If you guessed what I’ve been up to lately and looked at the title for ideas, you’re half correct. Yes, Book Rationales and Unit Breakdowns are part of the weekend at the Forte home. Making adjustments to one for one class, another for another have been nonstop. The other part has just been the relaxing reality of being at the half way point of a semester with endless distractions and beautiful weather. Procrastination time is indeed setting in.
Let’s write. 2 birds with one stone here because I get to think about the endless unit plans I have to write about while also fulfilling the blog requirements I have put up for myself. Nothing like setting higher standards for yourself, right?
For those who don’t know, a Unit Breakdown or plan serve as the building blocks for an initial plan and can help a teacher to form a plan for what they truly want to accomplish in a specific time frame. The unit breakdown, often distributed for children’s parents or administration within a school, lists specific goals of a lesson, things that will be set out and accomplished during the unit. In a similar manner and what I often associate together is the book rationale which… rationalizes the decision for why a certain book is selected. Reasons why the book is important to teach, as well as what can be obtained through reading this book is what comes from a rationale. By intertwining the book rationale and plans for the unit together, it can be effective in broadcasting two very similar topics into a larger, efficient paper. Productive.
For this post, I would like to try and go a different route with a back and forth posting reasons I like Rationales/Plans and reasons why I simply don’t and they suck like Dan Orlovsky in his own endzone. Changing things up here at letmeteachya!
Good: Defend Your Thoughts
What’s better than having a chance to defend your reasoning? I would think if a teacher is confident in the importance of the book they’ve selected or the plans they have for a unit, this is the format to push out the information to a viewer. This is the chance to stand on that mountain top and scream your value and your vision.
Bad: Lack of Interest
That administration? They may glance at your ideas and shrug them off if it’s a strict district. Play by their rules. Parents? Yeah… Tim’s parents couldn’t care any less if they tried. They laughed at your long letter. Har Har Har. Might feel like a waste of time if this will not help with self evaluation.
Good: Your Ideas, Your Format
You don’t have to write a long letter to people who aren’t as passionate as you. In terms of parents, it can be a simple bullet list format. It can be a checklist for them to see. Hell, it can be a long letter if that is your comfort level. Essentially, whatever way you think helps best present your ideas, shoot for it and work it.
Bad: Playing to the Audience
If you like writing letters, there’s a chance a parent may not want to read that letter. The administration may want to have a ton of detail you are lacking. You can never be 100% sure what exactly your audience will want and expect. Trying to make those adjustments for improvements can make this short letter into something terribly time consuming.
Good: Planning Ahead
The planning aspect of this allows teachers to make a system for success. In some cases, as they plan they can reflect back on the work they do to make sure that they are achieving the same expectations they originally planned on reaching when they made they chose the book to begin with.
Bad: Bringing Attention
Sometimes in making a case, you bring up a case. When trying to justify a book for students to read to parents, you basically ask someone to argue with it. The negative that was lack of interest, can actually be a good thing. Parents too invested and trying to make choices they aren’t qualified to make like book choices is not something any teacher wants to necessarily deal with.
The positives and negatives go back and forth. It’s time consuming and can lead to more problems with skeptics but being able to defend your choices as a teacher should never be a bad thing. What are your thoughts on book rationales? Comment below!
LetMeTeachYa By Anthony Forte 