A
Unit of Instruction
Use this template to identify and develop the topic and focus of your final project. Complete this
information as an overview. You will develop at least three individual lesson plans to address individual
components of your Unit of Instruction and identify instructional message projects that address each of
those lessons. This template is the overview of the entire Unit of Instruction.
1. Unit Goals (long range—how does this unit fit with year-long goals?)
My unit goal is to ensure students have a baseline understanding of the three major paradigms in an
introductory Sociology course. These three paradigms are the “lens” in which sociological data is
interpreted. Students often struggle with this as they have a difficult time thinking structurally. Two
of the three theories are macro level approaches that are exceptionally difficult for students to
understand. My goal is to ensure that I provide universal design elements to support learning these
concepts.
The three major paradigms are structural-functionalism, social- conflict theory, and symbolicinteractionism. Each of the paradigms would be a goal:
Goal One: Provide universal design and learner driven principles that help students interpret
and apply structural-functionalism to aspects of their social world.
Goal Two: Provide universal design and learner driven principles that help students interpret
and apply social-conflict theory to aspects of their social world.
Goal Three: Provide universal design and learner driven principles that help students interpret
and apply symbolic-interactionism to aspects of their social world.
2. Specific ways to relate goal(s) to curriculum (team/department, system and state frameworks):
This is the performance objective related to “Introduction to Sociology” at the institution where I am
employed:
Identify the main claims of Marx (in the form of social-conflict theory), Durkheim (in the form of
structural-functional theory) and Weber (in the form of symbolic-interaction theory) and relate
these claims to at least five societal phenomena on an identified list.
3. Characteristics of the students for whom this unit is intended (needs in the cognitive, affective,
physical, and social areas)
Most of my students are first year and first generation college students. The institution is a
designated “Hispanic Serving Institution” as well as an open admission community college. The
average age of the student is 26 and a little under half learned English as a second language. Their
needs vary but cognitive and social areas are more prominent because of a number of variables but
socio-economic status is quite pronounced.
4. Student’s Present Level of Performance and Knowledge (Do the students have the adequate
knowledge to complete the unit successfully? What prerequisite skills must the students have to
complete the unit content? Include technology skills.
Students will not need technology skills but will need some level of basic literacy to be able to read
the textbook and understand lectures. I will incorporate learning response systems in the lesson
plans to measure learning but this technology is not complex. Most of my students generally have
low reading skills so I provide a variety of ways for them to learn the material as well as referrals to
the reading tutors.
5. Classroom Layout and grouping of students (Where will the learning take place? How will the room
be organized? How will students be grouped (whole group, individuals, pairs, small groups, etc.)
I teach in a rather large lecture hall with 60 or more students in Introduction to Sociology classes.
Part of the lessons will be smaller groups, some of it will be individual (clickers or LRS) and part of it
will be the entire class.
6. Introductory procedures (How will you introduce the unit and the goals?)
I will set the stage for each paradigm through showing a video vignette (2 to 3 minutes) that
illustrates the following:
1. One aspect of society functioning for the good of the whole (Structural-Functionalism).
2. One aspect of society illustrating exploitation and impact of social class (Social Conflict
Theory).
3. One aspect of a group illustrating the exchange of symbols and shaping social reality
(Symbolic Interactionism).
Then I will provide an interactive forum with me facilitating the discussion.
7. Materials and media (any resource, persons or materials: be as specific as possible. Identify
resource, its availability, how it is to be used and why.
a. The videos are ones that I change each semester to ensure relevancy to students’ social world.
It is usually a PBS or news item.
b. Learning Response Systems
c. I use PowerPoints or Prezi given the length of the topic.
d. Textbook
e. I often add a snippet of a song that fits to my lectures as well. So this is a possibility.
8. Visuals (although this is part of the materials and media, I want this to be a specific part of your
plan). Identify at least EIGHT static graphic visuals (NOT links to video clips or websites, please)
that you will be creating and use, their purpose, and design.
1. Structural Functional Theory:
a. Game board of either “Monopoly” or “Life”
b. Some transformative picture that illustrates the rather nebulous concept of society
c. A graphic that depicts “anomie” another unfamiliar term for introductory college
students
d. A graphic that depicts social integration and working together of the good of the
whole
2. Social Conflict Theory:
a. Some sort of depiction of the idea of “capitalists” versus the “proletariats”
b. A depiction of the Marxian concept of “alienation.”
c. A depiction of exploitation
3. Symbolic Interactionism:
a.
b.
c.
d.
A graphic highlighting an “exchange of symbols”
A graphic highlighting language usage
A graphic highlighting nonverbal communication
A graphic highlighting a “change of reality.”
9. Assessment and evaluation of learner understanding (Identify the methods the teacher will use to
identify student learning levels and needs. Describe when these will be used during the unit)
I do summative and formative assessments. In larger classes, for formative assessment, I use
clickers or learning response systems to assess understanding and weaknesses. I will use the
LRS at the end of each lecture with quiz like questions related to the GRAPHICS. Sometimes in
smaller sections (I do not have these often) I will ask them to write in their own words what they
think each theory means and apply it to an aspect of their lives. Summative assessments are
objective exams (three given for each semester).
10. Relate assessment instruments to the outcomes stated in the goals.
The assessment instruments will measure the ability to describe, apply, and interpret the
performance objective listed below:
Identify the main claims of Marx (in the form of social-conflict theory), Durkheim (in the form of
structural-functional theory) and Weber (in the form of symbolic-interaction theory) and relate
these claims to at least five societal phenomena on an identified list.
* Adapted from Unit Plan at http://edtech.tennessee.edu/~bobannon/unit_plans.html