Unit Plan Format for Professor Moberg
Explanation and Guidelines
Why don’t all unit plan formats look alike?
Just as with lesson plans, unit plans can be created in a variety of formats. Whatever format is used, a unit plan
is a means of organizing the instructional components for teaching a particular topic or theme over a series of
lessons. At a minimum, a unit plan includes instructional goals, instructional objectives, instructional
procedures, evaluation techniques, and resources to be used throughout the unit. A unit plan can be used
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by you, the teacher, when planning an upcoming period of instruction (several days or even weeks);
by your teaching colleagues to use your effective teaching ideas with their own students;
by your principal to evaluate your organizational skills;
by your professor to evaluate your ability to plan curriculum and instruction;
by your cooperating teacher to determine what guidance to give you before you begin a unit with your
students; or
by you, the student, to internalize, through practice, the steps for creating an effective unit plan.
Various professors, colleagues, or principals in your career as an educator may require you to utilize different
formats when creating unit plans. Keep in mind that variety in formats often reflects variety in purposes and,
therefore, be willing to adapt to a new set of requirements should it be required of you.
Why does this Unit Plan Format contain the sections that it does?
Before you graduate, you will spend a semester as a pre-service teacher in a cooperating teacher’s classroom
full-time. During that experience, you will abide by the requirements of the Department of Teacher Education’s
Pre-Service Teaching Handbook, which specifies certain elements to be included in a unit plan.
To prepare you for that experience (no matter how far in the future your pre-service teaching may be), I will
have you use the same unit plan format, the components of which are listed below:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
Title
Topical Paragraph
Flowchart or Calendar Grid
Instructional Goals
Materials and Resources
Procedures
Evaluation
Daily Lesson Plans
What does the terminology in this Unit Plan Format mean?
After the teacher has considered all the sources of curriculum in preparation for planning instruction, he/she
generally plans in this order: first, plan the course; second, plan its units; third, plan the lessons within each unit.
That means that you, when planning a unit, must think in general terms about how it fits into the course overall
and addresses course requirements, state standards, etc. You must also think in specific terms about how the
unit will be carried out as a series of daily lessons. Both those levels of thinking on your part should be evident
in the unit plan that you write, which should include these sections:
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Unit Plan Format for Professor Moberg
Explanation and Guidelines
Title – Create an attractive, brief, and unambiguous title for the unit that sets the tone for the reader.
Topical Paragraph – Write a paragraph that serves as a statement of the nature and scope of the unit, describing
the basic reasons for teaching this particular unit as well as the major results expected from it.
Flowchart or Calendar Grid – Create a graphic organizer that visually represents the components of the unit and
their relationships to one another. A reader should get a clear idea of what subtopics make up the unit,
what activities students will do in association with each subtopic, how students will be assessed on each
subtopic, and so forth. To serve as an example, here is an excerpt from a unit plan flowchart (in other
words, this is not a complete flowchart):
Causes
A Nation Divided: the
U.S. Civil War
Events
Examine primary
documents (e.g., letters,
journals)
WebQuest, oral
presentations
Persons (e.g.,
politicians, military
leaders, influential
civilians)
Examine secondary
documents (e.g.,
biographies, texbook)
Class discussion, smallgroup activities,
objective test
Results
Read historical fiction
(e.g., tradebooks)
Essay on chosen person
comparing info from
primary and secondary
documents and novel
You may prefer (or I may ask you) to lay this information out instead in the form of a calendar grid
representing the days within the unit. Here is an excerpt from a unit on the topic from the flowchart:
Day 1
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play video clip
of actor reading
aloud
Gettysburg
Address
give “What Do
You Know?”
survey about
Civil War
peruse photo
collections from
the war
Day 2
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read and discuss
intro to
textbook
chapter
discuss
WebQuest and
go to computer
lab to begin
Day 3
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go to computer
lab to complete
WebQuest
return to
classroom and
discuss results
of online
research
Day 4
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discuss final
project for the
unit and record
students’ topics
do jigsaw
activity using
primary
documents
from the war
Day 5
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deliver brief
lecture on
causes of the
war
small groups
report on
connection
between
primary docs
(yesterday) and
the causes
(from today)
Unit Plan Format for Professor Moberg
Explanation and Guidelines
Instructional Goals – These are statements of performance expected of each student in a class, phrased in
general terms without criteria of achievement. They differ from instructional objectives, which appear
in lesson plans and which are phrased in measurable and observable terms. Note the difference in the
following examples:
Instructional Goals (for Unit)
The student will access and utilize various sources
of historical information.
