Teacher Name: Brittany

School: Meadows
Grade Level/Course: 8th LA
Name of Unit: The Crucible

Unit Design in the Standards-

Based Classroom

1. On which content standard(s) will the students be

working?

A. Content standards will include Iowa Core/Common Core/National

Standards; Essential Learnings or Power Standards (Minimum of one)

Reading standards for literature grade 8

Key ideas and details
RL.8.1
Cite textual evidence the most strongly supports analysis of what the
text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its

development over the course of the text, including its relationship to
the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the
text.

RL.8.3
Analyze how particular lines of a dialogue or incidents in a story or
drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a
decision.

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B. Learning Targets/Objectives/Learning Goals/I Can
Statements/Outcomes (Includes what students will learn or be able to
do that will be addressed in this unit. These are not activities. A
minimum of one learning target per standard)
a. Please number learning targets for future reference in the Unit
Planning document.

1.I can synthesize complex text into something I can understand.

2.I can determine the theme of The Crucible and track how it changes
from one act to the next.
3.I can use clues from the text, including dialogue, to determine what
the scene in the woods would have looked like.

2. What are the big ideas, major themes, key concepts, or

essential understanding embedded in, or which transcend
the standards listed above? See pg. 43-45 (Includes at least
one statement or question that students will be able to understand,
apply, or appreciate five years from now. Travels across time and
are multiple applications/answers)

What is more important, life or legacy?

Reputation, accusations.

What determines who is powerful and who is powerless in a society.

3. How will this unit be different from what/how I taught and

asked students to do in years past? If this is a new unit, skip
this question.

4. When and where (inside and outside of school) have the

students encountered information about and had
experience with these key concepts/big ideas before? This
includes horizontally and vertically across the curriculum.
Vertically- Students learn about the Salem Witch trials in social
studies.

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Students have learned about finding theme in 6th and 7th grade.
Horizontally- Students discussed their digital footprint in technology
and what they wanted their online reputation to be.

5. What would it look like when students can demonstrate

that they understand the big ideas and have mastered the
essential skills? That is, what are some ways they might
demonstrate their capacity to use the newly learned
concepts/information appropriately in a new situation? See
pages 124-140, 159- 174, 176-180.

Optional brainstorm matching one or more assessments for each learning target. This
leads to making final decision for Question 6

Students would be having discussions with each other about the

text involving higher order thinking. They could also take a chapter
of the book and summarize the main points.

The would understand complex themes in the book, and be able to

use textual evidence to support their theme. They could then follow
the different themes throughout the book, demonstrating the
change and what evidence changes the themes.

Students would be able to gather evidence in text and make

predictions or inferences based on what they have read.

6. Consider the list generated in #5, and determine which

tasks/products (formative or summative assessment) that
would best demonstrate student understanding. Decide
whether to use a rubric or a performance task list and the
criteria to be included. See pages 175-180. (Describes
tasks/products for each learning target (match with LT number from Q.1B). Has
criteria listed for each. Please attach summative assessment and/or any rubrics/criteria
used.

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1. Discussion to demonstrate understanding of complex text

2. Graphic organizer (formative) to track themes and textual evidence

Letter to John Proctor choosing life of legacy

-Include ethos, pathos, or logos

3. Creation and acting out of scene in the woods.

-Create a script

-Include events stated in the book as well as specific characters

involved

7. What does a task analysis reveal about the skills, the

knowledge, and the level of understanding required by the
task? See pages 46-47. (Task analysis completed for at least one skill or
concept that is difficult or complex for students. Includes declarative and procedural
knowledge and a statement of how this task analysis has impacted the planning of the
unit. Task analysis included with completed unit.)

The declarative knowledge that students are learning during this

unit will be generally new for students. Especially when looking at
vocab like allegory, ethos, pathos, logos. Students will need
repeated exposure and review for these terms. However, the
procedural knowledge is all things students have done before. They
will be able to do things they have done before, like discussions,
writing, and performing etc. to learn more about the unit.

8. Do I already have sufficient pre-assessment data or do I

need to gather more? If so, what method shall I use? What
does the pre-assessment data tell me about the skills and
knowledge on which the entire group will need to focus? Are
there individual students who will need additional support if
they are to have a realistic opportunity to demonstrate
mastery? In which areas will they need support? Are there
students who would be best served by extensions to the
learning experiences? See page 153. (If sufficient, lists the type of
data and how it is used to address the needs of the whole class, small groups and/or
individuals for additional support or extension. If not, how will data be collected and
used.)

