Description: Plan Integrated Curriculum: Planning an integrated unit of work.

Develop and submit a plan for a unit of work based on syllabus outcomes from four or more Key Learning Areas. See below for further details and requirements.                        

Word limit:    6-8 pages (approx. 1500 words)

Unit outcomes assessed: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6                 

Graduate capabilities assessed: GC1, GC2, GC3, GC4, GC5, GC6, GC7, GC8

Use the following scenario to guide the development of your planning an integrated unit of work.

You are a Year 3 teacher at ‘Macquarie University Primary School’ - a large suburban K–6 school with a population of 800 students. There are 4 classes in Year 3. You have 30 children in your class (17 boys and 13 girls) with a diverse range of abilities. Your class is also culturally and linguistically diverse with over 15 different language groups, including three children who are in the ‘Developing’ phase of learning English (EAL/D learning progression, ACARA) and another three who are ‘Consolidating’. None of your students are ‘Beginning’ or ‘Emerging’ in English language learning. 

You have 2 girls and 1 boy with an Indigenous background; these students all speak Standard Australian English in the home. There is a child in your class with moderate hearing loss that requires you to wear a microphone all of the time. You also have two children that require learning support in your class and you receive one hour of SLSO time each day. The school has two ESL teachers, one of whom works in a team-teaching capacity with you for two one-hour sessions each week. 

The school has received a grant to increase the use of technology in the classroom – you have an interactive smart board with access to the internet in your room. The school has some iPads which can be booked out as a set of 15 for use in classrooms. The school has a well-resourced library, and the teacher-librarians engage in cooperative planning with class teachers, working with you to build students’ information literacy by team teaching with you in the library lesson time, which is 40 minutes per week for your class. 

[NOTE: In this scenario, we have not indicated how your RFF time is allocated by the school. When writing your integrated unit, you should assume you will be teaching all of the unit, and possibly team-teaching some lessons.] 

‘You have been asked to plan an integrated unit of work for all of Year 3 to teach in the first half to two-thirds of Term 2. The unit should have a duration of about 6 weeks. The plan would be shared with your Stage 2 colleagues [our Week 11 and 12 presentations in EDTE456 are intended to evoke this aspect of the scenario]. As well as planning the unit in a general sense, you will need to personalise the unit for your own class’s needs.’

[NOTE: For the purposes of this assignment, it is not necessary to say in which week the learning experiences will occur, but merely to indicate their order. This unit is a general plan and does not need to take account of calendar items e.g. NAPLAN testing week.]

Task details and requirements:

Use ‘backward design’ to create an overview of a unit of work for the scenario class. (You might like to use something like the ‘Understanding by Design’ template from developing your ideas although you do not need to hand that in).

The unit must address syllabus outcomes from four or more Key Learning Areas and involve a rich task, which is used for assessment purposes.

Your Unit Overview will have:

• A title for the unit. This might be a ‘driving’ question or a topic.
• A summary of the unit. This should indicate very succinctlywhat the unit is about (e.g. ‘big ideas’) [50 words]. You should also indicate which Key Learning Areas the unit will address, and relevant general capabilities and cross-curriculum priorities (listed in bullet form).
• An assessment overview that summarises the main assessment task/s [50 words].
• A rationale for the unit written as prose [200 words]. This should include:
  • the reasons for the selection of that driving question or topic
  • how the intended learning experiences and assessments will address the driving question/ topic,
  • justification for the use and distribution of the KLAs you have selected, and 
  • educational research which informs your model/s of integrated curriculum. (Two or three quality references are needed).
• A list of the most relevant syllabus outcomes from each of the Key Learning Areas addressed in the unit. This list of outcomes can be copied from NSW syllabus documents. 
• Succinct descriptions of each of the planned teaching and learning experiences [1000 of your own words]. This should indicate:
  • the syllabus content they address [copy this information from syllabus documents – not part of word count],
  • adjustments made for learner needs, 
  • how assessment will be incorporated, and
  • the resources that will be needed/used.
• A one-page visual representation of how the sequence of teaching and learning experiences fit together and contribute to the rich task. You may choose to present this schematically. It does not need to be written in full sentences. 
• A one-page letter to parents that describes and/or explains the unit to parents.

AITSL Standards addressed by this task: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7.3

NOTES/ADVICE

• We recommend that you use ProgramBuilderand Scootle as part of their process of creating your submission. A template is available in ProgramBuilder for you to use:

https://pb.bos.nsw.edu.au/templates/115353/s/0f048818-F1E6-49DB-9A0F93C127D1FBE2

• For final submission, you will need to export your unit from ProgramBuilder and finish edition it in Word. It will export as a table. Sometimes columns or rows need to be resized after that process, so you should leave time to make sure your submission is professionally presented. When you get to that stage, you can also remove the ‘scope and sequence’ section, which is not required for this assignment but which it is not possible to remove form the ProgramBuilder template online.
• Use your knowledge of quality integration of the curriculum to ensure that the learning experiences you plan contribute in a cohesive and cumulative manner to the development of the rich task. This should be clear in the one-page visual representation of the unit’s teaching and learning experiences.
• You may consider ‘History’ and ‘Geography’ as separate for the purposes of this task (that is, if you intend to integrate both of those, then integrating only two more KLAs will meet the requirements of the task).
• It is expected that your teaching and learning experiences and resources will involve some use of ICT, and that this will be clear to the reader. 

Total length in terms of your own words (i.e. not including copied syllabus outcomes/content or heading rows on tables): 1500 words.

AITSL Standards addressed by this task: 1, 2, 3, and 5.

Description: Critical Reflection 

A critical essay using theory and research (use set readings) that reflects upon practice and professional learning (refer to professional practice placements).

