Cami and I cleaned it up and sent it off to Dale. We are so happy to have a start on this thinking. We learned alot from all of you and it was so interesting for us to participate this way. Our theme planning has new life. Thank you, Pam
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This is a REALLY interesting unit and I can see that you have put a LOT of thought into it. I think that it certainly goes FAR beyond the usual memorization of stuff about ancient civilizations that students will never use. There are some VERY important and enduring "learnings" in here. Good for you!!!!
Matrix:
Civics--I don't think the responsibility question is very clear. This version I wrote is wordy and complex, but I think it may be clearer: What is responsibility and from where does it come? What are your responsibilities in different places such as to your family, school, community, groups to which you belong--how does responsibility depend on where you are? What happens if you don't fulfill those responsibilities--what responsibilities do others have to you and how do you feel if they aren't responsible? How are your responsibilities similar to or different from the people you are studying? Why is being responsible important to you and those around you?I know this is long and wordy, but I think it is simple enough that students can grasp it. You may not want to list all of these as essential questions, but they can be worked into the lesson plans as questions to explore.
Maps and globes are a different level of creature than the other categories., They are REALLY geographic tools and skills that should be addressed, but they can be specified as objectives within the geography component of individual lessons. They are NOT themes!
Unit Overview
Understand and appreciate are unmeasurable. Understand could mean completing a simply matching question or writing an essay--VERY different levels of understanding, but each reflects SOME understanding. Same problem exists for appreciation--how much, how is it measured?? I think you can use terms drawn from different levels of Blooms taxonomy to describe what you mean by "understand." Likewise for appreciate--Think about how students could DEMONSTRATE appreciation and then use those verbs --ie express support for, interact with others in a manner that shows awareness of and sensitivity for their feelings .
You Do not need to specify Participate in Cooperative groups-- that describe the STRATEGY through which they will lean, not the skill or content OF that learning Applying listening, positive leadership and conflict resolution skills are sufficient--BUT you probably need to break those into their components in the lesson plans themselves--What does positive leadership consist of? Ditto for conflict resolution skills. Each of these is a complex of an array of skills, If you identify them it helps you and the students know what is expected. Students will need to have these spelled out for them and it will help YOU to cultivate and assess them ,
Disposition-- HOW would students show positive attitudes towards diversity-- Perhaps by: working cooperatively with children who are different than they are, By explaining how differences can be a positive influence, by supporting efforts to decrease discrimination in the classroom and school--just a couple of ideas.
WEEK ONE is a GREAT activity-- I used to do something similar with 10 Grade World Cultures students and they LOVED it and it modeled the use of evidence, hypothesizing and testing those hypothesis etc.
I DID get lost though-- Do ALL student study ALL THREE groups or Just ONE and then they share their conclusions. You need to cross check to be sure that every objective and Essential question that you posed is , in fact, addressed SOMEWHERE in the lessons-- you'll probably need a check list of objectives, essential questions and then just look through the unit to be sure that they are ALL addressed.