Eighth Grade Mississippi River Interdisciplinary Unit

Kipp Youngquist, Payton Lund, Sean Williams, and Carolyn Ruback

EDFD 449: Middle Level Philosophy, Organization, and Interdisciplinary Planning

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Overall Unit Description and Team Rationale (p. 2)

II. Explanation of Themes (p. 2-3)
III. Special Education Letter (p. 4)
IV. Group Reflection (p. 5)
V. Stage One: Desired Results (p. 6)
A. Established Goals (p. 6)
B. Essential Questions (p. 6)
C. Enduring Understandings (p. 6)
D. Content Standards (p. 7)
E. Performance Expectations (p. 8-9)
VI. Stage Two: Assessment Evidence (p. 9)
A. Performance Tasks (p. 9)
VII. Stage Three: Learning Plan (p. 10)
A. Day by Day Plan (p. 10-12)
B. Differentiation (p. 13)
C. Matrix (p. 14)
D. Special Education IEP (p. 15-16)

1
 Unit Description and Team Rationale

The goal for our unit on the Mississippi river is for students to understand the
importance of the river as well as gain an appreciation for the different opportunities it
has to offer. Students will learn about how the river has affected our environment,
culture, history, and well-being by participating in a four day camping trip to a campsite
located along the banks of the Mississippi. The students will be immersed in the
different educational activities related to the river by visiting the local Lock and Dam,
identifying land formations created by the river during a hike of the bluffs, and kayaking
down the river itself to reach our campsite. In the evenings, students will be given the
opportunity to reflect upon their experiences with journaling sessions guided by our
English department. We believe that it is important for students to learn about the
importance of the Mississippi river and appreciate its existence so that their is a
sustainable future through conservation and awareness for the next generations to
enjoy.

Explanation of Themes

Interdisciplinary and Integrated Approach:

Our unit is centered around a topic, the Mississippi River, that allows each subject to
relate to very well, which creates an interdisciplinary and integrated approach to
teaching. Not only are each of the subject areas able to relate to the overarching topic,
but each of the lessons are able to integrate multiple subject areas to enhance the
learning of the students. By the end of the unit, the students will have a deep and rich
understanding of the Mississippi in both specific areas and also the overarching broad
concept of the river.

Understanding by Design:

Planning with the end in mind was a main focus in constructing this lesson plan. Once
we had our end goals and enduring understandings that we wanted our students to
reach at the end of the unti, planning the specifics of the unit became much easier
because we were provided with a clear path to the end goal. The activities and lessons
planned are only in place because they help the students reach the end goals that we
have set out for them while keeping the end in mind. In this way we demonstrated our
knowledge of understanding by design.

Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships:

Daggett’s Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships framework helped direct us when

completing our assessment evidence and performance tasks. Keeping Daggett’s model

2
in mind helped us create assessments that use higher order thinking and application
skills. This ultimately will help our students reach Daggett’s adaptation stage in order to
have a better understanding of the unit as a whole.

Special Education Letter

Dear Parents/Guardians of Reginald Dwight,

Next week, the entire eighth grade student body will be going on a four-day overnight
trip to a local Winona Area Campground. Not only will this be a field trip that focuses on
team building for the eighth grade class, but it also will focus on multiple components of
The Mississippi River. This four-day unit will consist of Science, English, Social
Studies, and Physical Education. Since Reginald requires
accommodations/modifications through his Individualized Education Program (IEP), the
same accommodations will be made on this field trip.

Accommodations on this trip include allowing Reginald to record all of his creative
writing responses on a voice recording device provided through the school.
Additionally, any written material presented to the students will be read aloud at least
once to the whole group, and read aloud again to Reginald as needed.

If you have any comments or questions regarding Reginald’s

accommodations/modifications, please feel free to reach out to me at (262) 388-5**1 or
carolynruback@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Carolyn Ruback

Special Education Academic Behavioral Strategist

Room 223

Work Phone: (262) 388-5**1 Extension 17

Email: carolynruback@gmail.com

3
 Group Reflection
Following the completion of this project, our group agreed that the combination of
subjects in a unit is a great way to get students more involved in the topic and learn to
the best of their capability. Working in our Professional Learning Community allowed us
to dip our toes into real-world teaching exercises and collaborate with other members of
our profession that have different experiences and subject strengths. We found
ourselves bouncing ideas off of each other that were unique to our own areas of
expertise which allowed us to develop a unit that flowed well and exemplified
progressive learning opportunities for the students. This project provided us with a
better comprehension of Understanding by Design, which we were able to use to create
a unit that was standard-driven with specific goals that were met with our learning
activities. This experience will assist us in the edTPA process, as well as in our future
teaching endeavors.

