Unit Planning: It's all making sense

When I began this unit plan  I struggled to decide exactly what I wanted to teach within my unit. Luckily my cooperating teacher and fellow teachers, provided me with some great resources that have been utilized in the past. This allowed me to see what they typically expect from the unit of shop safety and then modify it to fit my developing teaching style.

As I looked over my peer feedback I know that I need to work on aligning standards to my lesson from the SAS website and the National AFNR Standards. In addition, I did not include the criteria for my objectives, which is one of the 3 components that make up an effective teaching objective. I also received comments about the assessment that I would utilize, being that the unit is so short I planned to use one assessment at the end, with class checks along the way. I think I will continue with this structure at this point unless directed in another direction.

After making these changes and reevaluating the strength of my unit,I have also decided that I need to include another day into my unit. I currently have this as a 4 day unit but think it will need expanded to 5 days to incorporate tool and equipment identification. As I reviewed my objectives I noted that I expect the learner to identify the areas that the tools and equipment are located within the shop, but I never taught them where these were located or what they were. I know that at this point I will not go into depth with tool identification but I want my learners to have a general knowledge that we can expand upon for the units to come.


As an educator we talk about creating a felt need for our learners. Through the unit and lesson planning process so far I have a  felt need for the importance of unit planning. As I created my first informational lesson plan last week I did so for a unit of instruction that I have not yet completed the unit plan for.

Quite frankly this was a terrible decision on my part and it made the lesson planning process even more difficult. I can see now how the standards, objectives, assessments, lesson titles etc. all transfer into the lesson plan making it easier to fit into the big picture. I think I am finally comprehending the backwards design of planning and starting to have a greater appreciation for the theory.

Everyday I realize that the new material I have learned means that I could go back and revamp something that I have already done, such as a lesson plan, or this unit for example. At this point I understand the concepts that need to be included in the unit plan but stumble with the amount of depth that needs to be included.

The final piece that I am struggling with is coming up with my materials lists. When you look at my unit plan, it looks like there is little happening in my class according to the materials list. I have found that already as I planned out the first lesson that I have changed my thoughts, ideas, and activities thus needing more materials. I am curious if the unit plan is something that I should continuously be updating and revising as I modify my lesson plans and ideas. I am sure that it is!