Stage 1 Meeting with Unit Partner

Blog Entry about Stage 1 Meeting with Unit Partner
due 3/11/09

I met with my unit partner today. The meeting went very well. We were able to discuss the understandings and essential outcomes for the unit that we will team teach together. Our focus for the unit will definitely be the features and conventions of nonfiction texts. We further discussed the components of nonfiction we felt were the most important and that would be most easily understood by kindergarten and second grade children (in the fall). We discussed the science content we might include in our unit.

I described the performance task to her and she was very enthusiastic about it. The idea of making a cookbook and recipes as well as a cooking show was enticing to her and thought it was be fun and exciting for the students also.

I briefly discussed what my intentions were for the performance task, what my expectations would be, and what I might want to include and how that related to the unit as a whole. We brainstormed some ideas together and will continue our conversation later. We talked about what the role of her second graders would be in this unit, what we could do for each convention and what the final product might look like. Again, further conversations will take place at a later time.

Overall, our essential outcomes and understandings were the same. We are team teaching the unit, both teaching the integrated portions together. That is how it is done in elementary school. There is no teacher that teaches just the one subject area. The idea of having a second grade buddy will be beneficial and educationally necessary as my children in kindergarten will have very limited writing, reading, and technology skills in the fall. I look forward to working more on this unit. It will be a great collaboration effort, team building, and educational experience for our children in the fall.