Unit Plan on Power Struggle

Unit plan 654

Stephanie Gordon
Alexie Csipak

Understanding By Design Unit Template

Title of Unit
Curriculum Area

Power Struggles

Grade Level

7th Grade

English/Social Studies

Time Frame

1 month

Stephanie Gordon and Alexie Csipak

Developed By

Identify Desired Results (Stage 1)

Competencies
Competency
Competency
Competency
Competency

1:
2:
3:
4:

Uses language to talk and learn

Represents his or her literacy in different media
Reads and listens to written and spoken media texts
Writes a variety of genres for social and personal purposes

Understandings

Essential Questions

Overarching Understanding

Students will understand that.

1. Some groups hold more power than others
2. There are different types of power dynamics (democracy,
dictatorships, communism, parent/child,
teacher/students, employer/employee)
3. There are different ways to approach conflict (violence,
compromise, civil disobedience)

Related Misconceptions

You cannot have an impact on change

Violence/war is the only way to resolve conflicts

Overarching

What drives a person or group in society to

revolt against a higher power?

Knowledge

Skills

Students will know

Students will be able to

Vocabulary/definitions related to political and

interpersonal relationships
Political
Types of government:
Democracy
Dictatorship
Socialism
Etc.

Interpersonal
Types of relationships:
Parent/child
Romantic relationships
(abuse/LGBT/healthy)
Employer/employee
Etc.

Read, comprehend, organize, extract information, research, writing,

communicate findings
Students will be able to read and comprehend text, and be able to take
what they have read and apply it to different contexts

Laws, important people, dates, statistical facts related to political and

interpersonal relationships

Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)

Performance Task Description (separate sheets)
Role
Audience
Format

Topic

Product/Performance

Standards

Student will become a sociologist

Sociologists from different domains attending the conference
Powerpoint, Speech, Report, Poster, video conference, conference call
Sociologists of different backgrounds have been selected to come together and present their findings on the dynamics of varied
power struggles, and their proposed solutions. They will present their findings at the 85 th annual International Sociological
Association Conference (2014)
Students will present a power struggle of their choice and potential conflict resolutions that will be supported with research in
the format of their choice.
Students will be evaluated on the format of their choice using one general overarching rubric

Other Evidence (general ideas for ongoing assessment, self-assessment)

Learning Plan (Stage 3) include ongoing assessment ideas (*separate sheets)

Where are your students headed? Where have
they been? How will you make sure the
students know where they are going?
Pre-assessment *

How will you hook students at the beginning of

the unit?
Entry Point

What events will help students experience and

explore the big idea and questions in the unit?
How will you equip them with needed skills and
knowledge?
Tiered Activity *

How will you cause students to reflect and

Students will be given a Frayer Diagram on Power struggle

Define Power struggle

What are some facts about power struggles?

Examples of power struggles:

Example of what a power struggle does not

look like:

rethink? How will you guide them in rehearsing,

revising, and refining their work?
Recoding all new information
How will you help students to exhibit and selfevaluate their growing skills, knowledge, and
understanding throughout the unit?
Self-Evaluation *
How will you tailor and otherwise personalize
the learning plan to optimize the engagement
and effectiveness of ALL students, without
compromising the goals of the unit?
*Differentiate by Learning Profile AND
*Differentiate by Interest
How will you organize and sequence the
learning activities to optimize the engagement
and achievement of ALL students?
Maximize involvement of all students

From: Wiggins, Grant and J. Mc Tighe. (1998). Understanding by Design, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development
ISBN # 0-87120-313-8 (ppk)

Power Struggle Timeline

Week 1- Types of Power Struggles
March 3- Introduction to the unit, entry point, final project
March 4- Types of power struggles: interpersonal
March 5- Types of power struggles: political
March 6-What do healthy relationships look like?
March 7-What do unhealthy relationships look like and what can
be done about it?

March
March
March
March
March

Week 2- Conflict Resolution

10- What is conflict resolution (healthy vs. non-healthy)
11- The five conflict resolution styles
12-Political/historical conflict resolution
13-Culture and conflict resolution
14-Workshop on counseling/conflict resolution

March
March
March
March

Week 3- How are conflicts resolved in various media

17- Choose a media (book, t.v. episode, newspaper)
18- Read/gather information
19- How did they resolve conflict
20-Was it effective, could they have done it differently ?

March
March
March
March
March

Week 4- Prepare for conference

24- Choose conflict and begin research
25-Brainstrom possible resolution
26-Finish & synthesize research
27-Put together project
31-Present project

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_resolution)