Math Unit Launches

Optimize Prep Time with Unit Launches

Immerse yourself in new unit content to better understand the standards and big ideas that you’ll be teaching. Videos, targeted reading, and opportunities for action planning help structure and expedite your intellectual preparation process.

What is Intellectual Preparation?

Intellectual preparation is a process where teachers build their knowledge of curricular content and combine it with their firsthand knowledge of their students. Fishtank Unit Launches support both elements:

  1. Providing resources to help teachers build a deep understanding of unit concepts, connections to prior and future standards, and the expectations for the unit assessments
  2. Prompting teachers to consider the unique perspectives, strengths, and areas for growth that will affect how your students engage with the unit content

When teachers are intellectually prepared, they are equipped to make instructional decisions that support success for all students.

What's Inside Math Unit Launches?

Fishtank Math Unit Launches, available for all 3rd-8th grade units, are mini, on-demand professional learning opportunities that individual teachers or grade-level teams can use to facilitate their intellectual preparation of a unit. Each section contains a combination of short videos, targeted readings, and opportunities for reflection and action planning to engage teachers in this process.

Standards Review

In this section, teachers have the opportunity to reflect on two or three key standards from the unit to gain a better understanding of what students will be expected to know and do. First, teachers read and analyze the language of the standard, comparing their reflections to those provided by the Fishtank Math team. Then, teachers solve related problems from the post-unit assessment and watch a short problem analysis video (like this example from 4th Grade Unit 5) that highlights key connections between the problem and the standard.

Big Ideas

In this section, teachers investigate one or two Big Ideas which encompass many of the key concepts and skills of the unit. Teachers begin by drawing connections to the unit standards and identifying where the Big Ideas appear in the Lesson Map. Short videos accompany each Big Idea to illustrate the development of the Big Idea concept using selected Anchor Tasks and Target Tasks.

At the end of each Big Idea video, teachers have the opportunity to consider the implications for upcoming instruction and make a personalized action plan based on what they've learned.

Content Connections

In this final section, teachers zoom out and look at the related content that students study before and after the unit. Teachers dig into the progression of concepts, using Fishtank and other resources to help identify the foundational content that the unit builds from, and future standards that it’s building toward.

Using Unit Launches as a Team

Leverage Team Insights and Coaching Feedback

Each Unit Launch includes prompts for synthesis, reflection, and action planning. When a school uses Fishtank Plus as a team, saved responses can be shared with teammates and leaders. Team leaders can also review and provide feedback on teacher responses within the Fishtank plaform.

Fishtank Plus Pricing

For Schools & Districts

For Individual Teachers

$500+

School Year Packages

Based on Courses and School Size

Fishtank Plus school site licenses offer unlimited subscriptions for teachers and staff, as well as support for implementing the curriculum.

$95

Per Course

Annual Subscription

Fishtank Plus subscriptions are valid for 12 months from the purchase date, and auto-renew annually.

Dive Deeper into Intellectual Prep

From the Fishtank Blog

The Power of Intellectual Prep

Get the most out of your instructional time by deeply understanding content and how your students will interact with it through intellectual prep. 

Teacher Feedback

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“Internalizing the content through the Unit Launch makes a tremendous difference in my ability to effectively teach my students and prepare them for eventual mastery of the material and standards. I am so appreciative of all the thought that went into this section!”

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