4
 STAGE ONE: DESIRED RESULTS
Unit Title: The Mississippi River Grade Level: 8th Grade Time Frame: 4 Days

ESTABLISHED GOALS:

Science: Learners will be able to explain in a short paragraph the difference between a
star and a planet in the night sky. Learners will create a short story (fictional) about how
the bluffs were created using real evidence.

English: Learners will compose thoughtful, creative, and reflective responses in their
journals.

Social Studies: Students will be able to evaluate the importance of the lock and dams
on the upper Mississippi River.

Physical Education: Students will identify camping techniques, characterized by

explaining set-up and cleaning strategies for the campground. Students will
demonstrate kayaking safety, characterized by kayaking etiquette while getting in and
out of their kayak.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS:

● The Mississippi River is a multi-faceted entity that impacts our environment,

culture, history, and well-being

Physical Education

● The Mississippi provides endless opportunities for students to remain physically

active for a lifetime

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS:

● How does the Mississippi River affect us personally versus the world around us?
● How is a person’s writing style is unique to their personality?
● How can nature influence creative writing?

5
CONTENT STANDARDS:

ENGLISH:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined

experiences or events using effective technique, relevant descriptive details, and
well-structured event sequences.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.3.D: Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive

details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and
events.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

CSSE.8.3.4.9 The environment influences human actions; and humans both adapt to,
and change, the environment.
CSSE.8.3.2.3 Places have physical characteristics (such as climate, topography and
vegetation) and human characteristics (such as culture, population,
political and economic systems).

SCIENCE:
STEM 8.3.1.2 Landforms are the result of the combination of constructive and
destructive processes.
STEM 8.3.3.1 The Earth is the third planet from the sun in a system that includes the
moon, the sun, seven other planets and their moons, and smaller objects.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION:

Standard 4: The physically literate individual exhibits responsible personal and

social behavior that respects self and others.

Standard 5: The physically literate individual recognizes the value of physical activity
for health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression and/or social interaction.

6
PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS:

Students will know: Students will be able to do: Students will care
about:
Social Studies Social Studies
Social Studies:
● Evaluate the purpose of
● Understand the
the lock and dams ● Acknowledge the
geographical
importance of the
location and
Lock and Dams in
number of lock
Physical Education: their lives
and dams on the
Mississippi ● Kayak while controlling
their speed and direction
Physical Education Physical Education:
● Start a fire
● Explain the ● Set up a tent ● Gain a respect for
importance of the outdoors and
Science:
setting up their the area they
campsite before ● Students will state the camp
sundown causes that created the
Science:
bluffs and valley.
Science ● Students will name
significant features in
● Demonstrate English:
our night sky
knowledge of
● Continuously
factors that help
develop their own
create the
English: personal fictional
mississippi river,
writing style
the valley and the ● Differentiate between
● Analyze the
bluffs. creative writing and
connections
● Describe the nonfiction writing
between nature
difference ● Create coherent fictional
(specifically
between stars and narratives in their
pertaining to the
planets in our journals
Mississippi River)
night sky
and creative
English: writing.

● Demonstrate their
knowledge on the

7
 difference
between fiction
and nonfiction
writing
● Use different
literary strategies
when writing
fiction

8
 STAGE TWO: ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
PERFORMANCE TASKS:

English: Students will write at least five entries in their provided journal that demonstrate
critical thinking. Each entry will meet the minimum sentence requirement with adequate
spelling, grammar, handwriting, and a logical flow of ideas.

Social Studies: Students will write a short(7-10 sentence) reflection after their trip to the
lock and dam reflecting on what they learned on the tour. This reflection should illustrate
the students knowledge of the dams and transportation on the river both today and
throughout history.

Upon returning from the trip, students will be expected to write a five paragraph essay
evaluating if the benefits of the lock and dam system outway the negative effects.
Students should base their arguments on the knowledge gained from the trip such as:
dredging, transportation, US Army Corps of Engineers, ecosystem effects, economic
factors, etc.

Physical Education: Students will create a list of camping essentials which they will use
to decide what to bring on the trip. The list should include materials they will need and
reasons why they chose them, steps to take when setting up camp, and resources they
used to gather their information.

Science: Students will be able to create a folk tale using at minimum three
metaphors/similes to explain how the bluffs were created. The story will be no shorter
than a paragraph.

Learners will identify three objects from our observable night sky (aside from the moon)
and create an identification card for each. It will include name color orbit where to find it
and what type of stellar object it is.

9
 STAGE THREE: LEARNING PLAN

English:

Day One: In the morning before students leave for the camp, the English teacher will
pass out journals to the students. The teacher will tell students that they will have
multiple journalling sessions throughout the trip that are prompted by the teacher. The
student will be informed that no provocative or inappropriate language will be allowed,
but the journals will only be read by the teacher so they will be able to write without
worrying what others will think. In the evening, students will be asked to write a journal
entry of at least eight sentences (more than eight is encouraged) on what they expect to
do during the trip, what they are looking forward to the most, and what they hope to
learn.

