Ashley Valentine

Analyzing Unit & Lesson Plans for Universal Design

Subject area: Social Studies
Unit Thinking Goal(s) or Lesson Learning Target(s):
Learning Outcome 1: Students will know the historical circumstances of the Holocaust and how these circumstances
relate to other genocides.
Enduring Understanding 1: Genocide is avoidable. Genocide, whenever it happens, is usually the result of
government decisions, compliance of citizens, and the lack of interference from other nations.
Learning Outcome 2: Students will understand themes in Night, by Elie Weisel, such as silence and passivity in the
face of inhumanity towards other humans.
Enduring Understanding 2: Stories of individuals experiences illustrate historical events and can be used to more
fully comprehend difficult topics such as genocide.
Learning Outcome 3: Students will recognize prejudice and discrimination as stepping-stones to genocide, and the
need for personal responsibility in taking action against acts of hatred and prejudice.
Unit Thinking Goals

1. Presenting
Information to Students

CONCEPTUAL
(

Teacher provides
demonstrations of
concept development
During the genocide
presentation I introduced a
theoretical model for
categorizing the stages of
genocide and as a class we
applied the model to the
events of the Holocaust we
learned about in the
timeline activity and while
reading Night.

Unit/Lesson Analysis Template, CAST 2002 revised 3.11.10

2. Student Assessment
Choices for and of
Learning
Students have flexible
opportunities to
demonstrate
understanding of the
concept. Students could
express their understanding
several ways throughout the
unit including class
discussions involving turn
and talk, written response
(both formal and informal),
through artwork, a media
presentation, and/or orally.

3. Choice and Challenge

for engagement
Students can choose the
content and tools to
engage with the concept
I did not have the option for
choice for engaging with the
content in this unit (every
student had to read Night)
but if I were to do this unit
in an ideal situation, I would
have a few different books
for students to choose from
to do a novel study on a
book about the Holocaust

The final project was

designed to give the students
an opportunity to
demonstrate knowledge
however they wished. There
were suggestions on the
product descriptor for how
the students could
demonstrate their
knowledge, but they were
also given the choice of
designing their own project.

FACTUAL
(

Teacher presents
information in multiple
media and formats. The
initial timeline activity was

Unit/Lesson Analysis Template, CAST 2002 revised 3.11.10

Students have flexible

opportunities to
demonstrate factual
knowledge. Students could

(such as The Diary of Anne

Frank, Maus, Night, Number
the Stars, etc.) and I would
organize literature circles
around which book the
students chose.
Students can choose the
level of challenge to
engage with the concept:
Students had choice in all of
the their written responses.
For Text Connections
students could choose what
sections of the text they
were responding to. For
longer written responses to
the novel, students could
choose between answering
constructed response
questions (higher) or doing
double entry journals
(lower). For the final
constructed response
questions students had to
choose two out of three
questions, and I wrote two
lower questions and one
higher question for students
to respond to. For free write
activities students were
aloud to free-write, make
lists, or even draw.
Students have choices of
content and tools to
learn facts. I provided
many different ways for the

structured to present the

new information in many
different ways: building the
timeline/gallery walk
(kinesthetic), textual
analysis (linguistic), oral
presentation, group/pair
work (interpersonal),
reflection (intrapersonal),
video/animated map
(visual), chronology/timeline
(logical).
Teacher highlights
critical features
Especially when watching
videos I would pause
frequently to underscore
points in the video,
elucidate information, define
words, and give students
the opportunity to respond.
During the timeline activity,
while students were
analyzing their timeline
cards I circulated around the
room to ensure that
students were
understanding key points in
the text, as well as
informing students who had
received particularly
important event cards. Key
points were also often
written on the board as well
as spoken.
PROCEDURAL

Teacher presents

Unit/Lesson Analysis Template, CAST 2002 revised 3.11.10

express their understanding

several ways throughout the
unit including class
discussions involving turn
and talk, written response
(both formal and informal),
through artwork, a media
presentation, and/or orally.

students to learn facts from

whole class activities,
independent research,
videos, audio recordings,
read-aloud, and an
animated map.

Students have
opportunities to practice
factual knowledge with
supports The timeline after
it was created was left up as
a reference tool for the
students. The students also
had an independent research
day to pursue their own
interests in the Holocaust.

Students can choose the

learning context There
was individual work, pair
work, group work, and whole
class activities.

Students receive ongoing,

relevant feedback I used
think-writes, graphic
organizers, question and
answer during class, written
response for homework, text
connections.

Students have flexible

Students have choices of

information in multiple
media and formats When
reading the novel, students
did individual reading, I read
aloud large sections of the
book, and I also provided an
audio recording of the book
for students to use.
Teacher models
examples of skilled
performance I frequently
modeled using evidence
from the text to analyze the
text, for example finding
quotes and passages that
illustrate important themes
in the novel.

opportunities to
demonstrate the
procedure Students could
express their understanding
several ways throughout the
unit including class
discussions involving turn
and talk, written response
(both formal and informal),
through artwork, a media
presentation, and/or orally.
Students have
opportunities to practice
procedural knowledge
with supports I created a
comprehensive rubric and
product descriptor for the
final performance
assessment that the students
could use to guide and selfassess their project. I also
gave ample class time for the
students to complete their
project in class, and provided
resources for students to
further research.
Students receive ongoing,
relevant feedback. I
provided feedback for every
piece of student work turned
into me regularly and
consistently as students
turned assignments in.

Unit/Lesson Analysis Template, CAST 2002 revised 3.11.10

content and tools to

practice procedure
The final project was
designed to give the
students an opportunity to
demonstrate knowledge
however they wished. There
were suggestions on the
product descriptor for how
the students could
demonstrate their
knowledge, but they were
also given the choice of
designing their own project.
They could make an art
piece, a written piece
(essay, poem), a multimedia presentation, or
something else).
Students can choose
level of challenge to
practice procedure The
project was for the students
to present their
understanding of an
essential question, there
were three different
essential questions for the
students to choose from, of
different complexities, and
there were extensions on
the rubric for exceeding the
standards of the project.