Reflection on Stepping Stones

Chapter: 7 (Planning Classroom Units)

This chapter presents about how to plan a unit plan along with many useful strategies. The author

uses the term integral unit as a combination of having internal unity, external consistency and

applicable thematic statement in planning a unit. The suggestions on designing a unit plan is

actually what we have been applying in class. As a Christian teacher, when planning a unit plan,

we need to consider about connecting the lessons with Biblical worldview. We want our students

to know the Grand Narrative CFRR; Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. This is crucial

because students need to understand that they are made in the image of God and God wants them

to take care of his creation, his great commission and great commandment. Although some

subject areas might not actually fit into this (CFRR) category, we need to think a way to integrate

Christian world view. The second step is about using a chart or web diagram to help drawing out

the ideas. This is a great help for start outlining the unit plan as it provides a big picture. We can

check which area is missing, what we should add more for the benefits of students learning as we

want to make sure that our topic is not vague and general. Then, consider about the main claim,

guiding questions, objectives and the length of time that we may use. In this case, it is very

important to make clear and meaningful claim. And the objectives should be measurable and

achievable within the framework of time length. Later, we can decide what kind of activities will

be using in each lesson and plan a draft lesson plan. In order to motivate an engage students

during learning process, we need to make sure that our activities have varieties and not repeating

the same thing each time. The activities need to be in line with the topic and matched learning

purposes. Actually, this is the area that I am trying to develop to differentiate learning activities.

Moreover, when it comes to lesson delivery, textbooks only will not be sufficient and resources
from outside might be required for content knowledge. Not only the deliver is important, but the

assessment is also crucial. In my unit plan, I include daily quiz, worksheet, and class

participation as formative assessments and a group project as summative assessment.

Nevertheless, it is also required to be cautious about matching the assessments with the

objectives of the unit. Finally, reviewing the unit plan is required in order to examine whether it

will be effective or not. Although it seems to be many steps to follow, all of these steps would

help us to create a great and effective unit plan as we prepare to teach in a real classroom.