Planning a Sprint: How Learning Progressions Shape a Single Unit

Some units have one dedicated teaching window during the school year.

For me, science and social studies often work this way. We teach the unit and then move on, without regularly revisiting those standards.

Within the Phased Mastery™ Framework, we call those types of units sprints.

I’ve been in districts where a unit lasts anywhere from three to six weeks. The length can vary, but the idea is the same: this is our main opportunity to develop that learning, with the goal of students reaching mastery by the end.

Learning progressions have changed how I use that time. They’ve helped me plan more purposefully, choose activities that develop understanding, and make room for students’ curiosity.

One example is our unit on internal and external animal structures.

Seeing the Learning Before Planning the Lessons

When I plan a sprint, I usually focus on one or two related standards. With a longer unit, I might include three, but I want them to connect.

For our animal structures unit, we focused on internal and external structures, how they help animals survive, and how those structures work together as a system.

Before choosing activities, I think about what I want students to understand by the end. What should they be able to explain? What connections should they make? How could they use what they’ve learned to make sense of an animal or situation they haven’t studied?

Then I work backward through the knowledge, skills, and connections they’ll need to develop.

That includes the very beginning. What language do students need? What background knowledge should we build? What do they already understand that we can connect to?

Seeing that progression helps me plan within our pacing expectations, decide where students might need more time, and recognize when they’re ready to move forward.

Starting with What Students Actually Need

In the past, I could find plenty of activities about animal structures. What I didn’t always see clearly was how those activities built on one another.

With a learning progression, I started noticing foundations I had previously assumed were already there.

For this unit, that included the difference between internal and external.

Those words felt familiar to me. But some students needed time to understand them. We needed to build that vocabulary so they could use it to explain more complex ideas.

From there, we moved into identifying structures, explaining their functions, and considering how they work together. I chose experiments and investigations with those steps in mind.

I knew what I was looking for as students participated: Were they naming a structure, explaining its function, or connecting it to another part of the animal’s body?

Making Room for Curiosity

One of my favorite moments came while we were studying predators and prey.

A student wondered why so many of the prey animals we were looking at had eyes on the sides of their heads. That question led us into an investigation of how the placement of a structure could relate to its function and an animal’s survival.

I learned something new right alongside them.

Because I could see how their question connected to our learning goal, I felt comfortable adjusting my plans. We could follow their curiosity, and students had a say in how we explored that connection.

Connecting Subjects with a Purpose

Science remained our main focus, but reading, writing, speaking, and technology became part of how students explored and communicated their understanding.

We brought in stories and videos. Students wrote about their learning and designed an animal with specific structures. In their presentations, they explained how those structures would help their animal survive.

The progression helped me see where our required district materials fit and where other activities could give students different ways to develop and show their understanding.

Using Student Thinking to Decide What Comes Next

Throughout the unit, I paid attention to students’ writing, conversations, and explanations to decide what to teach next.

Some students could name internal and external structures and explain their individual functions but struggled to explain how structures work together as a system.

That helped me pinpoint the piece they weren’t understanding yet. We could build on what they knew about individual structures and revisit how those parts work together, rather than starting the whole topic over.

It also helped me notice growth. A student might still be approaching mastery, but their explanation could be clearer or include a connection they hadn’t made before. That progress mattered, even when they hadn’t reached the full learning goal yet.

Students don’t all follow the exact same sequence or learn at the same rate. Having a clearer guide helps me respond to those differences.

Feeling More Confident in the Classroom

What changed for me was how well I understood the learning I was asking students to do.

I felt more confident adjusting a lesson and recognizing when students needed another opportunity to explore an idea. I had a clearer sense of what to pay attention to and how to respond.

The students were excited about science. They looked forward to being involved, investigating, creating, and sharing their ideas.

I’ve felt that same shift in the other subjects I teach this way. Understanding how the learning develops has taken some weight off my shoulders when I sit down to plan.

If you’re planning a sprint soon, start with one standard and ask: What do students need to learn along the way, and how will those pieces build toward mastery?

For an example of how learning can build within a standard, explore the free Teacher Clarity Guide. You can also come learn with me live on Zoom in a Focused Learning Session.

Kallie Ash

Founder, Phased Mastery™