Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files in the
library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Welcome to the Virtual Library of Conceptual
Units. The Virtual Libray includes conceptual teaching units for middle and high
school English/Language Arts classes. These units have been designed by preservice
and practicing teachers at The University of Georgia. The units follow principles
of curriculum and instruction developed by George Hillocks, Jr., (see,
e.g.,Dynamics
of English Instruction, Grades 7-12, by Hillocks, McCabe, and McCampbell;
Random House, 1971). The process for designing these units is described in Peter
Smagorinsky's Teaching
English through Principled Practice (Merrill/Prentice-Hall, 2002) and
Teaching English
by Design: How to Create and Carry Out Instructional Units(Heinemann, 2008; an online
Instructor's Guide is available for this book as well).The units are designed
to cover 4-6 weeks (assuming daily class periods of 45-55 minutes). Each is organized
around a concept such as a theme (e.g., Coming of Age), genre (e.g., satire),
strategy (e.g., understanding irony), literary period (e.g., Victorian Age), movement
(e.g., Transcendantalism), region (e.g., Authors of Georgia), or author (e.g.,
the works of Emily Dickinson).
The units in this library contain
the following elements:
A rationale that provides
a justification for teaching the unit to appropriate classes of students.
A set of goals that provide direction and purpose for the unit.
These goals serve as the major assessments for the unit and are accompanied by
a rubric that guides assessment.
A list of materials that
serve as the primary texts for considering the unit theme or focus.
Daily
lessons and activities that enable students to work successfully toward rewarding
performances on the unit assessments.
In designing
the units, the teachers are urged to prepare them as though they suddenly might
take an extended leave from their teaching and leave instruction in the hands
of a substitute. The units therefore need to be written in sufficient detail that
someone else could come in and teach them. The rubric
for grading the units is available elsewhere on this website.
The
Virtual Library of Conceptual Units appears next. Each unit is available for downloading.
To download, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
You are welcome to borrow from these units; we only ask that you respect each
unit's authors and credit their work if you borrow it for your own teaching or
unit design. Units listed in red have been identified as good
models to follow. Most units are of high quality; those
marked in red have been singled out because they model all aspects
of unit design unusually well. All units in the Virtual Library, whether marked
in red or not, are worth consideration for teaching.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Important Note!!: Google's
Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
The following units have been created by students at Florida State University
under the guidance of Dr. Shelbie Witte, using the same principles as those
created at UGA
Important Note!!: Google's
Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
The following units have been created by students at Clemson
University under the guidance of Dr. Bea Bailey, using the same principles
as those created at UGA. Unfortunately, we cannot credit the authors of
the units because doing so would violate an agreement stipulated by Clemson's
Institutional Review Board.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.
The following units have been provided by professors from
universities that use Teaching English by Design.
Important
Note!!: Google's Internet Browser, Google
Chrome, has some compatibility issues with the files within the Virtual
Library. This is a problem with Google's pdf plug-in, and not the files
in the library. Explorer
and Safari should work.