In my self paced 8th grade life science class, I set up a system in which students completed selective units, called minors and majors, after completing prerequisite and required units. For example, at the end of the Genetics & Inheritance unit, students spent one week completing a mini-unit about genetic modification, cancer or cloning. After the Evolution unit in the spring, students spent the entire fourth quarter completing a major about evolution, inheritance, evolutionary genetics, immunology or the human body.
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| 8th grade course overview with minors & majors |
The primary motivation for this system was the experience I had with self paced courses. The high achieving students who worked through my required content before the end of the year had the opportunity to select and choose topics to investigate. They reported loving this opportunity because, according to them, their teachers rarely allowed them to learn about topics of their interest and choosing. They said occasionally they could select a project topic but my course allowed them to spend a good chunk of time learning in a structured way. A number of other factors (including what I learned about 20 Time or Genius Hour) led me to the conclusion that all students should experience this opportunity to learn about content of their choosing.
I created learning cycles for all minors (one cycle per minor) and majors (4-5 cycles per major). I used a variation of the 5E learning cycle, so all units (required and selective) were similar. So even though students worked on different content, the similar structure of each unit helped students build routines and allowed me to organize the chaos within my class.
To find out more about my major & minors system, check out these resources:
- An Introduction
- Useful strategies for implementation
