Student Name: Daniel Montemurro
EDUC x32 Final Unit Planning Sheet - Teaching for Conceptual Understanding
------------------------------------------------STEP 1: IDENTIFY YOUR TOPIC OF STUDY (e.g., modeling with functions, 19th century
Romanticism, the Civil War, cultural foods, etc.)
Grade: 10
Social studies (world history) and focusing on world war I. Specifically having the students work on
argumentative pieces to show that they can list and describe what the causes were to world war I.
DESCRIBE THE PURPOSE OF YOUR UNIT (e.g., to understand the genre of the short story, to
understand the relationship between weather & climate and recognize that patterns exist in nature, to
read To Kill a Mockingbird, to learn common greetings in Spanish, to demonstrate different uses of
perspective, etc.).
To help students be able to create an argument surrounding a topic and event that has happened within the
history of the world.
Along with that, there is an important value to be able to create and implement an argument when having
discussions in the real world. An extra skill to be developed outside of just material related
skills/learning.
STEP 2: IDENTIFY THE STANDARDS THAT YOU PLAN TO ADDRESS IN THIS UNIT
21.9-12.ES.1 Communicate and work productively with others, incorporating different perspectives
and cross-cultural understanding, to increase innovation and the quality of work
SS-WH.0-12.25. Determine multiple and complex causes and effects of historical events within world
history.
STEP 3: “UNPACK” YOUR STANDARDS…Analyze the language in the standards in order to
identify the specific knowledge (facts, concepts) and skills (procedures) you might need to teach in order
to accomplish that standard.
Ex: LS-1-1. Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of
DNA determines the structure of proteins
A.
KNOWLEDGE. What facts, concepts, vocabulary, terminology, and other types of knowledge
will students learn in this unit? (e.g., students will learn the phases and physical states of matter; the
definitions of simile and metaphor; cost-benefit analysis; Bully Pulpit; the Pythagorean theorem is used
to calculate the third side of a right triangle, etc.). List all that apply here.
Students will learn the major players of World War I, changes of
technology/war, effects of WWI, what eventually stopped WWI
Vocabulary: alliances, nationalism, imperialism, militarism,
assassination, central v. allied powers, trench warfare, treaty of
versailles, league of nations, total war
B.
SKILLS. What skills will students be able to
demonstrate by the end of this unit? (e.g., students will be able to
infer meaning from a text; identify the major causes of the Civil
War; explain the difference between mitosis & meiosis; create a
3D sculpture using paper; calculate the square root in a given
problem, etc.). List all that apply.
Students will be able to infer meaning from text, identify the
underlying cause of World War I, identify how the Treaty of
Versailles helped cause World War II, a final project of their
choosing to demonstrate their understanding of causes and the
effects that World War I had moving forward during that time.
STEP 4: IDENTIFY THE CONCEPTS YOU WILL USE TO FRAME STUDENT LEARNING. To
identify your concepts, look for patterns in the knowledge and skills you just identified. You might also
use some of the provided concepts resources to help you. These can be concepts related to the topic itself.
(e.g., in a unit of informational texts, some important concepts might be: structure, text features,
previewing, etc.). Try to identify at least two (2) concepts that you will use to frame learning in your unit.
Causes of World War I, and how the Treaty of Versailles later influenced the start of World War II
STEP 5: CONSIDER RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN CONCEPTS. Think about what enduring
understandings about the concepts you want students to take away from this unit. Examine the
concepts you just identified and look for relationships between them. For example, in a unit on
information texts where the primary concepts are structure, text features, and previewing, you might
want students to understand that informational texts have a specific structure or that readers can learn
what an informational text might be about by previewing features in the text.
I want the students to be able to look at what the causes were for World War I, and then as we gain more
information about what actually took place during World War I, which ultimately leads to the signing of
the Treaty of Versailles, we can use the beginning information to see if there are any correlations between
the start of World War I and how the Treaty of Versailles impacted the Start of World War II.
STEP 6: CRAFT YOUR STATEMENTS OF CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDINGS. Use the
sentence starter “Students will understand that…” to craft your statements. Use “student-friendly”
language when composing your statements. Try to generate 3-5 statements. (For example: In a secondary
unit on reading informational texts, one conceptual understanding might be, “Students will understand
that readers can infer the meaning of a text by previewing its structure.”)
Once you craft your conceptual understandings with the sentence stem “Students will understand that…,”
you can simply drop the sentence stem and list your conceptual statements as just that - statements. This
will help you avoid confusing them as learning goals or objectives. (e.g., “Readers can infer the meaning
of a text by previewing its structure”)
Students will understand that an assassination drew European powers and other regions into World War
I.
Students will understand that the themes which played out during World War I are still characterizing the
development of the modern world today.
Students will understand the effects the Treaty of Versailles had moving forward in world history and
events, specifically World War II.
STEP 7: COMPOSE YOUR ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS. These questions should help students
“uncover” your conceptual understandings and be open-ended enough for students to explore at different
points throughout the unit. (e.g., “Why is it important to preview a text before reading it?” “How does
the way a text is organized shape its meaning?”). Try to generate 5-7 open-ended essential questions for
your unit.
What was the underlying cause of World War I?
What countries and regions had an impact on World War I and what was the effect of their involvement?
What were the impacts of World War I? (Social, economic, political, etc.)
Was World War I inevitable? Use examples referring to prior knowledge.
What founded the League of Nations and what was its impact?