Understanding by Design

Our goal is creating curriculum that is responsive to the needs of the learners it serves.

Way of Thinking

• UbD talks about WHAT we teach. Educators adapt its tools and materials with the goal of promoting better student understanding.

• DI talks about HOW we teach. It guides educators in thinking about whom they teach, where they teach, and how they teach in order to ensure that what they teach provides each student with maximum power as a learner.

Why design backwards?

• Planning with “the end in mind” shifts thinking from “what will we provide,” and “what are the learning activities” to “what do we really want the student to know, understand, and be able to do.”

The three stages of backward design………………

• Desired Results What are the enduring understandings that are implied in the established goals? (standards/curriculum objectives)

© Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, 2005

Evidence of Achievement How will you know if the students achieved the desired results?(How will you know “they got it?”)(How will you show “they got it?”)

Plan Learning and Instruction Must consider several questions

Methods of teaching (D.I.), sequence of lessons, resources can only be successfully planned after the desired results and assessments are identified.

template

Established Goals:

Identify one or more goals (content standards, district course or program objectives, and learning outcomes.)

“Educators in North America have discovered three common problems while attempting to use standards for educational planning”

1. The number of standards exceeds the time needed to learn them.

2. The standards are too big or global.

3. The standards are too small and only concentrate on “facts.”

UbD solution – Look at your set of standards and identify the core tasks and big ideas that are contained within them

© Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, 2005

Stage 1 – Desired Results

“Unpacking the Standards”

Great units depend on the designer’s ability to unpack standards and identify key understandings embedded within them. 

Wiggins and McTighe

Consider the five Pennsylvania Math Standards•Algebra gives organization and expression to unknown quantities

•Numbers enable one to make informed decisions

•Applying number concepts enables us to interpret our environment

•Number patterns describe the world around us

•Analyzing the form and function of both natural and man-made objects in the environment provides people with a better understanding of how their world works.

Worth being familiar with

Important to know and do

Big Ideas and Enduring Understandings

Familiar with….

Different types of graphs

Measures of central tendency

Probability

Important to know and do…

Data can be represented in graphic form.

Measures of central tendency are used to explain and analyze data.

The likelihood of something occurring depends on various factors.

Pennsylvania Math Standard

Numbers enable one to make informed decisions

McTighe and Wiggins, 2004

Data Analysis

Unpacking the Standards

Topical versus overarching understanding

The overarching understanding should help to address the "So what?" question that students often ask.

Overarching Topical Point beyond the unit, to Point to the unit, uncovered

the larger transferable idea as a result of the unit

Ex: Persuasive Writing Grades K-1

Overarching Topical Words have power. Persuasive writing tries to convince

the reader to agree with the writer opinion.

ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS

Understanding versus factual knowledge.

An understanding is an inference drawn from facts. An understanding is not a straightforward given, but a conclusion inferred using "givens“.

Consider the following two statements: A triangle has three sides and three angles (a fact). A triangle with three equal sides has three equal angles

(understanding).

• Stopped

OVERARCHING UNDERSTANDING(S) STANDARDS/ELIGIBLE CONTENT:•TSW understand that writing is a process Types of Writing 1.4.3 (Grade 3)

that conveys ideas, thoughts, and feelings, A. Write Narrative pieces (stories, poems, etc)

and should incorporate revision. Include detailed descriptions of people,

•TSW understand that words have power. places and things.

•TSW understand that the purpose for writing Use relevant illustrations

and its audience influences genre and mode. Include literary elements (Standard 1.3.3 B)

•TSW understand that domains are necessary Reading, Analyzing & Interpreting

components of written communication. Literature 1.3.3 (Grade3)

B. Identifying literary elements in stories

describing characters, setting and plot

TOPICAL UNDERSTANDINGSNarrative writing comes in many forms.

Narrative writing tells a story.

There are specific story elements of

narrative writing.

Narrative writing occurs in a purposeful order.

Illustrations can add interest and understanding.

Essential Questions

• Should point to and highlight the Goals.

• Should get to the heart of the topic.

• Provokes deep thought, lively discussions and points to more questions.

• Allows for meaningful connections.

• Reoccur throughout life.

Topical versus Overarching

Overarching – could appropriately express a given concept found in most grade levels and courses

How are science and common sense related? How does opinion affect inquiry?

TopicalHow does observation, inference, probability, and prediction effect crime scene

investigations.

Overarching – specific to the unit topic

How do we know what happened in the past?

TopicalHow would our lives be different without the contributions of the Ancient

Egyptians?

Tips for writing Essential Questions

1. Make the content answer the questions.

2. Select or design assessment tasks that are linked to the questions.

3. Use two to five questions per unit.

4. Frame the questions in language appropriate to the age group.

5. Sequence the questions so they naturally lead to one another.

6. Ensure that every student understands the questions.

7. Help the students personalize the questions.

8. Share the questions with faculty members to promote overarching questions.

McTighe and Wiggins, 2004

The KNOW and the SHOW

The Know – What key knowledge and skills will the student acquire as a result of the unit?

Vocabulary Critical detailsDefinitions Important events and peopleKey factual information Sequence and timelinesFormulas

The Show – What should the student be able to do as a result of such knowledge and skill?

Basic skills – decoding, computation Group skillsListening, Speaking, Writing Comparing, Analyzing, Research, Inquiry Interpreting, InferringStudy skills

The final part of stage 1

McTighe and Wiggins - 2004

Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

“The most important method of education always has consisted of that in which the pupil was urged to actual performance.”----Albert Einstein, Ideas and Opinions, 1954/1982, p. 60

Stage 2 - Assessments

• What evidence can show the students have achieved the understanding ?

Wiggins and McTighe, 2005

• How are we going to determine the extent of student understanding?

