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In Chapter 1, we discussed the first parts of the unit plan rationale and outline where you decided upon your unit theme, thought of the needs of your students, and selected your texts for your literature-based unit of instruction. In Chapters 2 through 4, we discussed the different theoretical approaches to connecting to and teaching literature to prepare you for the important decisions you will make as you plan a unit. In Chapters 5 through 8, we will take up where we left off in Chapter 1 and continue discussing the “how to” of designing your literature-based unit of instruction from crafting goals and assessments to designing lessons and activities.
A note about alignment to teacher education standards: Many pre-service teachers have to meet certain standards for their programs in order to prepare for entering the teaching field. If you are using this textbook in an English language arts teacher preparation program, we wanted to make you aware that this text helps prepare pre-service teachers by meeting many of the NCTEStandards for Initial Preparation of ELA Teachers and the EdTPA expectations (a performance assessment for novice teachers.)
NCTE Standards for Initial Preparation of Teachers of Secondary English Language Arts, Grades 7–12
ELA CONTENT KNOWLEDGE
Standard 2: Candidates apply and demonstrate knowledge and theoretical perspectives, including antiracist/antibias ELA, pertaining to texts, composition, language, and languaging.
INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE: PLANNING FOR INSTRUCTION IN ELA
Standard 3: Candidates apply and demonstrate knowledge of theories, research, and ELA to plan coherent, relevant, standards-aligned, differentiated, antiracist/antibias instruction and assessment.
INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE: IMPLEMENTING INSTRUCTION IN ELA
Standard 4: Candidates implement planned coherent, relevant, standards aligned, differentiated, and antiracist/antibias ELA instruction and assessment to motivate and engage all learners.
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY OF ELA TEACHERS
Standard 5: Candidates reflect on their ELA practice, use knowledge and theoretical perspectives to collaborate with educational community members, and demonstrate readiness for leadership, professional learning, and advocacy.
https://ncte.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021_NCTE_Standards.pdf
edTPA: Secondary English-Language Arts
Our text addresses three of the four areas outlined for edTPA: “successful teachers 1) develop knowledge of subject matter content standards and subject-specific pedagogy; 2) develop and apply knowledge of varied students’ needs; 3) consider research and theory about how students learn” (p. 1).
In addition, the edTPA ELA learning segment “should provide opportunities for students to comprehend, construct meaning from, interpret complex text, and to create a written product, interpreting or responding to complex features of a text that are just beyond your students’ current skill levels” (p. 1).
Our text addresses the three areas assessed in edTPA: 1) Planning for Instruction and Assessment; 2) Instructing and Engaging Students in Learning; 3) Assessing Student Learning.
https://www.nctq.org/dmsView/edTPA_Secondary_ELA_Handbook
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Now that you have considered the various theoretical approaches and ways to connect to and respond to literature that you could use to frame your unit, you are ready to continue planning the rest of your literature-based unit of instruction including determining your aims for the unit including goals and objectives.
We have chosen to use the model of backward design for creating units. Wiggins and McTighe define backward design:
Backward design may be thought of as purposeful task analysis: Given a task to be accomplished, how do we get there? Or one might call it planned coaching: What kinds of lessons and practices are needed to master key performances? The approach to curricular design we are advocating is logically forward and commonsensical but backward in terms of conventional habits, whereby teachers typically think in terms of a series of activities…or how best to cover a topic…
This backward approach to curricular design also departs from another common practice: thinking about assessment as something we do at the end, once teaching is completed. Rather than creating assessments near the conclusion of a unit of study (or relying on the tests provided by textbook publishers, which may not completely or appropriately assess our standards), backward design calls for us to operationalize our goals or standards in terms of assessment evidence as we begin to plan a unit or course. It reminds us to begin with the question: What would we accept as evidence that students have attained the desired understandings and proficiencies—before proceeding to plan teaching and learning experiences?
(p. 8)
Wiggins and McTighe list three stages in the backwards design framework: 1) Identify desired results; 2) Determine acceptable evidence; 3) Plan learning experiences and instruction (p. 9). In this chapter we demonstrate how you can use backward design to plan a literature-based unit of instruction.
Unit Goals
As you begin to plan your literature-based unit, you will want to start with creating some goals. Unit goals can be very broad and deal with big concepts related to your unit theme. They can also be specific to the learning you will assess when teaching in an English language arts classroom. You may want to think about the social and emotional aspects of student learning as well as content knowledge. We have chosen to include the framework from the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (2020) as a guide for considering those goals. Many teachers like to say that they teach students, not just content, and opening up your unit goals to cover life's big ideas and questions is one of the pleasures of teaching in the humanities. We encourage you to ask yourself what your goals are for your students as they move beyond your classroom and into the larger world. For example, we believe that developing lifelong learners is just as important as developing effective communicators. Both can be excellent goals for a literature-based unit of instruction. Here are some questions that can help you develop your unit goals:
- What can my students learn about the English language arts and literature through this unit?
- What do I want my students to know and be able to do through the study of literature?
- What reading skills and processes do I want to emphasize in this unit of study?
- What writing skills and processes do I want to emphasize in this unit of study?
- What language skills do I want to emphasize including grammar, vocabulary, and language study?
- What listening and speaking skills do I want to emphasize in this unit of study?
- What skills do I want to emphasize related t...
