1. Reflection on Teaching and Learning
What did you learn about your students’ abilities to analyze content using skills related
to the specific subject area being taught in the unit?
I learned that my students have a very limited basis from which to draw. They are
economically, socially, and geographically challenged. Many, if not most, have never
traveled outside of the city limits. They have very little knowledge of what landforms other
than the Ohio River look like. This limitation seems to make it difficult for them to
adequately analyze and discuss with any depth, the landforms, people, and habits found in
other parts of the country.
How did your unit design, instructional strategies, and assessments support students’
abilities to develop and/or use skills related to the specific content/subject area during
the unit?
During the design of this unit, I thought about their limited knowledge and attempted to
find additional information that would help students to see the impact that these landforms
such as mountains, lakes, and deserts have on humanity. I brought in pictures of average
Americans cycling across the United States, poems written by people who traveled across the
country and songs by people who had the perspective of living through hard times and still
seeing the beauty of this nation.
The projects that I assigned were designed to first introduce students to the regions they
would be studying, then to take them to an in-depth study of a particular landform, and
finally provide a framework that would give insight to the future lessons in social studies

2. about the people that would inhabit the regions and depend on the landforms in those regions
for food, shelter, and clothing.
The assessment on classroom discussion was informal and mainly done through direct
observation. The formal assessments came in the form of rubrics that were used to grade the
maps and the diorama. Finally, students were given a test over the unit before they moved on
to the next unit which continued the learning by incorporating the material with early Native
Americans.
How can you improve the unit design, instructional strategies, and assessments of this
unit for a similar group of students in the future? Be specific and support your ideas
with relevant evidence from the portfolio.
In order to improve this unit design, I would engage students in more fact finding about
the areas of the country outside of their own city. I would bring in more pictures, stories
from people who have traveled, and perhaps even have someone talk to the students about
landforms they have visited such as the Rocky Mountains, Mojave Desert, or the Piedmonts.
As far as assessments, I would probably rearrange the order in which the students did the
projects. I would have them complete the regions map first, as I did in the lesson unit. Then
I would have them do the landforms map right afterward. Finally, I would have them create
the diorama. When they created the diorama, they did not have sufficient information on all
of the landforms. I also would have had them read outside literature rather than just their
textbook. Each student would be assigned a book about a particular landform. After reading
the assigned book, the student would then write a short report summarizing the book and

3. listing major features of his or her landform. This would have helped the students to think
more deeply and analyze how they would create their project.
The final test was good and most students did well on it. It was obvious after finishing
the unit that students had learned the material.