• What assessment tasks will help guide our instruction, tasks, and activities?

A “Continuum of Assessments”Oral questions ProjectsObservations Performance tasksPrompts Open-ended questions Dialogues QuizzesTests GRASP

Wiggins and McTighe, 2005

MISCONCEPTION: Evidence of understanding is that which includes only end-of-teaching test, performance tasks, projects, etc.

TRUTH: Evidence of understanding is EVERYTHING on a continuum gathered over time.

Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence

• Involve complex challenges that mirror issues and problems that adults face• Are authentic• Uses real or simulated settings• Allow students the opportunity to personalize the task• Require tangible product or performance

Wiggins and McTighe, 2005

Understanding is revealed in performance. An authentic assessment calls for students to come to two understandings,

1. Learning how adults in the larger world really use the knowledge and skills taught, and

2. How discrete lessons are meaningful. How they lead to higher-quality performance or mastery of more important tasks.

Performance Tasks

GRASPS

• You will form a company and design a bridge to scale. The bridge must be built to code using only materials purchased from the I. Saw Lumber Company. The bridge will be judged for the quality of the building design and the strength of the bridge. You must draw, to scale, plans showing four views of your bridge: the view from one end, the side view, the road bed, and the top view. The bridge must be more than 5 cm high and at least 4 cm wide. You must consider neatness of the finished bridge, cost of the bridge, and how well the finished design matches the original plans. The bridge will also be tested for strength. Judging and strength testing will take place at the completion of the activity.

•GOAL (your task, your goal, your challenge)•ROLE (you are, you have been asked to, your job is)•AUDIENCE (your clients are, your audience is)•SITUATION (the challenge involves dealing with)•PRODUCT, PERFORMANCE, PURPOSE

(you will create a ____ in order to)•STANDARDS AND CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS

(your performance needs to, your work will be judged by)

Wiggins and McTighe, 2005

STAGE 3

• In stage 3 you must consider the instructional strategies and learning experiences needed to achieve the desired results (stage 1) as reflected in the assessment evidence to be gathered (stage 2 ).

• The activities are planned to develop the target understandings and the knowledge and skills identified in stage 1 AND to equip students for the tasks specified in stage 2.

Wiggins and McTighe, 2005

Stage 3 – The Learning Plan

WHERETO – WHERETO is an acronym that summarizes key elements to consider when designing an effective and engaging learning plan.

W – Ensure the students understand WHERE the unit is heading and WHY.

H – HOOK students in the beginning and HOLD their attention throughout.

E – EQUIPT students with necessary experiences, tools, and knowledge to meet performance goals.

R – Provide students with numerous opportunities to RETHINK big ideas, REFLECT on progress, and REVISE their work.

E –Build in opportunities for students to EVALUATE progress and self-assess.

T – Be TAILORED to reflect individual talents, interests, styles, and needs.

O – Be ORGANIZED to optimize deep understanding as opposed to superficial coverage.

Wiggins and McTighe, 2005

• Learning ActivitiesStudents will…..

Learn the history of robotics.Investigate the uses of robots in today’s world.Design a robot to complete a self-selected task.Be introduced to the Lego Mindstorm Robotics kit.Design several robots using a “Constructopedia”.Learn the Lego Mindstorms programming software.

Program a robot to perform a specific task.Create a computer program.Design and program a robot to complete a maze.Build a robot without any guidance or plans.

• Assessment

Data will be collected in one or more of the following ways:RubricsTeacher evaluationTeacher observationStudent self evaluationStudent peer evaluationJournaling

Differentiated Strategies

There are a myriad of differentiation strategies out there. The Internet is a great source to use for finding differentiated lesson plans.

Interest Surveys

Anchor Activities

Compacting

Raft Assignments

Contracts and Menus

ExampleActivity

• Given the following Goals What would a Essential understanding be?

Essential Understanding

• Understandings:Students will understand that...Using apostrophes incorrectly can cause misunderstandings to occur.

• Some debate about how apostrophes are used correctly exists.

• Apostrophe misuse is an extremely common error

Essential Questions

• How are apostrophes used?

• Why should we learn to use apostrophes correctly?

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Students will know...• How to use apostrophes correctly in their

writing for a variety of purposes

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Students will be able to..

• Determine when to use apostrophes for effective communication.

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Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks:• Performance Tasks:The PA Apostrophe Dilemma:

Students will compose letters to PA Representatives, who introduced a resolution to the PA House of Representatives advocating a position on forming the possessive of the state's name backed with researched evidence explaining why their position is correct

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Assessment Evidence/

Other evidenceGrammar book exercises

QuizTest (part of a larger unit on mechanics and a final exam)

Effective continued application of apostrophe rules in remaining assignments

Activity

• Now given this unit, plan some learning activities

LEARNING PLAN

Examine

Apostrophe Abuse prior to a class discussion about impressions of the apostrophe errors on the site.

Write letter to Rep. SMITH, drafting, revising, and editing until the letter is of publishable quality.

Apply what they have learned about apostrophes to their remaining assignments. Should students make apostrophe errors, they will lose points, per department policy, and have the opportunity to earn the points back if they explain why they lost the points and correct the error.

Students will be tested more comprehensively over mechanics on a larger "unit" test and again on the final.

LEARNING PLAN

Examine Apostrophe Abuse prior to a class discussion about impressions of the apostrophe errors on the site.

Create rules for the use of apostrophes based on what they know from reading and usage.

Share rules for using apostrophes.

Come to a consensus about apostrophe rules after consulting grammar text.

Practice grammar exercises designed to enforce apostrophe rules.

Quiz over apostrophe use.

Read about and discuss PA's apostrophe dilemma