Students have discussed themes and created papers before, so I

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 feel that pre-assessment data is sufficient. Students are able to do
most of the procedures with little to no assistance by me. I have
several students on IEPS who may need additional support in
content and procedures.

3rd Oval: What learning experiences will facilitate their success

DuFours Question 2: How will we know when students have learned it?

9. How will I Frame the Learning so that students know what

they are going to be doing, what they will know and be able
to do as a result of those activities, how they will be
assessed, and how everything they are doing is aligned with
the standards? See pages 57-61. (Includes a plan for sharing the
Standards, learning targets, the generalization, the purpose for learning, how they will
be learning, and how they will be assessed. This is the plan, not a restatement of
these items)

I will introduce the unit to the students as I usually do, by sharing

the What are we learning board. This board consists of the
essential questions as well as the major learning targets we will be
addressing though out the unit. Daily plans and objectives are also
displayed on the board and I usually begin class by talking about
the days learning objective.

10. How will I help students access prior knowledge and use it
productively, either building on it or reframing their
thinking as appropriate? See pages 88- 116. How will you
attach to their schema (create meaning)? (Describes strategy(ies))

The unit will begin with an anticipation guide that will ask students
to agree or disagree with a statement. The questions will all be
focused around themes and ideas from the text The Crucible. We
will then discuss the ideas and how they relate to the text. I will
then spend a lesson having students brainstorm all they know
about the Salem Witch Trials and exploring new information about
the Witch Trials. With these lessons students will get a look back at
what they know, as well as learn other valuable information that
will help them through the unit.

For questions 11-14, you may refer back to your unit or lesson

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 plans as appropriate rather than restating/recopying for
each question.

11. What methods of presentation and what active learning

experiences can I use to help students achieve the
standard? Could I provide multiple sources of information
and exercises which would help all students make real-
world connections and use rigorous thinking skills? See
pages 12-19, 63-82, 157- 158, 219-248. (Includes at least two
different methods and why that method was selected)

One method we used in class was discussion. Discussion

were focused on leading students to a common theme that runs
throughout the story, and following how that theme changes from act
to act. This method was chosen to give students a chance to
synthesize and analyze the text while getting support from their
classmates and teacher. This also teaches them how to form opinions,
get different viewpoints, and how to properly discuss.

Another method used was a summative assessment students

completed towards the end of the unit. Students were asked to create
a letter from the perspective of another character. In the letter
students were asked to use persuasion as well as address the theme of
life vs. legacy. In order to complete this letter student had to use
evidence from the text to decide what the character would have
written as well as understand how the theme life vs. legacy ties into
the story. This method was chosen to force students to apply what they
know in a new way.

12. What assignments, projects, and homework will help

students see the relevance of the learning and help them
not only meet the standard but retain their learning? How
might I provide multiple pathways to learning? See pages
123-148, 201-216. ((Includes at least two different assignments, projects, or
homework and how each will help students see the relevance and/or retain the
learning.)

The first active learning experience is the Salem Witch Trials

research. Here learning is student led. Students are learning
information, asking questions, and creating new background
knowledge about the topic. This will allow the students to make
connections and draw on their prior knowledge as they read The

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Crucible.

Midway through the unit students will also be doing another mini
research session where they will be making historical connections to
the text. They will learn about different historical events where hysteria
had a major role, and then they will compare and contrast those to the
book The Crucible. This will also be a student led activity which will
allow students to answer specific questions by doing research.

13. What are the ways I can gather formative assessment data
that will provide me and my students information on their
progress toward meeting the standard? See pages 22-25,
154-155. (Describe at least two different methods of formative assessment and
how it will be used to change instruction)

There are several formative assessments that will be occurring

during the unit. One ongoing assessment will be the topic tracker
students will be filling out during the reading. It will track topics like
hysteria and lies/deceit. The topic tracker will help students organize
ideas as we read. This will also help students at the end of the text to
discuss and analyze a theme from the text. As students find textual
evidence to support these specific themes, I will be able to get a sense
of whether they understand this theme and how it ties to the story.

Another formative assessment we will be using is discussion and

creation of discussion questions. I talked earlier about discussion, in
question 11, but this method will also be used to formatively assess
students. This will help me know students progress towards standard
RL 8.2.

