Understanding by Design

1. Understanding by Design The Backward Planning Model

2. p 2 • Welcome – Introductions – Goals, Norms etc. • Wordsplash – Prior Knowledge • Questions that guide our work • Standard 1 – DESE Teacher Evaluation • Design Decisions • Jigsaw • UBD – overview • Practice • Our projects • Qs and As AGENDA

3. Begin and end on time! (time) • Las Vegas – What happens here, stays here! (confidentiality) • Lessons from Kindergarten – Everyone has something to offer, take turns, respect others. (participation) • Girl/Boy Scout – Be prepared! (expectations) • Think outside the box! (expectations) • Bring your sense of humor! (expectations) NORMS

4. p 4 3 sentences – true 3 questions 3 predictions

5. ??? Questions that Guide Our Work ??? • What knowledge will students be learning? • What will be done to help students acquire and integrate this knowledge? (questions, cues, advance organizers, summaries, note-taking, non-linguistic representations, etc.) • What will be done to help students practice, review, and apply this knowledge? (identifying similarities and differences, increasing practice, generating and testing hypotheses, etc.) • How will students transfer this knowledge or skills to other settings? • How will you incorporate 21st century skills? • How will you know if students have learned this knowledge – the EVIDENCE? (on-going assessment) • What will you do if a student does not acquire or use the knowledge? • How will you provide effective and timely feedback to students? • How will you reinforce effort and provide recognition? • How will you incorporate learning effectively? • How will you increase the value of homework? • Other questions that I want to pursue… p 5

6. p 6 Process and Product A simple analogy for the relationship between process and product with the UbD Template is the printed recipe in any cookbook. Readers can see and follow the recipe easily because the cook has made sure to clarify the chronology of the work to be done. But this logical approach to offering a recipe as the product of work almost always hides the messy, back-and-forth process by which the recipe was developed, tested, refined, and completed. To put it bluntly, the cook did not follow the recipe to create the recipe! There can never be a recipe for creative and effective design, whether in creating a meal, a building, or a curricular unit. Rather, the recipe or blueprint—like a polished unit in the UbD Template—reflects the final product in an easy-to-read and -use form. Wiggins and McTighe: The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units. ASCD: 2011.

7. pp 6 - 7 Mocha Souffle • Highlight UNDERSTANDINGS • Circle • FACTS (KNOW) • Underline • SKILLS (DO)

8. p 8 Standard I: Curriculum, Planning, and Assessment. The teacher promotes the learning and growth of all students by providing high-quality and coherent instruction, designing and administering authentic and meaningful student assessments, analyzing student performance and growth data, using this data to improve instruction, providing students with constructive feedback on an ongoing basis, and continuously refining learning objectives.

9. p 8 Keep in mind – PROFICIENT is the goal!

10. p 9 Design Decisions 1. What kind of designer am I? 2. What kind of content goals will I focus on? 3. What is the scope of my unit? 4. Is it best to start with a new unit or revise an old unit? 5. What areas of need might be addressed? 6. Do I have to start with a unit? 7. What about beginning with a lesson? 8. What’s the role of my textbook in UBD unit design? 9. What might be a preferred entry point for me, mindful of the template?

11. pp 10 - 12 • THE UNIT OR COURSE DESIGN • Reflects a coherent design -- big ideas and essential questions clearly guide the design of, and are aligned with, assessments and teaching and learning activities.  • Makes clear distinctions between big ideas and essential questions, and the knowledge and skills necessary for learning the ideas and answering the questions. • Uses multiple forms of assessment to let students demonstrate their understanding in various ways.  • Incorporates instruction and assessment that reflects the six facets of understanding -- the design provides opportunities for students to explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, empathize, and self-assess. • Anchors assessment of understanding with authentic performance tasks calling for students to demonstrate their understanding and apply knowledge and skills. • Uses clear criteria and performance standards for teacher, peer, and self-evaluations of student products and performances.  • Enables students to revisit and rethink important ideas to deepen their understanding. • Incorporates a variety of resources. The textbook is only one resource among many (rather than serving as the syllabus).

