Name: ____Kennedey_____________________

Unit Plan: Statement of Faith-Based Teaching and Learning

People, culture, and experiences have been shaping my worldview for my entire life.
Many times, I feel that the way I choose to act and behave is based on the beliefs and values that
my parents instilled in me from a very young age. These beliefs and values were strongly rooted
in a Christian faith. Although I do not claim to be a Christian today, I still see the Christian
worldview of my parents, peers, teachers, and family friends influencing my behavior and
decisions.
I have been slowly removing myself from the influence of this worldview as I have
attended college. I have friends and co-workers who have worldviews rooted in humanistic
beliefs. I have been thinking a lot about how my eclectic experiences and relationships have
influenced what I believe about myself, the world, and how to solve the worlds problems. I
know I still have a lot of thinking and investigating to do in order to solidify my view on these
issues. However, as I prepare to teach this unit plan I want to let my beliefs that I have developed
about the world influence the way I present and teach information to my students. I also want to
give my students opportunities with each lesson, to develop their own worldviews or let their
already maturing worldviews develop and grow more.
Recognizing that my worldview will continue to grow and develop, I believe that I am a
rational (most of the time) and caring human being whose roll is to be a positive contribution to a
community and society. I believe that bad things happen in the world but maybe that there has
always been good and bad and they happen together, both for a reason: to help us grown, learn,
and know what it means to be part of humanity. I dont know if we can fix the problems in the
world but I think that our intentions to make the world a better place and see the good in the

world is vital to our survival and quality of life. I think that there is a correlation between
positivity, optimism, and self-contentment.
As I study the concept of history and teach my students how to be historians, I will
encourage them to look for the good amidst the bad. What intrigues or interests you about the
way that these people lived? How has life improved for us today? These questions are relevant
when we read The Oxcart Man and The House on Maple Street. Some people look at the changes
in the Roosevelt Park Community and see the low property value (69% lower than the national
average for property value (Areavibes, 2016)). They see the change from a strong Dutch
community to hard working Latino community as some sort of loss of Americanized culture. My
students will be encouraged to look for the positive changes in their community: a new school(s),
a new supermarket, and new organizations like the Cook Library Center (2008) and Grand
Rapids Hispanic Center (1978). As they look at their own timelines I will encourage them to
think about who they are today, who they were and how they have changed. I think these
conversations can happen in group discussions and partner discussions as we explore and
evaluate each others personal timelines.
As part of my worldview I believe that a solution to solving the worlds problems is to
educate, equip, empower and prepare yourself and your students to be positive, contributing
members to a society. I strive to make these contributions and help people in humility and
selflessness because my parents raised me with these values, but also because I have recognized
that this form of giving is rewarding and makes me feel good. Before we learn, I want my
students to understand why we are learning: learning about history, how to be historians, and
how to recognize change from the pat to the present are all important concepts and practices.
They are important because they help educate and prepare us to be better members of society.

When we know and understand our own background, how we have changed, and how the
community has changed, it will also help us better relate to the study of history of other
communities and cultures outside of our own. I want these practices and information to interest
and excite all my students. Given the knowledge of the range of abilities and interests of my
learners, I will provide multiple medias for students to learn about the past and display the
knowledge and processes of a historian. This may include allowing students to draw pictures of
the changes between past and present that they recognize in The Oxcart Man or writing a few
sentences about it. I will also present the material and activities in both Spanish and English, as
my specific group of learners is part of bilingual classroom and community.
Furthermore, my worldview influences the content of my unit in that I believe that the
study of the past is important in understanding who we are, why we are here, and what we are
supposed to do, act and treat each other: how do we learn about our self, past generations and
how does this help us contribute to our society in a meaningful way?.
Do be good historians; I think we must understand that there are multiple perspectives to
a story. Last semester I studied in Spain, which also hugely affected my worldview. A day
doesnt go by where I do not think about a specific experience, memory, taste, sound, or
conversation that I had in this amazing country. In this way it is very much engrained in who I
am and my interactions, conversations and experiences with culture and people there have
greatly affected how I view the world. A part of my experience in this country was studying the
history of it. I have studied the history of Europe and the conquest of the Americas from a young
age, but studying it from the perspective of the Spaniards and in Spanish gave me a completely
different view of certain historical events and people. I think this diversity in perspective and
also in learning strategies will influence how I teach my unit in pedagogy and content.

We will look at history from the perspective of those living in that time and from our own
perspective. I can encourage these thought processes by asking students questions like:
Describe what your day would look like if you lived on the farm with the oxcart man. What
would you like to make and bring to the market? Do you make things today to sell? What would
you make if you had to make something to sell today? In this way, they think about what it
would be like to live in that time and how it is different from how they live their lives today.
Another important piece of my unit consists of understanding how the students
community has changed from the history or past to the present and how it may continue to
change in the future. A life skill is learning how to live within a community, contributing
positively and peacefully interacting with those around you to benefit the lives of others and
yourself. I also believe this skill is learned through understanding the value and respect of ones
past but also the past of the community in which they are a part of.
I think this worldview leaves space for students to explore their own feelings about
history and community, but it also is built upon a foundation of value in ones past, self,
community, and history in general. I as an individual am still figuring out my worldview and I
think it will continue to be molded and changed as I have new experiences each day; however, I
want students to learn history in a diverse way that is respectful to the past, themselves and their
own culture and community. I want them to comprehend the concept of the past and past events
in a way that values these events and the cause and effect on other events and the present. My
respect and value of history and culture, diverse perspectives, and community will shape the
content and pedagogy of my unit. Im not certain of a lot right now, but I know that respect,
acquisition of knowledge (as relative to being a historian), and community are things that I value
and wish my students to value as well. I know that I want to make the world a better place by

finding the positives and helping people, but I believe that my ability and capacity to do this will
be enhanced and supported by education. I will strive to enhance and support my students
abilities to do this as well through our study of history and how to be historians.

Sources Cited
Roosevelt park housing information -census. (2016). In areavibes. Retrieved November 3,
2016, from http://www.areavibes.com/grand+rapids-mi/roosevelt+park/housing/

Grandville avenue arts& humanities. (2016). In Grandville avenue arts& humanities.

Retrieved November 3, 2016, from
http://gaah.org/contact-us

Our story . (2016). In Hispanic center of west michigan. Retrieved November 3, 2016, from
http://hispanic-center.org/about/