Thematic Units: An Opportunity for Personalized Learning

Social Studies for Secondary Schools: Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach by Alan J. Singer: Chapter 10 ("How Can Social Studies Teachers Plan Controversy-Centered, Thematic, and Interdisciplinary Units?")

Make Learning Personal: The What, Who, WOW, Where, and Why by Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey: Chapter 4 ("Where is Personalized Learning Happening?")

This was an eye opener for me. All semester, we have been working on thematic units, but I hadn't fully put together exactly how I could translate it into personalized learning. Singer made that happen for me to a new extent that I don't think I had come to yet.

Chapter 4 of Make Learning Personal lists different characteristics of personalized learning models including voice and choice, project-based learning, flexible learning spaces, multi-age classrooms, inquiry-based, and self-directed learning (121). All of this can take place under thematic units, and Singer's explanation made the connection clear in my head. Most of Singer's chapter explores how a thematic unit about human rights could be explored through various topics. "A thematic focus on human rights issues provides a lens for examining social conflicts, as well as social and individual choices" and forces students to consider many different issues and eventually make "informed judgments based on evidence, thoughtful consideration of individual and social values, and respect for difference" while having a choice in what they focus on (171).

Singer illustrates at least a dozen different of potential focal points for students. In world history, they could examine civil rights laws around the world with potential lenses including Nazi Germany or genocides in Africa (172). In a religious context, students can assess human rights in terms of a belief in God. This can be rooted in American history by assessing the Declaration of Independence and unalienable rights, the Catholic Church and their actions throughout history and today, in addition to justifications for slavery and other atrocities by the word of God (172). Additionally a focus on an area in early U.S. history would be acceptable. Again, students can assess unalienable rights and the Declaration of Independence or the ratification of the Constitution and surrounding rebellions (173). In more modern history, a study of the Civil Rights movement could serve the purpose or a study of current rights and assessing if reproductive rights or similar rights should be considered human rights (173). The possibilities are truly endless.

Singer also assesses a thematic unit surrounding a social group - in this case women - could be used in a similar way. U.S. history could be the focus and discuss fighting for suffrage rights in America or see how women helped to shape the country. For world history, focus on how women's rights differ throughout the world and why. In economics, "examine the changing role of women in the economy as producers and consumers" over time (176). In government, consider equal pay for women and men, how women's roles have changed in the government, their acceptance into the military, etc. The possibilities are absolutely endless.

This relates to personalized learning because we have some flexibility in how students learn these things. If the focus has to be on government because it is a government course, they can choose any lens that interests them. We don't have to say that they have to learn about a specific event or about a specific topic in order to gain content knowledge or learn the skills that are necessary for them. This is the aspect of voice and choice that Bray and McClaskey talk about. This is also entirely about self-directed learning. We may provide students with a focus by giving them a guiding question that they need to be able to respond to as a result of their inquiry, but we don't have to tell them exactly how to do it, how to answer it, or how they represent their learning.

This chapter from Singer gave me a new perspective on my unit planning. It is challenging me to come up with more examples of thematic units that I could use in courses and just realize how many examples from different areas of social studies could be incorporated into a single learning opportunity.