Where Do I Start?
- Think through your content for the year (if you teach multiple subjects, start with one subject). Cluster similar content into timespans. You may choose to use the Curriculum Timeline as a tool in this process.
- Consider the grade level you teach. In pre-school through second grade, units should probably span about 3 weeks; whereas grades 3 and up should span 4-6 weeks. Units that are too short are a lot of work to design, and just when students dig into the content it’s time to move on. Units that are too long run the risk of losing their audience due to boredom. Determine an appropriate length for your units.
- Keep your standards in mind. You may be able to incorporate standards from other content areas and/or those you intend to teach later in the year. As you review your standards, think about what problem-based tasks naturally connect to the content you teach.
- Think about what your students could do if they understood all the standards within a unit and why that content is important. As you continue to think about your problem-based task, you will want to work towards one that is authentic, relevant, and open-ended. Developing Problem-Based Learning Tasks Step-by-Step is one tool that you may use to support you with drafting task statements.
- Determine what the students will produce and with whom they will share their product.
- Review your authentic learning unit thus far. How much time will students spend learning academic skills and content? How much time will they spend on peripheral content such as designing a multimedia presentation as a final product? Refine your problem-based task as needed so the majority of class time is spent engaging with critical academic content.