The student will perform novice-level piano
playing skills.
The student will apply mathematical formulas to
solve practical problems in the local
neighborhood.
Instructional Objectives (for Lesson)
After being assigned a Civil War-era person, the
student will read about him/her in primary and
secondary documents and historical fiction and
will write a two-page essay on the person
synthesizing at least two facts from each source of
historical information.
Without referring to resources, the student will
play one major scale and one minor scale (drawn
at random by the teacher) using both hands in
unison and following a tempo established by the
teacher.
The student, assigned a neighborhood
homeowner, will use appropriate geometry
formulas and measurement tools to solve the
homeowner’s problem (e.g., how much fertilizer to
buy for the size of the lawn, how much paint to
buy for the size of the house) and will write a
formal proposal with no mathematical or
grammatical errors.
Materials and Resources – Create a list of all materials, resources, and people to be utilized throughout the unit.
Consider resources that must be prepared or gathered in advance (e.g., checking out books from the
library, scheduling guest speakers, renting a DVD, buying art supplies) as well as those that you will
prepare day by day (e.g., photocopying handouts, typing up a test, setting up a science experiment).
Procedures – Create a list that specifies the techniques that you will use to teach this unit. Here are some
examples that relate to the sample instructional goals from the grid above:
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The students will complete a Civil War-themed WebQuest directing them to online historical
documents (copies of primary sources such as journals and diaries), asking them to read and
interpret them, and requiring them to type answers to questions for class discussion afterward.
I will demonstrate correct hand positions on the keyboard and have the students practice
playing major and minor scales (learned earlier on the xylophone) first alone and then with a
partner for mutual correction.
After a preassessment that will help me to categorize students’ math skills as high, average, or
low, I will assign students to mixed-skill groups of three in which they will complete practice
problems (following my direct instruction of geometry formulas), study for the unit test,
brainstorm problem-solving approaches after meeting with their assigned homeowners, and
review one another’s formal proposal before submitting it to me and the homeowner.
continued on next page
Unit Plan Format for Professor Moberg
Explanation and Guidelines
Evaluation – Create a list that specifies the evaluation techniques that you will use to assess students’
achievement of the instructional goals. You should use some diagnostic assessment, some types of
formative assessment, and some form of summative assessment. Here are some examples that relate
to the sample instructional goals from the grid above:
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Diagnostic – Students will read a list of 15 opinion statements about the Civil War (e.g., “The
Civil War solved the United States’ problems related to slavery,” “The best way to learn about
the Civil War is to read a history textbook”), mark each “agree” or “disagree,” and defend their
selections in a class discussion prior to beginning the unit.
Formative assessment – Students will practice their scales each day of the unit, during which
time I will wander from pairing to pairing and observe their hand positions, their tempo, and
their accuracy. I will rate each on a daily rubric to note whom to help the next day and to record
everyone’s progress from day to day.
Summative assessment
o Traditional assessment – Students will take an objective test requiring them to recall
geometry formulas and use them to solve sample problems both theoretical and
practical (e.g., word problems describing situations like those that they will encounter
with the neighborhood homeowner project to follow).
o Alternative assessment – Students will assemble portfolios of their best work
throughout the unit. Each portfolio will be assessed by the student, by the teacher, and
by the neighborhood homeowner paired with the student. Each assessor will use the
same rubric to rate the quality of each final product (one daily homework assignment,
one quiz, one daily journal entry, the unit test, the notes from the brainstorming and
problem-solving sessions, and the formal written proposal to the homeowner), and the
average of the assessors’ ratings will serve as the final portfolio grade.
Daily Lesson Plans – Attach one complete lesson plan for each day of the unit. Details related to writing a daily
lesson plan are available to you here.