Unit Makeover: Teaching Night with Guest Andrea Michelle {Part 2} [S5 E135]

teaching-night

Listen to the full episode below:

Welcome to part two of our series with Andrea Michelle. If you haven’t listened to part one yet, (episode 134) then push pause on this one, and check that out first! In this series, we’re doing a unit makeover on Night, by Elie Wiesel, which is deceivingly complicated due to the nature of this text. 

Andrea has taught this unit before, but she wants to make some tweaks to improve the experience for her and her students. So, that’s exactly what we’re doing in this series! From the activities, to the essential questions, to assessments, and more, we’re looking at how we can really step things up. 

Inside part one of this series, we went through the unit makeover process with Andrea. If you aren’t familiar with this process, the idea is to take something that’s doing “fine” and give it a fresh new look to make it better.

In our conversation today, we’re going to unveil our thoughts, suggestions, and what we would do to change and improve this unit. Buckle up because there’s lots of ideas and brainstorming ahead! You’ll gain insight as to how you can implement this process and take on your own unit makeover with your own team or department.

Meet Andrea:

Andrea Michelle is a veteran educator with ELA experience across every high school grade level and in private, public, and Title I schools. With master’s degrees in English and secondary education, she serves as a mentor teacher to new teachers and teacher candidates.

She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction with a focus on the impact of stress on first-year teachers’ relationships with students. It is her mission to create a community for new teachers to feel supported and empowered to grow in their educational careers—she has built a successful online community on TikTok and Instagram to bring humor and pragmatic approaches to teachers in the ELA classroom.

Topics Discussed in This Episode:

  • Crafting an all-encompassing essential question, and the detailed thinking that goes into that decision

  • How to know which themes to focus on from a text

  • Advice on avoiding spreading yourself too thin while teaching a unit

  • Supplementals that align with this unit makeover

  • Navigating the overwhelm of filling gaps, and focusing on what students need to know

  • Ways that students deal with discomfort that comes up with tough subjects such as the Holocaust 

  • Creative gateway activities that will spark engaging conversation

Connect with Andrea:

More about Brave New Teaching:

Join hosts Amanda Cardenas (Mud & Ink Teaching) and Marie Morris (The Caffeinated Classroom) in discussions about being brave, trying new things, and all things teaching! As seasoned classroom teachers, Amanda and Marie bring their experience, insight, energy, and oh, so many opinions and ideas... It's time for all teachers to take their classroom and teaching practice into their own hands!

Tune in on your favorite podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher.

Amanda CardenasUnit, interview, planning, inspiration