1. Choose an example of something that occurred during Professional Experience that is related to your teaching practice and write a critical reflection of the teaching and/or learning that occurred for you. The example may be an incident, event, scenario or issue and can be related to the classroom, a specific student or group of students, an incident in the playground, or a conversation in the staffroom. 

2. Your response should include a brief description of the scenario, event, or issue, and it should refer to the key elements of reflexive and reflective practice, when considering the learning that took place for you.  

3. You should make use of Chapters 13 and 14 of the set text, refer to the Professional Teaching Standards, and other scholarly work, to support your discussion.               

Word limit:    1000    

Unit outcomes assessed:   2, 3, 6              

Graduate capabilities assessed:    GC2, GC3, GC4, GC5, GC8. GC9

AITSL Standards addressed by this task: 3.6, 6.

Description: Presenting the overview of an integrated unit. Including: Assessment of student learning. Evaluation/reflection.

• Present the unit of work created in Task 1 – this is a 5-minute presentation to your tutorial class, which will include an example of an assessment of student learning.
• Provide feedback to two peers on their presentation (a pro forma will be provided).
• Evaluate your professional learning. 

Note: Presentations will take place across two weeks of tutorial classes in Weeks 11 & 12 (October 22 & 29). All students must be ready to present in Week 11, as presenters will be selected randomly.            

Word limit:    approx. 10 pages submitted to Turnitin          

Unit outcomes assessed:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6              

Graduate capabilities assessed:    GC1, GC2, GC3, GC4, GC5, GC6, GC7, GC8

To assist your thinking - Imagine that you have been asked to present your unit of work to colleagues on your ‘Stage team’, and the deputy principal is also attending to learn about how the Stage is planning for quality, integrated learning. You will need to outline the unit of work you have designed, covering the points listed under the heading ‘In class presentation’ below.

In your in-class presentation you will:

1. Explain your unit of work in a 5-minute presentation to peers in your tutorial class. Include: 

• an overview of the unit you have designed
• an explanation of the rich task/s, the learning they are designed to demonstrate, and their assessment (including one worked example of an assessment artefact to show what you expect students might achieve)
• a summary of the key learning experiences and resources
• an explanation of the adjustments made for differentiation. 

Present in an accomplished professional manner, making appropriate and competent use of ICT (e.g. presentation software, IWB, Popplet/other multimedia tools).

1. Prepare a 2-page summary handout to distribute to your colleagues when you present. This handout should support your presentation rather than replicate it. It will be a single sheet of paper, double-sided and professionally presented.
2. Provide constructive feedback to two peers on their presentation (a pro forma will be provided).

Additional information:

1. Produce a worked example of a ‘rich task’, which models what a capable student might be expected to produce at the culmination of the unit of work designed in Task 1. 

• Include one artefact (shown to peers in your presentation). Annotate this model rich task artefact in a structured and succinct way that explains the evidence of learning the artefact would ideally demonstrate.

• Design the criteria used to assess the artefact (e.g. marking rubric), including a short feedback report to the student (approx. 100 words).
• Compose a short feedback report for parents/carers (half a page). 

2. Write an evaluation of the professional learning you have experienced in light of peer feedback. Refer to peer feedback forms, the AITSL standards, and your own critical reflections about the learning process (200-300 words) 

AITSL Standards addressed by this task: 1, 2, 3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.5, 6.1, 6.3, 7.3

What to submit toTurnitin:

Submit as one file:

• Two-page handout summarising your presentation (as given out during the presentation).
• Worked example of assessment of the rich task artefact, with annotations explaining how they would be assessed. Annotations should be neatly presented. You may include images as well as print as appropriate to the rich task you have designed.
• Assessment criteria e.g. marking rubric and feedback report
• Sample feedback report to one student’s parent/caregiver (100-200 words).
• Scanned handwritten peer feedback from two peers, as provided during the in-class presentation. NOTE: This will not be assessed as part of your grade, but it is necessary documentation for your maker to view when judging your evaluation.
• 300-word evaluation.

Completing the Annual Student Survey of Education for Teaching (ASSET) forms part of the assessment for this unit. The ASSET will provide the Department of Educational Studies with a detailed understanding of our students and their experiences; including, who they are, their attitudes and beliefs about education, and how prepared they feel to work as teachers. In addition, as part of the registration of the Department of Educational Studies teacher preparation programs with the NSW Education Standards Authority, we are specifically required to collect impact data on programs. The proposed annual survey will serve the purpose of providing part of these mandatory data.  Further, it will provide the Department of Educational Studies with valuable information to revise and improve the programs offered to students. Finally, you may elect to make your de-identified data available to researchers in the Department if you choose. 

Please note that identifying data will only be held by the Department of Educational Studies Research Administrator, Mridul Sood, and will not be released to the unit convenor or any academic staff in the Department. Full information is available when you open the survey. 

The survey is in 5 parts and you will be awarded 1% for completion of each part. An automated emailed confirmation of completion will be sent to the email address you nominate. Please make sure you ensure this is received and retained as it is the only evidence of completion that will be accepted in case of dispute. If you have any difficulties accessing the survey or questions regarding participation marks, please contact the Department of Educational Studies Research Administrator, Mridul Sood, at des.research@mq.edu.au.

You may complete the surveys any time before the final date for completion. Final dates for completion of each part are provided below and links to the surveys will be available on the iLearn sites:

Part 1:   1 September  

Link: https://mqedu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_d5qX9S1egyDecEl

Part 2:  15 September 

Link:  https://mqedu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_86a7m7fEtCmfKLP

Part 3:  1 October   

Link: https://mqedu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_72RaWQ5kzZeaFTf

Part 4:  15 October   

Link: https://mqedu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dbrGl5svQ8yFOrb

Part 5:  1 November 

Link: https://mqedu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9GqW4aW3fn60JWR