Unit Plans

  Looking through all the resources, creating unit plans seems very intimidating and overwhelming. Creating a unit plan requires a lot of thought, time and preparation.  In a unit plan there should be three different lesson types. The three lessons are: Direct, Inquiry and Cooperative. A direct lesson is a straightforward explicit learning strategy. This means that it is teacher centered and the teacher is in front of the classroom presenting the new information to the students. Some of the advantages to direct instruction is that the teacher has ultimate control of the material, the time, the pace etc. The next lesson type is an Inquiry lesson which is when students are actively involved through experiences where they are creating questions and investigating during the lesson. Some advantages to an inquiry lesson is that students are constructing their own knowledge, creating their own personal experiences and have the chance to really get involved with the new material they are learning. The last kind of lesson is a Cooperative lesson which is when students are grouped together

 in small groups and work together toward one common goal. Each group member has their own responsibilities and the group needs to effectively work together. Each lesson has their own positive and negative attributes. There are so many different parts that are crucial in a lesson and a unit plan. 

I feel very nervous about having to prepare three lessons to teach and a unit plan. I am fortunate enough that I took Social Studies Methods last semester, so at least I have experience from last semester. I am part of group 1 for teaching. So, this means that we will be going first. We are working with a 6th grade class and our topic is rocks and minerals.