At this point, we've tried three methods of unit planning in class and I would like to share my opinion on each:
Planning From Texts * * * 3/5 Stars!
This type of planning is the one I anticipate doing the most in my teaching career. I figure each school will have different access to resources, and I will have to work with whatever is available. I do not mind planning a unit in this manner, but I don't love it either. Once I read the book, it is easy to think of themes and activities I could do in conjunction with the text. However, I feel like the students are lost in this type of planning. The nature of this planning means that all the students will probably read the same book. and the text may not align with their interests. In which case, it can be difficult to hook them. If students don't feel a connextion with the themes of the text, they will be unwilling to learn more about them.
Planning From Activities * * * * 4/5 Stars!
This was my favorite method of planning. If I have a skill or style I want to teach the students it is easy to create a plan that is exciting and supplies some choice for the student in what they want to do. In a way, it is a perfect UBD model, because you begin with the end product in mind. For my group, we had a very specific goal we wanted to achieve, and that is to teach script writing. The end product for students would be their own script, correctly formatted, and in a style that works for them. The resources and lessons taught on this subject all apply to the end goal, and because there is choice, I think it is easy to gain the interests of students.
Planning From Curriculum * * 2/5 Stars :(
This was my least favorite method of planning. Because the English curriculum is so open and broad it is difficult to come up with a specific unit based on the objectives. What I found myself doing is brainstorming a list of activities that would align with a certain objective, and then picking one of those activities and running with it. Essentially I reverted back to the second method. I could still plan from this method id I had to, but it certainly does not stimulate my creativity like the other two methods.