Thematic Units

In 2018, my colleagues and I designed an integrated unit around the theme of skin color for our 8th grade students and we have continued to use this project every year since. The project incorporates content and standards from science, ELA, math, history, and most recently, digital design.

The final "product" or demonstration of knowledge that students produce has changed each year based on the community partners that were able to be involved, our student population, and you know...whether there was a global pandemic happening. One year, we held Socratic seminars, filmed and shared online by a local media group. Another year, we partnered with Think TV, our local PBS station, to help students film and edit their own videos that could be used in classrooms where students were learning about the science or history of skin color.

Over the years we have developed tools and systems that have helped both teachers and students stay organized and have maximized our time to meet with students for critique. We have shared our work within our school at staff meetings and at local professional development conferences such as WSUNER.

Below are some examples of the slides that we created to share how we connect all of these content areas and logistically keep track of the progress of 120+ students along the way.