With an emphasis on social justice and culturally responsive teaching, United We Learn launches students into collaborative nonfiction reading.
In this unit, you will amplify the importance of partnerships, helping young learners talk and collaborate in new and more rigorous ways. A spotlight on talk and collaboration is part of a larger focus on classrooms as generous, supportive, culturally responsive learning communities.
United We Learn is designed to be used in both second- and third-grade classrooms, and you’ll find tips throughout the unit on how to differentiate when needed.
Unit Overview
United We Learn includes 19 sessions across three bends, one of which is a video session accessible in Heinemann Flight. Each session builds in such a way that the work of one bend provides a foundation for the work of the next. By the end of this unit, children will have learned the power of collaborating in partnerships and clubs to grow knowledge while thinking critically about texts, their identities, their peers, and the world.
Bend I: Partners Talk to Grow Knowledge
- Students read with their partner and form new ideas as they talk about what they’re learning and questions that come up.
- Children learn how to transfer nonfiction reading strategies to thinking deeply and critically about texts of all sorts: advertisements, graphics, illustrations, graphic novels, photos, poems, articles, and books.
- Students practice presenting their perspectives and understanding the varied perspectives of others, using the skills they have learned to discuss their thinking and learning respectfully and with an open-minded curiosity about each other’s ideas.
Bend II: Clubs Collaborate with Text Sets
- Kids shift from learning alongside a partner to learning alongside a club. Club members read across a curated text set and collaborate to build connections and come to new ideas.
- Students learn to activate and integrate knowledge as they talk and read, using topic mapping to represent their knowledge and understanding as it grows.
- Kids turn their knowledge into power by using what they have learned to make an impact. Clubs create plans for sharing their knowledge and teaching others about their topic.
Bend III: Readers Learn More about Interests
- Students have the opportunity to replicate the work of Bend II with more independence and autonomy. Kids remain in clubs, but will study new topics they are passionate about as they learn the importance of considering ideas from multiple perspectives.
- With a continued focus on supporting knowledge building and collaboration, students work on setting and achieving goals while continuing to grow their knowledge.
- Just as writers revise their writing, readers revise their thinking. Students learn to compare new information with what they thought they knew, revising their thinking as they continue to learn about their topics through reading and talking.
