Long Term planning
InTASC 7: The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.
Introduction
Creating a long term plan is an essential part of providing the structure students need to reach rigorous learning targets. It is the first step in deciding what content students will engage with in my classroom. I teach Algebra II, which is the terminal math class for many students at my school. The context in which I teach is heavily influenced by the community's needs. As such, it is vital that the long term plan is not developed in a silo. I worked with the other math teachers at my school to identify gaps in the vertical curriculum that I will need to address this year. Standards for Algebra II were selected as a department, and I was tasked with laying out the units students will engage with.
Table of Contents
Backwards planning
Collaborative Planning
The rough draft of the Long Term Plan below was created as a department. The topics covered align with school-wide goals for students and prepare them to be successful in the next step - trigonometry. Rough sketches of each unit are included as far as there is enough information to plan appropriately. This document was used as the foundation of my own personal planning. Within, the content areas and curriculum map are laid out to provide structure to my instruction in the classroom. Multiple voices are included in the process, as my classroom does not operate in isolation. I need to incorporate my students' past experiences to more appropriately prepare a curriculum that engages learners in culturally relevant and academically rigorous pedagogy. Special Education teachers are also involved to provide more insight into appropriate pacing for students on their caseloads. They can be prepared in advance with modifications and accommodations appropriate for their students.
Key Features
This long term plan identifies buckets that standards fall into and sorts them into units. The major focus for Algebra II this year is building students' confidence with functions. They need to see functions as a tool for solving complex problems in the real world, so that is the major focus of the second semester. These academic goals are maintained for every student, although the level at which students access the content will depend on them and their academic needs. The pace of content is the same for all students regardless of accommodations, as those considerations are built into the long term plan.
Enduring Understandings and major focuses of each unit are bold. These were identified by my department and I as core skills that students need to learn in each unit. There are fairly vague but still provide guidance for unit planning. In Unit 3, solving for roots is the main focus. In Quadratic functions, there are several different methods for finding roots that students need to be familiar with. More details for how this is approached will be covered in the Unit 3 Plan.
Beyond each unit's focus, there are broad goals for the year that I'd like students to master. Literacy goals underpin all the work we do at my school, so they play a central role in the planning of my instruction. In addition, my students are juniors preparing to take the ACT that qualifies as our school's state accountability test. Since these goals play such a heavy role in planning, I organize them in a separate document and task them out weekly.
Weekly Goals
Each week, homework assignments are focused on mastering Algebra I content students will need for that week’s Algebra II content. They address gaps in student knowledge that are part of the underlying reason my school struggles with the ACT. The content covered in these online modules is paired with a classroom learning target for each week leading up to the ACT. This spreadsheet shows the weekly goal, review topics, and project-based learning for each week before the ACT.
The selection of content for this portion of the long term plan was informed by Algebra I teachers who have more experience in that content area. The incorporation into my Algebra II curriculum supports the rigorous learning I have laid out for my students. The time spent in my classroom focuses mostly on conceptual skills, while the online Algebra I work builds up fundamental skills that students struggle with. My pedagogy relies on a balance of the two. Students need to be understanding content in new, broader, and more conceptual ways in Algebra II. That goal is served by practicing the Algebra I rote skills they may not have mastered then.
Planning for Assessment
Units are aligned within quarters to create consistency in the grading process. Each quarter offers 1,000 total points, so a significant degree of long term planning is necessary before creating assignments within a unit. This gives students the ability to look ahead at what assignments are ahead of them and calculate their grades before report cards come out. Backwards planning by plotting assessments a quarter in advance gives both me and my students a clear vision of what students will need to be able to do. My curriculum is based on getting students to the expectations I planned based on the standards they have to master, but my instruction is designed to be responsive to students’ needs.
Conclusion
My long term plan lays out the broad cross-disciplinary skills, specific mathematical needs, and major projects students will engage with throughout the year. Weekly goals chart out a rigorous pace for learning of new content that unit plans will flesh out. Individual unit plans add more depth to the content covered throughout the year.