environment?
Factual
Conceptual
Provocative
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30. You decide…. Is economic stability in Africa possible? Factual
Conceptual
Provocative
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31. You decide….
How can immigration present both advantages and disadvantages for people moving to a new region or nation?
Factual
Conceptual
Provocative
Presenter: N

32. An Example – Kindergarten
Unit Topic:
Who are we?
Conceptual Lens:
Culture and Change
Unit Overview:
Who we are is ultimately a reflection of where we come from, what we are raised with, and the experiences that change our lives. In this unit, students will learn about the factors that shape their young lives and the ways that people, places, and things can change over time, remaking who we are.
Generalizations: Who we are is shaped by our culture and can change over time.
What is a timeline?
How does environment impact culture?
Is it important to always be the same as everybody else ?
What is the relationship between environment, culture, and community?
How is your culture the same as and different from other people’s culture?
What are some ways that people can change who they are?

33. An Example – 6th Grade Unit Topic: Conceptual Lens: Unit Overview:
Generalizations: Exploration, innovations, and inventions often bring regions into contact with one another and result in the movement of people, goods, and ideas.
What innovations and ideas enabled European nations to engage in trans-Atlantic exploration?
In what ways can economic goals affect government actions and individual rights?
What is the economic impact of emigration on a society?
In what ways does demand for natural resources fuel exploration?
Why was gold such a desirable resource for nations of Europe during the Age of Exploration?
How is the need for oil affecting the way that nations in South America and Europe participate in the global economy?
Unit Topic:
Historical Foundations of Contemporary Societies
Conceptual Lens:
Patterns and Influence
Unit Overview:
A variety of factors influence the way that people lived and interacted in the past. Events and ideas from the past continue to shape contemporary societies. Those events and ideas often form patterns that help us understand not only the past, but the present as well. In this unit we will examine the historical foundations of contemporary societies around the world.
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Notes:
TIME PERMITTING: HAVE THEM ID QUESTION. CREATE NEW SLIDE WITHOUT LETTERS.

34. Practice Writing Essential Questions
Choose one of your generalizations and write one of each type of guiding question. Factual Conceptual Provocative
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35. Identifying Key Content & Skills
Steps 8 & 9
Identifying Key Content & Skills
Presenter:
Steve
Notes: 35 35 40

37. Presenter:
Notes:
Articulate to them that when they begin to prepare the Key content and Key skills component that what they did in the webbing will be helpful as far as content.
skills should be pulled directly from the skills standards. This would be a good place to illustrate connections with ELA and other content areas that you may not have included in the concept/content web, including Information and Technology skills.

38. Skills and Content

39. Let’s Observe Teachers
Discussing The Key Concepts and Key Skills of Their Unit

40. Presenter:
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41. (Performance Tasks and Other Assessments)
Step 10
Aligning Assessments
(Performance Tasks and Other Assessments)
Presenter:
Steve
Notes: 41 41 40

42. Assessing for Understanding Step 10
Begin with the end in mind (KUD) and
work toward assessing for understanding.
Identify the desired results (KUD – Know/Understand/Do).
Design meaningful performance tasks that meet critical KUD’s.
Develop effective criteria to evaluate the results. U K D
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43. Presenter:
Notes:
Traditional two dimensional content and skills assessments are not gone, as you can see. Note here that the skills are pulled from the standards and are transferable (they are not content specific). How are each of these content and skill elements assessed?

44. Developing The Performance Tasks
The Student Performances:
Combine content and skills into a format that shows what students know and can do with what they understand.
Reflect the most important
Understand (Generalizations),
Know (Factual Knowledge), and
Able to Do (Skills) of the unit.
Student Performances are the assessment evidence of mastery.
Provide students with opportunities to actively demonstrate understanding of concepts, generalizations and content in the standards and the unit.
Student Performances are not simple “activities.”
Presenter:
NOTES: a performance task ensures that students are at that third dimension of learning. You are not assessing EVERYTHING with the performance task. Rather, you are selecting one or two key generalizations as the heart of the PT.