Day Two: After the team building activity, the students will work with their team to
create a character/persona. This person will be somebody who lives in the woods by
the Mississippi River, and the team will work together to develop character traits of this
person. What is their gender? What do they look like? How do they survive in the
wilderness? What is their history? After the groups have collaborated for around ten
minutes, each student will write about this character in their journals. They will write a
paragraph describing a moment in this person’s life in the wilderness. Are they
capturing food? Are they looking for shelter? Did they meet someone? Students will
be encouraged to write a story about this person living along the Mississippi. It can be
realistic or can include magical or even silly aspects. Anything that gets them writing
and makes them excited to write (within the parameters of acceptability) will be allowed.
The students will be allowed to confer with their teammates/group members to bounce
ideas off of each other as long as it is not a distraction to them or others.

Day Three: In the afternoon, coinciding with the science lesson, students will write a
creative response to the following prompt: Using the information you gathered during
the bluff hike, create a fictional story from your imagination explaining how the
Minnesota landforms were created. This can be silly, scary, fantasy, etc. Write at least
eight sentences. During stargazing, teachers will read Indigenous myth on how the
stars came to be. Students will be instructed to create their own story on how the stars
came to be, similar to Indigenous mythology. The stories must be at least ten
sentences.

Day Four: Students will be asked to look back at their first journal entry in which they
wrote about what they expected and hoped to learn. They will write a reflection on
whether their expectations were correct, what they enjoyed about the trip, what the

10
school could do to improve the trip for the future students. This reflection is expected to
be around ten sentences.

Social Studies:

Day One: The teacher will overview the geography of the entire Mississippi River and
the basin. The teacher will guide the students in research of the history of the lock and
dams. The teacher will cover the history of transportation on the Mississippi and how
the lock and dams have contributed to that in recent history.

Day Two: In the morning of the second day there will be a tour of lock and dam 5
located just north of Winona. While on the tour, students will explore the details of how
the dam works and the purpose of the dam. Students will examine the transportation
aspect of the dam as well as flooding prevention. Boat transportation through a lock and
dam will be observed during the tour. Students will learn about the history of the US
Army Corps of Engineers and the impact they have had on the Mississippi River and its
ecosystem, specifically in its role of dredging. Also, students will explore the current role
of the US Army Corps of Engineers. By the end of the day the students will be expected
to write a short reflection of the days activities that illustrates their gained knowledge on
the lock and dams, transportation of the upper Mississippi, the US Army Corps of
Engineers, dredging, and people’s overall impact on the upper Mississippi River and its
ecosystem.

Day Three: The teacher will encourage students to think about the land formation
lecture and star gazing activities through a social studies lense. This would include the
history of the formation of the Mississippi River and the glaciers that formed it as well as
names of constellations and what they got their names from.

Physical Education:

Day One: In the afternoon of the first day the teacher will go over what students need to
bring in order to have a successful camping trip. After teacher demonstration, students
will pack their own equipment which will be checked by the instructor. The second
portion of the lesson will involve safety strategies while in the water and on their kayaks.
Students will practice getting in and out of their kayaks with and without a partner, as
well as how to get back on their kayaks in an instance of capsizing. When the class
arrives at the campsite, students will demonstrate how to perform their assigned
camping task. After the demonstrations, the class will set up camp with teacher
assistance.

Day Two: After the tour of the Lock and Dam, teachers will guide students back to the
campground in kayaks. Students will demonstrate their ability to control their speed and

11
direction while operating the kayak. Teachers will be located in the front and back of the
group to ensure student safety.

Day Four: On the final day students will start the morning by partaking in a geocaching
adventure. Students will download the Geocaching app and locate/take pictures with
three geocaches that have been designated by the teachers. Before the departure back
to school, the students will clean up their campsites. Teachers will emphasize the
importance of leaving the campsite as it was found, ensuring that all garbage and other
traces of human presence be picked up and disposed of properly.

Science:

Day one: In the morning before we leave we will talk about the Mississippi and the life in
it. This will give us two things, one expectation of what we will be encountering on
arrival and during our time on site. Two, I intend on this brief section create an
awareness and appreciation for the area we are about to camp in.

Day three: we will start first thing in the morning by taking a hike up to the bluffs> along
this hike I will talk and lead a conversation about how the bluffs were formed millions of
years ago, how you can tell by what kind of rocks we have around us that you can tell
that there was one an ocean where we are standing, and how we are in the beginnings
of the driftless area, which I will go into further detail about each of those things when
we reach the top. Additionally when we reach the top I will open things up for a
discussion about land formations and their creations and how the Mississippi river has a
role in this.

