Unlocking the Power of Unit Internalization

This is part 1 of a 3-part series focused on effective practices for teacher collaborative planning —otherwise known as professional learning communities (PLCs). Subscribe to our mailing list to have parts 2 and 3 delivered straight to your inbox.

Teachers need time to reflect, share, and prepare to teach—ideally with colleagues in the same grade band, using the same materials. Effective collaborative planning ensures that teachers have the time they need to set clear lesson outcomes, anticipate and adjust their instruction to meet students’ needs, and improve their practice in a specific focus area.

In our work with hundreds of schools across the country, we’ve found that there are a few high-leverage collaborative learning practices that can meaningfully raise the level of instruction for all students. The first is unit internalization.

What is unit internalization?

Unit internalization is the process by which teachers study a unit to deeply understand what students are expected to learn, how students will be assessed, and the arc of learning over the course of the unit. Teachers engage in this process collaboratively with peers or with a coach prior to teaching each unit.

Why is unit internalization important? 

We’ve determined that the most critical instructional decisions should be made at the unit level. During the internalization process, teachers develop a clear understanding of the specific learning goals they want students to achieve. By working backward from these goals, teachers can identify the key lessons and student tasks that will have the greatest impact on student learning and should, therefore, be prioritized—resulting in a more meaningful approach to instruction.

How can you support effective unit internalization?

The following four actions are steps that instructional leaders can take to implement or strengthen unit internalization during collaborative planning time.

Review the curricular materials

• For each grade level and content area, familiarize yourself with the curriculum’s units. (See our Curriculum Study resource for leadership teams.)
• Consider the aspects of the units’ structures that feel most valuable to explore together as a community.
• Review the unit internalization materials provided in your curriculum.

Adopt and refine a unit internalization protocol

• Consider schoolwide instructional improvement needs, teacher needs, the structure of your materials, and time constraints to determine the aspects of unit internalization that teachers will do collaboratively vs. independently.
  • Sample ELA module/unit internalization protocol
  • Sample math module/unit internalization protocol
  • Sample math unit internalization meeting agenda

Provide clarity around pre-work expectations

• Determine what pre-work is reasonable based on your team’s capacity and its support needs.
• Discuss and agree on concrete deadlines for pre-work so that all teachers and facilitators can meaningfully engage when meeting; revisit those proposed timelines with teachers as needed.
• Provide a completed example of the quality and depth that you are expecting from the pre-work to ensure that teachers and facilitators are clear on expectations (e.g., completed ELA unit internalization, pp. 6–10).

Monitor effectiveness

• Review artifacts (e.g., examples of teachers’ unit internalization annotations/materials).
• Monitor impact on instruction by observing classrooms. (See our classroom observation tools.)
• Monitor impact on student performance by analyzing student-level data within your curriculum-embedded assessments. (See our example student work protocols.)

Remember that context matters

When it comes to teaching and learning, we know that there is never a one-size-fits-all strategy for improvement. As you plan to take the actions above, it’s useful to consider the particular context of your school.

The guiding questions below can help you think through how you might adjust actions to meet your team’s specific needs:

• Does your school have the right conditions in place for collaborative planning to be successful?
• What is the team’s familiarity with unit internalization as a practice? Has it been successful or challenging in the past? How will that impact your current work?
• What is the team’s knowledge of grade-level standards? Is there more you need to support to ensure that unit internalization builds content knowledge for teachers and leaders?
• What is the team’s knowledge of the curriculum? Is there any foundational training you need to add to the plan?
• What are the key moments where you want to gather input and investment? What data do you want to collect to support these processes?

With these action steps and guiding questions, leaders can create the conditions for teachers to engage in meaningful study of every unit—empowering them to effectively support student learning with purposeful instructional practices.