45. How do you design performance tasks
that demonstrate mastery of desired
outcomes?
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46. A Quality Performance Assessment Is…
Aligned with generalizations/essential understandings
Authentic/Scenario/Simulation based
Designed to offer students options
Evaluated against clear criteria
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47. The Components To Developing Performance Tasks
Performance Task Template
[What] Topic
[Why] Generalization(s)
[How] Student Performance
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48. Here’s A Performance Task Example
What: As one of a team of cultural anthropologists, analyze the interactions of the early European settlers and American
Indians.
Why: In order to understand that:
Interaction between different groups may lead to cultural
diffusion.
How: Research one aspect of early Native American Indian and European culture (history, arts, religion, government, daily living, land use...) before and after the interaction between the groups. Drawing from your research, write a case study describing the obvious impacts or influences that these merging cultures have had on each other over time. As one member of the anthropological team, present an insightful and powerful speech to the state historical society, using visuals or multi-media, detailing the positive and negative lessons to be learned from the historical study of merging cultures.

49. Let’s Observe Teachers
Trying to Decide Upon a Performance Task for Their Unit

50. Working It Out Together! Is It A Task or An Activity?
Presenter:
Notes:
Is It A Task or An Activity?

51. Practice Recognizing Performance vs. Activity
Curriculum Standard:
“Analyze Lincoln’s ideas about liberty, equality, union, and government as contained in his first and second inaugural address and the Gettysburg Address.”
Enduring Understanding (Generalization):
Watershed events mark turning points in history.
Student Performance or Activity?
Recite from memory key passages from the Gettysburg Address.
ACTIVITY
Presenter:
Notes:

52. Practice Recognizing Performance vs. Activity
Curriculum Standard:
“Analyze Lincoln’s ideas about liberty, equality, union, and government as contained in his first and second inaugural address and the Gettysburg Address.”
Essential Understanding (Generalization):
Watershed events mark turning point in history.
Student Performance or Activity?
Recite from memory key passages from the Gettysburg
Address. Use these passages to tell why Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is considered a watershed event in American History.
Presenter:
Notes:

53. Practice Recognizing Performance vs. Activity
Curriculum Standard:
“Explain the impact of significant international events such as WWI and WWII on changes in the role of government.”
“Predict the effects of selected contemporary legislation on the roles of government.”
Essential Understanding (Generalization):
As a society becomes more complex, the role of government increases in the daily life of its citizens.
Student Performance or Activity?
Create a 3-column chart. In the first column list significant international events such as WWI, WWII and Global Terrorism. In the second column show some of the resulting U.S. legislation, or governmental policies, enacted in response to these events. In the third column detail the impact of the legislation on the daily life of citizens. In a paragraph below the chart, answer this question: “How does the increasing complexity (social, economic, political) of a society lead to the expansion of government?”
PERFORMANCE
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54. Working on Performance Statements
Curriculum Standard:
“Identify the reasons for and describe the system of checks and balances outlined in the U.S. Constitution.”
Essential Understanding (Generalization):
The values, beliefs, and ideals of a country are reflected in their laws and political documents.
Student Performance or Activity? :
Design a graphic organizer demonstrating the U.S. system of checks and balances. Then have students use the graphic organizer to write a defense as to why they think the system of checks and balances reflects American values and beliefs.
PERFORMANCE
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55. Work Together At Your Table To Turn The Following Two Activities Into Performances
# 1
Curriculum Standard:
“Analyze the effects of increased global trade on the interactions between nations in Europe, Southwest Asia, the Americas and Africa.”
Essential Understanding (Generalization):
The desire for resources and markets can be catalysts for exploration and may lead to increased global interaction, economic competition and additional colonial possessions.
Turn The Below Activity Into A Performance
Create a virtual poster that visually shows at least 3 effects of European nations acquisition of colonial resources in the New World.
# 2
Curriculum Standard:
“Analyze the causes and effects of physical and human geographic factors on major historical and contemporary events in the United States.”
Essential Understanding (Generalization):
The availability of human and material resources provide tactical advantages in times of war.
Turn The Below Activity Into A Performance
Create pie graphs which show available resources to the North/South before the Civil War.
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56. Now It’s A Performance # 1 Curriculum Standard:
“Analyze the effects of increased global trade on the interactions between nations in Europe, Southwest Asia, the Americas and Africa.”
Essential Understanding (Generalization):
The desire for resources and markets can be catalysts for exploration and may lead to increased global interaction, economic competition and additional colonial possessions.
Student Performance or Activity?
Create a virtual poster that visually shows at least 3 effects of both Spain and Britain’s acquisition of colonial resources in the New World.
Use this poster to support an argument that would persuade someone that the benefits far outweighed any negative consequences.
Presenter:
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57. Now It’s A Performance # 2 Curriculum Standard:
“Analyze the causes and effects of physical and human geographic factors on major historical and contemporary events in the United States.”
Essential Understanding (Generalization):
The availability of human and material resources provide tactical advantages in times of war.
Student Performance:
Create pie graphs which show available resources to the North/South before the Civil War, and describe the availability of those resources affected the outcome of the war for each side.
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58. Performance Task Template
Your Turn
Performance Task Template
[What] Topic
[Why] Generalization(s)
[How] Student Performance
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59. Presenter:
Notes:

