Ancient Latin America Unit Plan Reflection
To my surprise creating a language arts dependent social studies unit was easier than I expected. The part that was difficult was making sure my lessons and activities were aligned appropriately with the common core learning standards for a 5th grade level. I look back on my past unit plans and lessons and can’t help but wonder how appropriate those activities were when compared to the CCLS.
In the course entitled, “The Integration of Language Arts in Social Studies for the At Risk/Disabled Learner,” we spent a lot of time working with the common core. I was shocked to see how advanced the standards were by the time a student reached the 5th grade. Yet, the purpose is essential. College and career readiness is a real national issue and the common core anchor standards intend to be the solution. Developing a unit plan that outlined these ideals effectively certainly was a challenge.
I do, however, find the topic I chose quite interesting and relatable. While many students might find mysterious ancient cultures that made bloody, violent sacrifices to the Gods interesting, the fact that they actually impacted modern day tools and culture seems unlikely. Yet, through study this becomes evident and I think even more intriguing to fifth grade students. I knew from the beginning that I wanted the essential question to address this issue. That way, I could avoid the common complaint, “Why do we even have to know this?” When something has directly impacted today’s world it is clearly important to study.
It has been stated by the figures of the CCLS framework that students should “struggle” through their reading. The myths chosen for the creation myth lesson are definitely difficult reads. The names are near impossible to pronounce and the series of events are not only unrealistic but seem endless and hard to make sense of. These integrated texts are definitely common core worthy, but I still really like the lesson. Perhaps not every student will find mythology engaging, but it is certainly something different to read. After reading non-fiction, textbook style passages day after day, mythology has to spice up reading. I think it is important to still find the creativity even when the CCLS are strictly enforced.
The writing lesson also is significantly creative. Many students do not like writing, but the chance to “be” somebody else through a writing assignment is certainly more fun than a research project. The students still have to work on their format and use of the writing strategies they have been taught, but choosing to be a Mayan, Aztec, or Inca opens up several opportunities for creativity. This is not to say that this type of writing is easy. The students still have to stick to appropriate material, but when an assignment is fun the work doesn’t seems as hard.
I do admit, the culminating activity is far from creative, but will make for a very authentic and clear assessment tool. A research paper is a challenging task especially for 5th graders whose research skills are still developing. It becomes an even bigger struggle when they only have a few days to collect information and write. This skill is necessary though and the earlier the students start, the easier it becomes later on down the road. Putting the students in groups to create a PowerPoint and give an oral presentation are a few more huge skills called upon by the common core. Working in groups is inevitability in college or basically in any successful career, students must get used to this idea and develop their group skills as early as about 1st or 2nd grade. By 5th grade we should only be perfecting these skills not introducing them. Oral presentations cannot be practiced enough. I know far too many education majors of all people who are terrified of presentations. The ability to speak in front of a group is such a common fear that it is a surprise that we haven’t already had students start with this even earlier. Again, this should begin by about 1st or 2nd grade so by the time a student enters high school and eventually college, this skill is just second nature. Finally, living in the computer based, electronic generation that we do, including multimedia components to assignments should not be a big issue. Students these days spend so much time on the computer that typing and creating PowerPoints shouldn’t be a problem.
Another huge part of this assignment was to work with a partner that we have never worked with before in order to simulate an authentic teacher-to-teacher collaboration team. At first I was a little nervous to complete an entire unit with somebody I have never worked with before. I have been in situations too many times where I ended up completing the entire project on my own which has led me to become bossy during group projects in order to get everything done. So, going into this project I told myself that I was going to have to lay off on my controlling tendencies and try to listen to what others have to offer. Allowing myself to do this has definitely given me a new perspective to working with a group. Liz has been a really good partner and because I didn’t have any prior knowledge of her work ethic I was pleasantly surprised to find out we had more in common academically than I originally expected. We were able to split up the work evenly or come together and put in a solid couple of hours to get things finished on time. I like that we got along but I also like that we didn’t know whether this was going to be the case initially. Finding somebody I hadn’t worked with before forced us to use collaborative skills we are not used to using. Of course we all have done group projects but we usually work with people we are already comfortable with. Feeling out somebody else’s work ethic and effort level was an interesting skill to develop. I think overall this has been a really useful experience that has helped us build tools that will become essential for our future.
