Unit Studies for Teachers - Wrapping Up Your Unit Studies - free Suite101 course

Lesson 1: Getting Your Feet Wet in a Sea of Studies

Lesson 2: How We Learn, Teach, and Tailor a Unit Study to Fit

Lesson 3: Thematic Springboards Part I: Subject Unit Study Ideas

Lesson 4: Thematic Springboards Part II: Topical Unit Study Ideas

Lesson 5: Building Blocks & Boilerplates: Tools for Creating Unit Studies Part I

Lesson 6: Building Blocks & Boilerplates: Tools for Creating Unit Studies Part II

Lesson 7: Putting it All Together on an Ocean Cruise: Build Your Own Study Now!

Lesson 8: Wrapping Up Your Unit Studies
- 8-1 Introduction
- 8-2 Assessment Materials
- 8-3 Organizing Your Material
- 8-4 Resources

Lesson 8: Wrapping Up Your Unit Studies

8-3 Organizing Your Material

Once you've decided what material best represents the work done during your study, you'll want to come up with a neat way of organizing the results. This will serve several purposes:

assessment tool proof of work completed organizational tool project culmination college admission packet resume writing

How important each is weighted depends on your goals. Decide the best storage technique based on your own particular needs. Here are a few dynamic storage techniques for all those nifty projects.

A portfolio should be an accumulation of the high points of children's work. It's a repository for samples of their work, interests, abilities. Eventually it becomes a timeline of their learning experiences, a wealth of memories to draw on, an often-needed reminder that they have learned much and are capable of much. From an administrative standpoint, it provides you with proof of the work and learning your children achieve. A portfolio gives others insight into your children and your educational techniques. Portfolios are also becoming highly desired or even required for admissions to some schools and educational programs. For some excellent advice on preparing portfolios for such entrance requirements, see the articles section of the Heart of Wisdom site listed under the Resources Links section.

Unit studies dovetail nicely with the portfolio style. You can gear your planning toward eventual final products to be a part of the total portfolio. Items you may want to include:

the unit study planning sheet activity sheets exercises completed essay book report field trip report list of books read vocabulary list creative writing biographies essays any writing projects you wish to include in your unit study.

A Project Portfolio may be one grand polished cumulative work which is the culmination of the study. In the case of our Publishing House job-in-a-box always culminated in a single, beautifully written and illustrated hard cover book which became Jen's contest entry to Landmark Publications and , more importantly, a lovely new edition addition to our living room display book shelf after a stint at the coffee table book display.

In practice, many of us (myself included) do not put together the nice neat showroom window package laid out here . . . unless we are forced into it. It's natural. Our main interest is in teaching our children, not writing and recording the event. Our own portfolio and checklist didn't take place in any organized fashion until we needed to put together a package for college admissions. Then it was a mad scramble with a rush to fill in some gaps before the deadline. Fortunately, we could draw on a large box with a "PORTFOLIO" label slapped on it, of best work to jump start our memory and final package.

Creating a web site for your family is becoming a very popular activity. It seems only natural that this would be a great place to post some of those fabulous unit study results. In fact, consider making a web page as part of the unit study activities for your students. The older students can be put in charge of organizing and uploading material. Be sure they get appropriate credit at the bottom of the pages they design. For record keeping purposes, you can put links to these pages on a separate record keeping page or list the URLs in your paper records.

Have you ever tried designing a family newsletter? If you have a quality word processor, you have the means of creating a simple or sophisticated newsletter. And what a great place to post the latest developments on the unit study front. You could even devote a whole issue to your unit study if it's meaty enough. The skills gained in putting together a newsletter can be invaluable in many areas of life and career, so consider turning older students loose on this great activity. While you're at it, how about a newsletter for a unit study theme? Hmmm.

Scrapbooking has become a fun project with many creative components inspired by innovative scrapbookers. Why not bring the fun of this updated age-old saving method to your unit study. Let your children devise their own methods for saving the best work from the unit study. Get them some of those eye-catching scrapbooking kits to dress up the results the way they like. Be sure to design educational projects that will add a flair to their scrapbook. Use theme-related worksheets for tests, writing projects, math work so they'll add a theme-related touch to the scrapbook. You may want to use a single scrapbook for multiple related unit studies. You may even want a unit study done annually so the scrapbook becomes a timeline carrying over from year to year.

A word to the wise: try to set aside a wrap up time to get all these loose ends tied up while the project is still fresh . . . or someday it will come back to haunt you.

Heart of Wisdom provides many excellent articles online to help you put together portfolios and other tools for preserving your unit study work. Take a stroll around their site for more great ideas. Other sources of information for assessing and recording learning are covered in