BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS UNIT SUMMARY TEMPLATE

Unit Overview

This section provides unit overview information:

Content - Subject area (Math, ELA, SS, Science, etc)

Course - Specific course offering (Grade 1 Social Studies, Grade 5 ELA, Algebra, Geometry)

Unit title - Title of the unit

Recommended time allotment - Estimated number of days or class periods to complete the unit; may

differentiate for 50 or 90 minute blocks.

Unit Overview - Narrative describing overarching ideas, objectives, assessments, interdisciplinary

connections, etc.

Prior Knowledge- Narrative describing prior knowledge and skills students will have mastered prior to

this unit, reflecting both horizontal and vertical alignment. Narrative may also address potential student

misunderstandings.

Calendar or "At a Glance" - A unit at a glance or calendar, if applicable, in PDF or Word format can be

embedded.

Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings

• Principles, theories, and core concepts in a field of study

• Organizes large bodies of declarative information into conceptual categories

• Transfers to new, emerging fields of study and new situations

• Are abstract, requiring investigation and inquiry

• Align with Essential Questions

• Go beyond discrete facts or skills to focus on larger concepts, principles, or processes

• Reflect specific insights students take away

• Reflect multiple and diverse perspectives and worldviews

• Are both overarching (linked more closely to big ideas) and topical (linked more closely to the

unit's content)

BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS UNIT SUMMARY TEMPLATE

Essential Questions

• Have no right or wrong answer

• Are designed to provoke and sustain student inquiry

• Address the conceptual and philosophical foundations of a field of study

• Address multiple and diverse perspectives and worldviews

• Raise other important questions

• Occur naturally throughout the unit of study

• Stimulate ongoing rethinking of the units big ideas

• Are both overarching (linked more closely to big ideas) and topical (linked more closely to the

unit's content)

Standards and Skills

Standards and skills will be linked at the course and unit level. The recommendation is to link to assessed

standards/skills. When standards are tagged, they will automatically populate in this section. This section

can specify all unit standards/skills, using terminology appropriate to the discipline’s standards (e.g. major

and supporting; assessed and practiced).

Assessments, Performance Tasks, and Rubrics

This section contains unit level assessments.

Periodic Summative Assessments- An assessment that provides evidence of student achievement for

the purpose of making a judgment about students’ level of mastery over a particular period of time. (End

of unit, course, year etc.)

Formative Assessments- Assessment tools designed to collect data via formal and informal processes

teachers and students use in the classroom for the purpose of improving student learning. (E.g. exit

tickets, quizzes, short written responses)

Performance Based Assessments- Assessments that require students to produce original work aligned

to specific learning outcomes; these may allow for evaluator observation and/or judgment to score the

student work product. A complete performance assessment has several parts: the task(s) to be completed

BALTIMORE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS UNIT SUMMARY TEMPLATE by the student, the rubric and/or other set of scoring tools for judging quality of the student response, and

sample student responses (typically annotated to show degrees of mastery).

Academic Vocabulary

This section lists and defines academic vocabulary relevant to the unit.

Materials and Resources

This section will include the primary student resources for the unit, which are linked from the repository.

Course materials and resources should reflect Universal Design for Learning and the Dimensions of

Equitable Education (e.g. perspective and worldview, relevance to students, “hidden curriculum,” and

multicultural issues)

Professional Learning Resources

This section will include professional learning resources relevant to the unit, which are linked from the

repository.

Instructional Notes

This section contains instructional notes for the teacher (i.e. advanced prep, strategies for differentiation,

teaching English Language Learners and students with special needs etc.)