Reading: Ch 5

3~S Process

S	What statements can you make about the reading? What did you learn that others need to know? A well sequenced course connects content and skills in a progression of complexity towards college and career. Five design principals: thoughtful engagement, literacy as common practice, value, manageability, pressure gently applied You can start to plan a course by focusing on the products you want your students to complete or one a master text. Content Landscaping: collaborate with colleagues to choose a master text, then create a free association chart that ties into the master text and “landscapes” the unit. Think of a course as a guild—students moving from novice to proficient and eventually to advanced (master) of concepts and skills.
S	What strategies will you try? How will you apply your learning? I can use course charts to help me sequence and connect content and skills from unit to unit and visually see how the progression gets more complex and rigorous. I plan to use the strategy of multiple assignments for a single product at various times throughout a course. This will help scaffold student learning towards a large and complex product. I plan to vary my assignments by mixing up the “short to long, simple to complex” (101) aspects of assignments in order to progress learning as well as keeping the sequence engaging. I plan to use open ended questions to guide larger assignments in a way that adds complexity and rigor to each assignment.
S	What is the source? Where did you get the information? Assignments Matter: Making the Connections That Help Students Meet Standards by Eleanor Dougherty, Ch 5 “Sequencing Assignments to Design Units and Courses” pp. 87-108.