Today I have been reflecting on how I introduce units...and how to improve how I introduce units! What I normally do is tell students a little about the unit, then we look at the Statement of Inquiry (SOI) and we talk about how it relates to the unit, and how it could be used elsewhere. I usually talk about the Global Context with them, and sometimes (not enough) we look at the Key and Related Concepts. I tended to skip the Key and Related Concepts, because they are visible and relevant in the SOI (though not always the exact same word).
However the presentation about conceptual understanding by Abril Dulude Matos (mentioned here) got me thinking about the importance of really unpacking the concepts with my students. (Sometimes you can go to a presentation or meet a teacher, and with just a few sentences be totally inspired. This is why we need to get Abril working in Europe....or at least on Twitter!)
Previously I would often use the content of the unit (though students would only know a general theme) to help them explore the SOI. However, after reflecting I have decided to introduce my units differently:
I believe this will make for a much richer discussion about the importance and purpose of the unit. It also means when we are discussing elements, like the Key Concept, they are thinking about it without relating it to the unit's content - this will allow for much easier transfer! This activity will also hopefully be more memorable for them and will them with reflections later in the unit.
The new strategy I want to try will also take the whole lesson (90 minutes), and I will only introduce the content of the unit in the last 15 minutes of so - Almost as a cliff hanger!
Because I will introduce all the separate elements first, before the content of the unit, I can actually use a similar layout for every unit. I decided to make a template to help me. I've made the template so that anyone can use it, regardless of the subject they teach. I also have the links in the template to various documents to help!