Step Eight - FINE  TUNING THE UNIT
1 to 5 meetings
After all of the work you did planning and teaching the unit, you need to figure out, as a team, how it will work to teach it again.  Now is the time to organize your files, reflect, and make plans for improvements.  Sometimes, teams want to alter the unit considerably.  Other times, only a little tweaking is necessary.  The most important thing is to be open to change!  As you begin this meeting, print a copy of the Fine Tuning Worksheet.
Introduction The Ghost Town team did extensive revamping work on their unit the second year. Here are comments from the teachers:
Process
Step One
Step Two Sometimes, teams change and the new team is challenged to recreate what a missing member did.  The Winter team discusses:
Step Three
Step Four The difficulty of losing a team member
Step Five Ideas for lesson transfer
Step Six Making a four subject, three teacher unit
Step Seven When the Rivers team fine tuned the unit, the math teacher saw more ways to connect math.
Step Eight Make a list of things that went well, as this is the core on which you will build.  Think especially about experiences which signaled that good learning was happening.
Then, think back to the criteria for a high quality interdisciplinary unit:
1.  The unit should be an investigation, during which students gather, analyze, and communicate information to answer a focus question.
2.  The topic should work well for all content areas involved.  The connections should be rich and grade level appropriate.
3.  Throughout the unit, students should make use of technology wherever possible as they do the investigation.  The culminating task for the unit should use technology.
4.  The topic should be one that interests students because it is relevant.
Next, discuss and reflect on the unit from a variety of angles.  You have probably already done this in snatched conversations.  Record important comments and decisions on the Fine Tuning Worksheet.
Criteria - Did the unit meet the four criteria listed above?  If not, why not? List any goals/ideas for improvements related to the criteria on the Fine Tuning Worksheet.
Timing - Was the unit taught at the best time of year for it?  What time might be better? Was the unit too short?  Too long?  If teachers from different content areas have different ideas about this, does the number of lessons in each content area need to be changed? List any goals/ideas for improvements related to timing on the Fine Tuning Worksheet.
Resources - Were the resources adequate?  What do you need more of?  Less of? If resource people were used in classes: would you invite them back?  Are there other resource people you could use?  Who else could help with the unit? Are there any supplies that should be ordered now to be ready for the unit? List goals or ideas for improvements on the worksheet.
Activities and Assessments - Which activities worked?  Which did not work?  Do you already have ideas about activities to scrap and activities to add? Did the assessments work?  Does the culminating task rubric need to be revamped? Did the culminating task have sufficient focus?  Does it need to be made smaller? Larger?  Does there need to be a wider audience for the culminating task? List ideas for improvements on the worksheet.
Technology - Were you satisfied with the culminating task, which used technology in its production?  Are there ways to involve more students in the hands on part of the technology?  Did all students get an opportunity to do at least one thing using electronic equipment? What problems were there with the equipment?  Are these problems solvable? Does the team need some training in the use of certain equipment and software? Who could provide the training? Again, list ideas for improvements on the worksheet.
Always re-energize by thinking about what a rich experience an interdisciplinary unit is for students.  Our experience has been that teachers find the whole process has helped them to learn and grow as well.  Good luck!  Do good work!
Parting Shots:
Rivers Teacher
Trebuchet Basketball