Learner Description -Classes from Eisenhower School will participate in this project, including ESL, LD, and Gifted students. During the course of this project, students will create a midwest travel log, consisting of writing, math, technology, geography, and an overall hands on assessment project.

Overview - The students from both classes will be designing a traveling travelog, which will include writing an expository essay, doing research on the midwest states, using different styles of technology, using geography and mapping skills, and creating a final project to represent a particular midwest state.

What will be taught?

Students will be taught the main geography components of the midwest states and have contact with individuals from particular midwest states. The students will be using the information gathered to create a traveling travelog which will consist of the main features of states of the midwest and a cumulating project to portray a particular midwest state.

How will it be taught?

In both classes the students will be provided with midwest reading material.

What will students do and learn?

Students will use the knowledge gained from this region and an assigned state to create a final assessment state character. The state character projects will be shared with the class to extend information about the particular midwest states.

Rationale - Purpose for the unit as a whole. The WHY questions.

Why would you teach this unit?

Students will gain a better overview of the midwest region but completing many hand on activities and sharing them with their classmates about what they have learned.

Why would this this qualify as an Engaged Learning unit?

This would qualify as an Engaged Learning unit because it covers so many various engaged learning indicators. The indicators include; responsible for learning, strategic, energized by learning, For their tasks involved they are authentic, challenging, and multidisciplinary. On the assessment portion this project in performance based, generative, seamless and ongoing, and equitable. As for an instructional model, collaborative, interactive, and generative. The learning context portion of this project is collaborative, knowledge building and empathetic. For the grouping or paring of the students this was done heterogeneous, flexible, and equitable. The roles of the teacher is as a facilitator, guide, and co learner/co-investigator. Lastly, the role of the students are explorer, cognitive apprentice, teacher, and producer.

Why is technology an important component of this unit?

Technology is a major component in this project. The students will be using different varieties of technology to enhance their midwest activities/projects. Such styles or varieties will include, digital camera, digital video, word processing skills, scanning, and the internet.

Why is this project authentic/meaningful , and challenging for students?

The students will have a better and more meaningful understanding of the midwest region. They will be researching topics that are meaningful and important to developing a better understanding of their particular state. Also, by learning in depth about a midwest state, they will be challenged to create their own state character product.

Goals - Content, Cognitive and Social - The WHAT questions

What new attributes (knowledge, skills, attitudes) do you expect students to gain?

Students will learn about the many areas of a state. They will be learning about the land forms, climate, products, bodies of water, culture and many other interesting facts about the midwest states. They will use this knowledge gained to create a final product of what information they have gathered/learned.

What school, district, state and national standards/benchmarks are addressed? Illinois State goals in reading 1B and 1C, Illinois State goals in writing 3A, 3B, 5A, AND 5B, Illinois State goals in social studies 15B, 18D, AND 17F.

Learning Activities - The activities required to achieve the goals.

The students will be studying the midwest region and completing many ongoing activities to show their knowledge of the subject area. The students will create traveling travel logs to travel through the midwest. In doing so , they will incorporate information about themselves and where they are from before sending out their travel logs. We will as a class, discuss the midwest states that their logs will be traveling and the different areas they will be receiving information on. Students will be collecting information about the midwest and recording it into a scrapbook about where their travel logs traveled. The students will receive post cards and an end result of their sent out logs. As we are working on this unit students will be paired with a partner from another 3/4 classroom. As two classes, the students will create a rubric to grade their final assessment project; state character projects. Students will gather facts and items to portray their individual state on their state character project. The teacher will also assess the final project. Also, the students will be enjoying their research and handwork with a "Taste of the Midwest", and a version of "Who Wants to be A Millionaire." Another cumulating activity to do as combined 3/4 classes is a floor map of where our travel logs traveled using a United States of America outlined map.

The How questions.

Student Assessment- Enables student and teacher to measure student's attainment of goals.

What are my scoring characteristics? (What do I want to measure? What is an important outcome of this unit?)

What will indicate that students are novices, practitioners, or experts? (Rubric)

Students will be keeping track of their overall daily progress on their projects and research, with a checklist.

Overall rubric- students decided that each character project should include 4 facts about the state name, state capital, state motto, and nickname. Also the project will need to include 4 visual items that represent their state. The project will also include all the required elements as well as additional information. The students agreed that the project should be correctly put together as well as an outstanding attractiveness. The project will also be graded on correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation throughout the written portion of the project. One of the main components that students feel the project should be graded on is originality and creativity.

How will I measure and communicate student progress on the goals?

The students will be tested on reading material in class as well as conferencing with the teacher about their projects progress. Also, they will turning in weekly assessments of their work done in class and outside.

How can students be involved in establishing goals and criteria for the assessment?

Students as a class will determine all rubrics and criteria for the project after reviewing various information for the midwest.

How will the assessments be implemented to ensure that they are generative? Seamless and ongoing? Equitable for all students? An authentic task?

How will students demonstrate their knowledge and skills? (Observations, portfolios, projects, performances, oral reports, paper-&-pencil activities, journals, checklists, student self-assessment, student peer assessment, etc.)

Students will demonstrate their knowledge and skills by self assessments, teacher observations as well as assessments, creation of their state character project, and sharing with the class their final state character projects to further develop everyone's understanding of the states in the midwest.

Resources - What resources will you need to do this unit?

reference books, butcher paper, construction paper (various colors), computers, internet access, printers, nonfiction books on the midwest

Management

How will you manage student work individually and in groups?

Weekly self assessments created by students and observations by teacher as will as conferences with the teacher

How will the room(s) be arranged.

Large tables and lots of floor space (desks in a U shape)

Where will equipment and materials be located to promote maximum use?

Books will be located in crates with easy availability access for the students. Each child will keep their information gathered in a midwest folder. The classroom will also have access to the computers in the room as well as working the school computer lab

Where will students need to work and how can they be accommodated?

Students will be working in both teachers classrooms with open floor space to spread out their layouts for their midwest projects. Many tables will be set up to create their scrapbooks for their travelogs.

How will students with special needs be helped? Any accommodations will be made in talking with the LD teacher or TDP teacher on any required IEP.

Unit Evaluation

What will I need to do, be aware of, and/or gather while teaching the unit in order to answer these questions:

What was effective?

What wasn't effective?

What will I do differently next time?

At the end of this unit the classes will come together to discuss what worked and what did not. As a teacher I will be jotting down notes to better accommodate any problems that came along the way.