**Click Download Below to Open the Vantage Point Template**
We were to create a visual representation of planning and thinking for our teaching practice. In this, we were to include an overview of the values, strategies and designs for learning that are becoming important to us. In the linear visual below (I’m not quite as creative as my classmates making Tangled Sunshines, Volcanoes, Ice Burgs etc…) core competencies, big ideas, curricular content and competencies among other aspects of the curriculum are displayed throughout a “Social Studies 8 Unit” game plan.
I enjoyed this template our professor gave to us, and was able to organize my thoughts in a way that not only makes sense if I were to plan and execute the unit, but also a visual to submit if I were ever asked for Unit Plans in a job ahead.
This template is organized in such a fashion that Student Advocated Learning could be implemented to change the subject from “Roman Empire” to any content the students were interested in. For example: you can give your students choice at the beginning of the course and ask what they would like to learn about (now that there are no restrictions on timelines in the BC Curriculum website). Students could potentially choose subjects such as Vikings, Spartans, Renaissance, Silk Road etc… and the activities, related activities to government and First People’s Principles, learning intentions, big ideas, competencies and assessment could all remain the same while implementing minor changes of the content, and the whole organization would change very little.
Of course, there are different ways one could approach some of the learning intentions. You’ll see in the first activity we are heavily discussing government. This particular topic would be a hefty part of the unit. It would be up to the teacher if they would like to do a separate unit of Government backgrounds with Traditional First Nations’, Canada and U.S. prior to this unit, or teach these concepts intertwined with the unit itself.
So. Many. Possibilities. Enjoy.