60. Step 11
Learning Experiences
Presenter:
Justyn
Notes: 60 60 40

61. The Learning Experiences
Step 11
Planning With The End In Mind
Learning Experiences:
Are developed after you have designed the performance task
Are the content, understandings and skills that a teacher will need to teach and students will need to learn in order to effectively complete the performance task.
Performance Task Template
[What] Topic
[Why] Generalization(s)
[How] Student Performance
The End
Presenter:
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62. Let’s View A Few Examples
Activity
Performance
Generalization (What Students Should Understand)
Recite from memory key passages from the Gettysburg Address.
In a speech recite passages you have learned from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and tell why these passages provide evidence to support the Address being considered a watershed event in American History.
Watershed events mark turning point in history.
Design a graphic organizer demonstrating the U.S. system of checks and balances.
Design a graphic organizer demonstrating the U.S. system of checks and balances. Use the information in that graphic organizer to write a defense as to why they think the system of checks and balances reflects American values and beliefs.
The values, beliefs, and ideals of a country are reflected in their laws and political documents.
Draw a Venn diagram showing the comparisons between life as a Athenian citizen and life as a Spartan citizen.
Draw a Venn diagram showing the comparisons between life as a Athenian citizen and life as a Spartan citizen. Use this diagram to support a speech that could be given to someone from ancient Egypt whom you are trying to convince to come live in Sparta or in Athens.
People are often introduced to new goods, ideas and opportunities as they move from one place to another.
Example One
Example Two
“Looking at the examples of performances on the slide before them the consultant should ask the participants the question, What types of things do you think students might need to have experienced in some of the lessons to be able to do each particular performance?”
Example Three

63. Practice
Your task now is to craft deliberate learning experiences that will lead students to successfully demonstrating their knowledge, understanding and skills of the learning.
Working with your partners, craft appropriate and deliberate learning experiences that align with the standards, generalizations, and performance task that you have been given!

64. Let’s Watch Our Teachers One Last Time Deciding On The Learning Experiences
Presenter:
Notes:
Begin the Lynn Erickson Video and stop at strategic points to pose questions to audience and discuss the process being observed on the video.
Start the video at the chapter entitled “Designing Concept Based Units and Lessons” minutes (around 46 minutes)

65. Trust the Process! It really does work.
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66. Question 1
Question 2

67. Planning Your Next Steps
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68. Please complete the post-assessment evaluation. Thank You!
Exit Ticket
Please complete the post-assessment evaluation. Thank You!