This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 180 of the Cult of Pedagogy

podcast. In this episode we'll be talking about why you might want to create a

vision board for your next unit.

When I think about unit planning I picture lots and lots of words. Bullet points on

the pacing guide, required standards, daily objectives, lists of materials, so

much text. It can make the task of preparing a unit of study overwhelming and

not very inspiring. Even if the content itself is something I'm excited about

that enthusiasm doesn't really materialize during the stage when I'm just

filling cells out on a calendar or curriculum map. So I was pretty intrigued

when I heard about the idea of incorporating vision boards into unit planning.

These collages capture the essence of a unit, making the most important

elements visual. If they're done digitally they can also be interactive, linking

to videos, articles, and other elements that really make them come alive and set

the stage for the learning that's to come. My guests on this episode, Amanda

Cardinus and Marie Morris are two English teachers who host a podcast called

Brave New Teaching where they share all kinds of creative ideas like this one.

Today they're going to talk about how they use vision boards and how you can

create your own to launch a unit in any content area. Before I start I'd like to

thank Common Lit for sponsoring this episode. If you're an English language

arts teacher you've probably heard about Common Lit, a digital library of over

2000 reading lessons for grades three through twelve. Well if you already like

Common Lit you're going to really love Common Lit 360, a brand new comprehensive

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