12. Big ideas and Essential Questions • Performance requirements • Evaluative criteria • Hooks • Variety of strategies / Variety of resources • Facilitates students' active construction of meaning (rather than simply telling) • Incorporates the six facets of understanding • Uses questioning, probing, and feedback • Teaches basic knowledge and skills (in the context of big ideas and explores essential questions) • Uses information from formative assessments THE TEACHER

13. Describe the goals and performance requirements • Explain what they are doing and why • Hooked and remain engaged • Describe the criteria by which their work will be evaluated • Demonstrate learning • Generate relevant questions • Able to explain and justify their work and their answers • Self- or peer-assessment • Use the criteria or rubrics • Set relevant goals THE LEARNER

14. The big ideas and essential questions are central to the work of the students, the classroom activity, and the norms and culture of the classroom. • There are high expectations and incentives for all students to come to understand the big ideas and answer the essential questions. • All students and their ideas are treated with dignity and respect. • Big ideas, essential questions, and criteria or scoring rubrics are posted. • Samples or models of student work are made visible. • Exploration of big ideas and essential questions is differentiated, so some students are able to delve more deeply into the subject matter than others. CLASSROOM ENVIRON MENT

15. p 12 My goals for this course…

16. p 13

17. pp 14 - 15

18. pp 16 - 17 JIGSAW

19. pp 16 - 17 Mike Schmoker on Practices That Could Transform Schools • Stop wasting classroom time on ineffective practices. • Get students focused on purposeful reading, writing, and discussion. • Ensure that a high-quality, coherent curriculum actually gets taught. • Ensure reasonably sound lessons in every subject and classroom. • Ensure that teachers work in teams. What did I gain from this activity?

20. p 18 Practices to transform school

21. thinking about curriculum

22. The CURRICULUM • Recommended • Written • Supported • Tested • Taught • Learned • Hidden • Excluded

23. recommended curriculum • recommended by experts in the field

24. written curriculum • documents produced by the state, the school system, the school, the classroom teacher • specifies what is to be taught • curriculum guides, scope and sequence charts, materials developed by teachers

25. supported curriculum • supported by instructional materials - textbooks, software, multimedia resources

26. tested curriculum • embodied in state tests, school system tests, teacher-made tests • includes standardized tests, competency tests, performance assessments

27. taught curriculum • what teachers actually deliver • enormous variation occurs throughout a school system

28. learned curriculum • the bottom-line - what students learn

29. hidden curriculum • the unintended curriculum • what students learn from the school’s culture and climate

30. excluded curriculum • what has been left out - either intentionally or unintentionally

31. Welcome • Article review • UBD – what it is • What do we know about UBD – let’s activate our prior knowledge • Fractions – using the model • What is Understanding? • Six Facets of Understanding • Qs and As AGENDA

32. Nice to Know Important to Know Essential to Know Standards-Based

33. pp 19 - 20 The process of planning effective instruction for your students is like renovating your dream house!! It involves: Envisioning A Design phase Preparation for construction Demolition and construction The finished product Wiggins likens state standards to the building codes that a home renovator must work within. The goal of a renovation is not to meet the codes! It’s to build your dream house – within the codes.

34. pp 14 - 15

36. Stage One – Desired Outcomes

37. Stage Two – Assessment Evidence

38. UbD Stage 1Understanding by DesignBased on the work ofGrant Wiggins & Jay McTigheAdapted by Wallingford Public Schools

39. What is Understanding by Design? Not so much about learning a few new technical skills as it is learning to be more thoughtful and specific about our purposes. Requires thinking first about the specific learnings sought, and what evidence of such learning will look like, before thinking about what we will offer in the way of teaching and activity.

40. Three stages of backward design 1. Identify desired results 2. Determine acceptable evidence Then, and only then 3. Plan learning experiences & instruction

41. “Backward” design logic • What do you value? (Stage 1) • How do you evaluate what you value? (Stage 2) • How do you prepare students for the evaluations so that they can demonstrate understanding? (Stage 3)

42. So much to teach so little time… Must strike a balance between expectations that are reasonable and expectations that are paralyzing. Need to find a balance between ‘teacher telling’ and ‘student discovering.’ Must strike balance between breadth and depth of curriculum.

43. A Key Rationale for UbD Overcoming the prevalence of “Aimless Activity” and “Superficial Coverage”

44. P 25 • What is understanding? • What do we mean when we say we want students to understand the content, not just know it? • What’s the difference between really “getting it” and just regurgitating back what was taught?

45. Pp 26 -31 Six Facets of Understanding

46. Applying the Six Facets of Understanding • Think of a unit you have taught or are going to teach • Apply the Six Facets of Understanding • Keep in mind, you do not have to apply all six facets, but in this exercise we will use all six

47. Six Facets of Understanding – p25 Page 1 – cover Page 2 – EXPLANATION Page 3 – INTERPRETATION Page 4 – APPLICATION Page 5 – PERSPECTIVE Page 6 – EMPATHY Page 7 – SELF-AWARENESS Page 8 - Reflection Name Six Facets of Understanding Pages 24 – 30 We will take the six facets, discuss each, determine among us what they mean, and, finally, write a definition and an example in our own words.

48. EXPLANATION • discuss • my definition • my example

49. INTERPRETATION • discuss • my definition • my example

50. APPLICATION • discuss • my definition • my example