Content Objectives
I am focused on three key goals in this unit. First, I would like for my students to successfully identify and describe environmental issues through the lens of lyrical abstraction. In order to achieve this goal, my students will engage with abstract concepts like climate change, air pollution, toxic waste and gun violence. The art will be used to evoke my students’ emotions and inspire reflection on our relationship with the environment focusing on sustainable practices and materials. Hopefully by the end of this unit my students will create a personal connection to environmental crisis and appreciate the interconnectedness of ecosystems prompting them to become environmental activist.
My second goal is for students to understand the concept of environmental racism. Ultimately, I want my students to go beyond the emotions of anger and feeling victimized by the environmental disparities. I want them to understand our interconnectedness and become conscious activist advocating for sustainable resources in their own communities. For this level of investment to occur I realize that exposure to nature and natural resources within my student’s community is critical to achieving this goal.
My third goal for students is to understand and express their growth mindset regarding environmental awareness through disciplined play with the use of legos, collaboration, discussions, note taking, sketching. My students will write short descriptions of their reimagined sustainable communities using unit vocabulary and share out to their classmates. Providing my students with the opportunity to explain their choices and connect them to the themes in this unit.
These three content objectives are in alignment with the Illinois State Standard as well as common Core Standards for Learning. This unit will utilize performance-based assessment which will require me to demonstrate or apply their knowledge, skills and strategies by creating a response or product or doing a task. Typically, student responses or performances are scored against the state standards or rubric criteria on the stages of skill development.
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