Don't water down: Enhance content learning through the unit organizer routine

Abstract

The writer considers a content enhancement routine called the unit organizer routine. This routine focuses on how a teacher introduces, builds, and gains closure on a content area unit's critical ideas and information. In terms of content, teachers can use the unit organizer to help students understand where they have been, where they are, and where they are going. Teachers use a visual device called the unit organizer to introduce and teach the information in a unit. They follow a set of instructional steps, called linking steps, that are embedded within an instructional sequence called the cue-do-review sequence during the interactive presentation of the unit organizer. A discussion of each of these critical components is provided.