Later that night when it's dark out we will find a nice opening by our campsite with a full
view of the sky so we can really take it all in. While looking at our sky, we will talk about
the earth's significance in it all as well as point out important object that they should be
able to see and identify in our night sky.

12
Differentiation:

English Enrichment: For students that require enrichment during their creative writing
responses, they will be encouraged to write around two paragraphs per entry, and each
entry will follow a specific theme decided upon between the student and teacher.

English Remediation: For students that require remediation, the eight sentence entry
requirement will not be in place, but rather the student will write for an allotted amount of
time instead. This way, they are still writing the same amount of time as their peers, but
they will not have the stress of meeting a specific amount of sentences and work on
creating quality over quantity.

Physical Education Enrichment: Students looking for a challenge will have the
opportunity to test their skills by selecting a paddle board as their tool to help them
make their way to our campsite.

Physical Education: Students who are uncomfortable in a kayak by themselves will be

afforded the opportunity to float down the river with a peer or instructor in a larger
canoe, where they will work as a team to get back to camp.

Science: In accordance with the english requirements, students who are in need of
remediation will be giving simpler requirements and prompts for the short stories about
the formation of the land around us.

Science: For students who are looking for a challenge I will explain that in different
seasons there are different things in our night sky that are visible. They will be given a
map of the objects in the sky and the name and it will be up to them to find them. I will
be there to clarify answers.

13
Unit Matrix:

Time Day One Day Two Day Three Day Four

Morning Introduction to Hike to Lock Bluff hike with Geocaching

creative and Dam land formation
writing/journal lecture/discussi Final written
expectations Lock and Dam on reflection and
5A Tour discussion
Introduction to
River Ecology

Afternoon Introduction to Kayak to Creative writing Clean up/leave

Mississippi Campground activity in it how you
River Area hammocks found it
Geography
Return back to
What to bring the school
to each
activity/water
safety

Evening Travel to Team Building Star gazing N/A

campground Activity activity

Set up camp Group Journal Creative writing

Activity activity
Journal Activity

14
 INDIVIDUALIZED EDUCATION PLAN

STUDENT INFORMATION

Student Name: Reginald Dwight Grade: 08

Primary Home Language: English Child’s Primary Language: English

IEP INFORMATION

Case Manager Name: Carolyn Ruback Type of IEP: Annual

Email: carolynruback@gmail.com Phone: (262) 388- 5**1

Primary Disability: Specific Learning Disabilities

Present Level(s) of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance

(PLAAFP)

In the evaluation dated 10/1/18, Reginald was identified as having a learning disability
with special education needs in reading decoding, comprehension, and written
expression skills.

Reginald is currently in the eighth grade and has been receiving special education
services since 10/2/14. Reginald is a kind student who wants to perform well. He
works hard and is very good about following directions when he is focused

Teacher Reports:

Social Studies- Reginald’s teacher reported that he was concerned about Reginald’s
comprehension last year for language arts but he is currently doing well in social studies
using the accommodations implemented through the IEP.

Science- Reginald’s teacher stated that science is going really well and that Reginald
loves participating in the experiments.

Math- Reginald’s teacher stated that math is going really well, but is worried about the
upcoming unit on solving word problems.

English- In the past, Reginald has worked on reading fluency and has gone from
reading 60 words per minute to 72 words per minute during a cold read of a seventh
grade level text. His overall fluency has improved significantly, but his comprehension

15
skills had remained stagnant. Teachers have noticed that Reginald benefits from
reading a book along while simultaneously listening to the same audiobook.

GOAL:

By the end of the 2019-2020 school year, Reginald will read 90-140 words correctly per
minute. Reginald will come into the special education room after advisory period and
before he goes to his english class to do one on one fluency/decoding instruction with
Ms. Ruback daily for thirty minutes. His progress will be monitored by weekly cold and
hot reads and irregular sight word flash card tracking. With this fluency instruction,
comprehension instruction/skill building will go hand in hand.

RELATED SERVICES:

Reginald receives speech services twice a week in order to help with his
speaking/pronunciation.

Reginald qualifies for our free after-school tutoring services that he can use at his
discretion.

MODIFICATIONS AND ACCOMMODATIONS:

Whenever possible, Reginald will be provided an audio version of texts used in class.
He will follow along with the text while listening to it through his headphones.

For most writing activities (especially high-stakes such as papers and tests), Reginald
will use a speech-to-text function on his school-provided laptop.

When grading hand-written assignments, Reginald’s teachers will not penalize him for
poor handwriting/spelling. When giving writing assignments, the assigning teacher will
communicate the schedule/due date for extended assignments to the special education
teacher, along with potentially shortening the assignment to the teacher’s discretion.

16