In the course entitled, “The Integration of Language Arts in Social Studies for the At Risk/Disabled Learner,” we spent a lot of time working with the common core. I was shocked to see how advanced the standards were by the time a student reached the 5th grade. Yet, the purpose is essential. College and career readiness is a real national issue and the common core anchor standards intend to be the solution. Developing a unit plan that outlined these ideals effectively certainly was a challenge.
I do, however, find the topic I chose quite interesting and relatable. While many students might find mysterious ancient cultures that made bloody, violent sacrifices to the Gods interesting, the fact that they actually impacted modern day tools and culture seems unlikely. Yet, through study this becomes evident and I think even more intriguing to fifth grade students. I knew from the beginning that I wanted the essential question to address this issue. That way, I could avoid the common complaint, “Why do we even have to know this?” When something has directly impacted today’s world it is clearly important to study.
It has been stated by the figures of the CCLS framework that students should “struggle” through their reading. The myths chosen for the creation myth lesson are definitely difficult reads. The names are near impossible to pronounce and the series of events are not only unrealistic but seem endless and hard to make sense of. These integrated texts are definitely common core worthy, but I still really like the lesson. Perhaps not every student will find mythology engaging, but it is certainly something different to read. After reading non-fiction, textbook style passages day after day, mythology has to spice up reading. I think it is important to still find the creativity even when the CCLS are strictly enforced.
The writing lesson also is significantly creative. Many students do not like writing, but the chance to “be” somebody else through a writing assignment is certainly more fun than a research project. The students still have to work on their format and use of the writing strategies they have been taught, but choosing to be a Mayan, Aztec, or Inca opens up several opportunities for creativity. This is not to say that this type of writing is easy. The students still have to stick to appropriate material, but when an assignment is fun the work doesn’t seems as hard.
I do admit, the culminating activity is far from creative, but will make for a very authentic and clear assessment tool. A research paper is a challenging task especially for 5th graders whose research skills are still developing. It becomes an even bigger struggle when they only have a few days to collect information and write. This skill is necessary though and the earlier the students start, the easier it becomes later on down the road. Putting the students in groups to create a PowerPoint and give an oral presentation are a few more huge skills called upon by the common core. Working in groups is inevitability in college or basically in any successful career, students must get used to this idea and develop their group skills as early as about 1st or 2nd grade. By 5th grade we should only be perfecting these skills not introducing them. Oral presentations cannot be practiced enough. I know far too many education majors of all people who are terrified of presentations. The ability to speak in front of a group is such a common fear that it is a surprise that we haven’t already had students start with this even earlier. Again, this should begin by about 1st or 2nd grade so by the time a student enters high school and eventually college, this skill is just second nature. Finally, living in the computer based, electronic generation that we do, including multimedia components to assignments should not be a big issue. Students these days spend so much time on the computer that typing and creating PowerPoints shouldn’t be a problem.
Another huge part of this assignment was to work with a partner that we have never worked with before in order to simulate an authentic teacher-to-teacher collaboration team. At first I was a little nervous to complete an entire unit with somebody I have never worked with before. I have been in situations too many times where I ended up completing the entire project on my own which has led me to become bossy during group projects in order to get everything done. So, going into this project I told myself that I was going to have to lay off on my controlling tendencies and try to listen to what others have to offer. Allowing myself to do this has definitely given me a new perspective to working with a group. Liz has been a really good partner and because I didn’t have any prior knowledge of her work ethic I was pleasantly surprised to find out we had more in common academically than I originally expected. We were able to split up the work evenly or come together and put in a solid couple of hours to get things finished on time. I like that we got along but I also like that we didn’t know whether this was going to be the case initially. Finding somebody I hadn’t worked with before forced us to use collaborative skills we are not used to using. Of course we all have done group projects but we usually work with people we are already comfortable with. Feeling out somebody else’s work ethic and effort level was an interesting skill to develop. I think overall this has been a really useful experience that has helped us build tools that will become essential for our future.