First Ever Unit Plan Reflection!

Recently I was responsible to turn in my first unit plan…  Yikes!  I was so nervous because I wanted to have all of the pieces together, I wanted to have it look professional, I wanted it to be perfect and yet I was not sure where to start.  Several days prior to the deadline for the unit plan I emailed and texted several of my friends from the 2014 PSU Ag Ed co-hort for an example of what they did.  Everyone responded and provided me with examples and shared wonderful ideas and inspirational survival advice and then I was on my way.

I completed my very first unit plan on Plant Propagation and I read my horticulture textbook to make sure I met all of the components and topics.  I completed the outline from the friends I contacted to ensure that I was reaching my expectations.  Once I included all of the 18 essential components, I was finally ready to submit it to be peer reviewed.  In the feedback that I received my peers both thought that I should list specific lesson titles as opposed to saying “Lesson 1, Lesson 2, Lesson 3, etc.”  I was also instructed to list at least 3 benchmark standards listed, and I should mix up some of my activities so I do not have a daily PowerPoint. 

The suggestions my peers gave me came as no surprise because as I was writing the unit plan I was not entirely sure about all of the resources available for me to use at Shippensburg High School.  One of the reasons is that the high school that I am from is very, very poor and lacked resources.  As I was writing my unit plan I did not want to design an elaborate plan full of things that would cost MONEY because what if the school did not have a decent budget?  So my unit plan was relatively boring full of almost daily PowerPoints and other activities that could be made fun but were certainly low budget.  The same day that I handed in my Unit Plan I drove the two hours to Shippensburg to meet with Mrs. Bier and discuss some of my issues.  Then she showed me that there were crayons and markers and play-doh and so many other materials that can add into the hands-on experience component.  Mrs. Bier also shared with me that I can have guest speakers and I can arrange half day field trips.

While I will definitely modify and improve my first unit plan, I feel much more comfortable in developing my future ones and ideally making them much more interactive.  Also as part of this assignment, I officially feel like I am a part of the Ag Ed Fam!  There is so much goodness among the members of this group and intertwined with them is the willingness to help and share and inspire.  I hope that one day I can be just as good to others as my role models are to me!