Finally, to formatively assess students progress towards

standard R.L. 8.3 I will use a character organizer. To complete the
organizer students will have to understand how to read character
dialogue and use that to learn more about a character. Due to the fact
that this is a play, students will gather most of their information from
dialogue and character interactions. If they can organize character
information and relationships, I know they are understanding how to
anlyze dialogue.

14. What materials and resources do I need to locate and

organize to provide multiple pathways to learning? How
should I organize the classroom and the materials to
provide easy student access? See pages 202-203, 251-266.
(Lists materials and resources)

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 In order to provide multiple pathways for all my students I will
provide them with various online and printed articles, The Crucible
text, research websites, informational videos and graphic
organizers. So that students are aware of where the materials are,
I will consistently discuss the use of google classroom to keep
things organized.

All of the electronic resources will be given to students on google

classroom to keep them organized and in one place. Some
materials will be given in class as paper copies.

15. What else might I do to provide challenging and

meaningful experiences for both struggling and advanced
learners? Are there other human, print, or electronic
resources I might consult to refine/review my plan? See
pages 12- 13, 26-27, 133-134, 197-216.

(DuFours Questions 3 and 4: How will I respond if students

dont learn it? How will I respond if students already
know it?

(Lists at least one idea for struggling learners and at least one ideas of advanced learners.)

In order to help the struggling learners I am going to scaffold the final essay. To do
this I will provide the whole class with a timeline for writing their essay, breaking it
down day by day. By letting students work at their own pace, but giving them ideas of
where they should be at to accomplish the task, it helps all types of learners who work at
different paces. Finally, I will use an example essay that I will create to show students
what their final draft should look like. I have not taught this unit before, so I dont have a
student model. However, I know a lot of my struggling learners need an idea of what
their final piece should look like.

For advanced learners I will give an alternative more challenging option for a final
assessment. While they can create a final assessment that is similar to their classmates,
they can also create an allegory themselves as a final assessment. While this final
assessment is still practicing the same skills and specific criteria will help meet the
standards, this assessment is designed to be more rigorous for students who already excel
at writing and have fully grasped the concepts.

4th Oval: Based on data, how do I refine the learning experiences and/or the
assessment?

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Provides reflective answers for each question. Use this unit (if taught) or another unit
recently completed.

16. How did students do on the performance task? Were there

some students who were not successful? What might
account for that? What might I do differently next time? See
pages 273, 283-285.

Our performance task was aligned with standard 3 and learning

target 3. Here students had to create and perform a skit that they
wrote, using the text The Crucible to gather information. Students
were graded on the accuracy of their script, their writing, and their
performance.

Overall students performed very well. They were able to perform

the script and keep it true to what information they gathered from the
text. Some students took more of a creative license, which made the
skit interesting, but did not stay true to the text and dialogue therefore
not necessarily meeting the standard.

Next time I will put more emphasis on staying true to what the text
tells us the script should look like.

17. What else do I need to consider in my advance planning the

next time I am focusing on this standard?

While students have had a lot (and will continue to have a lot) of
practice with this standard, there are still a few things I need to
think about moving forward with this standard. Students still need
practice with paraphrasing or summarizing textual evidence. They
also need work with proper citing their sources and textual
evidence.

18. Did all of the activities guide students toward mastery of

the standard? Are there activities that need to be added,
modified, or eliminated? Am I using these activities because
I have always used them, or have I analyzed them to be
sure that they are the most effective and efficient tools at
my disposal?

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 I feel really good about the activities that were done during this
unit. Unfortunately, we are not using this unit next year. So, I know
there are certain activities from this unit that I definitely want to
integrate into other units. This is because I really do feel the
activities helped students. I think all the activities we used to meet
these standards can be adapted for other texts and units while still
supporting student mastery of the standards.

19. Over all, was this unit effective for addressing the
standard(s)? Are there other standards that I could
incorporate into this unit or are there other units of study
where I can have the students revisit these standards or
essential understandings?

I think this unit was very effective in addressing these standards! I

think by the end of the unit students had a good grasp on the
standards and objective. I know I will be incorporating standard RL 8.1,
citing textual evidence, in many more units throughout the year, so
this was a good start to that standard.

Feedback should:
1. remind student of the target
2. tell them where they landed
3. how to close the gap

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