Understanding by Design

1. Understanding by Design Stage 3: Learning Plan

2. Session Objectives • Identify and describe the components of a good lesson plan/learning ladders. • Map out a sequence of objectives to be taught in your first unit. • Evaluate previous lesson plans/learning ladders in order to begin creating and/or revising future plans.

3. What is the purpose of Stage 3? • To 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 targeted understandings and the knowledge and skills identified in Stage 1 and to equip students for the performances of learning specified in Stage 2.

5. Task #1 • Review your standards, key knowledge, and key skills from Stage 1 of your first unit. • Check to ensure that your key skills meet the objective guidelines AND can be translated into daily lesson objectives.

6. Task #2 • Review your unit assessment from Stage 2. • Verify that these assessment items are aligned to your standards identified in Stage 1 AND can be correlated to your key knowledge and key skills.

7. Task #3 • Begin thinking about your daily lesson topics and objectives. • Use the daily calendar to identify each daily objective. • See sample objective calendar.

8. Task #4 • Select one lesson objective from your calendar. • Identify a sample assessment for your lesson objective. –Remember to begin with the end in mind! 

9. Now Ask Yourself… • Given the desired results and the identified assessments, what kind of instructional approaches, resources, and experiences are required to achieve these goals? • What do we do to help students reach the understandings at the heart of our unit? • Which learning activities promote understanding, knowledge, skill, student interest, and excellence?

10. Characteristics of Learning Activities • Engaging • A design that diverse learners find thought-provoking, fascinating, and energizing • Effective • A design that helps learners become more competent and productive at worthy work resulting in performance to high standards and surpassing usual expectations

11. Discuss • Group A: When are students most fully engaged in and out of school? What makes them so engaged, and keeps them so engaged, and what are the transferable elements from these exemplary cases? • Group B: When is student learning most effective? Under what conditions are learners most productive? Under what conditions is the highest-quality work produced? What makes for the most effective learning, and what are the transferable elements from these exemplary cases?

12. Structure of a Quality Lesson Plan • Objective • Assessment • Do Now/Hook • Introduction to New Material (I do) • Guided Practice (We do) • Independent Practice (You Do)

13. Objectives Refer to frameworks: • Student-Centered • Measureable • Rigorous, yet feasible • Criteria for Success (when appropriate)

14. Objectives Examples • Successfully respond to a short answer question by using the RAGE method. • Find the probability of opposite, mutually exclusive, and overlapping events. • Conjugate the verb ir in the present tense and use it to describe where one is going. • Describe the motion of the planets in the solar system. • Perform at least 3 different types of jumps (on a jump rope) for at least 15 consecutive seconds. • Mix and create new colors through pointillism.

15. Objectives Non-Examples- What’s wrong with the following: • Work on ISTEP-type questions. • Understand probability. • Demonstrate comprehension of both authentic and non-authentic written and spoken language through developmentally appropriate tasks. • Understand the motion of the planets in the solar system. • Participate in a volleyball game. • Learn to use the principle of design - movement - in an art series.

16. Key Takeaway “If you don’t know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.” -Yogi Berra

17. Assessment Refer to frameworks: • Independently Completed • Aligned • Contains multiple “at-bats” Exemplar • 7th Grade Pre-Algebra • How does it qualify as a quality lesson assessment? Types of Lesson Assessments: Refer to handout

18. Discuss • What are reasons you may not include a lesson assessment? • What is a potential problem with omitting an assessment?

19. I do – Direct Instruction Refer to frameworks: • Relevant and explicit • Includes modeling with examples • Brief and aligned *Note on content vs. skill* Exemplar • 7th Grade Humanities • Find the “I do” and discuss how it fits the criteria.

20. We do – Guided Practice Refer to frameworks: • Aligned and uses scaffolding • Delivery includes directions, CFUs, and differentiation • Ratio can move between 75/25 - 50/50 - 25/75 Exemplar • 7th Grade Humanities • Find the “We do” and discuss what is observable and what’s not. What implications does this have for reviewing lesson plans?

21. You do – Independent Practice Refer to frameworks: • Aligned and includes multiple opportunities • Delivery includes directions, CFUs, and differentiation • Ratio must start at 0/100 • Extension work Exemplar • 7th Grade Humanities • Find the “You do” and discuss how it fits the criteria.

22. Discussion • What is one circumstance where you might not plan a clear I do, we do, and you do? • Are any of these instances acceptable?

23. Do Now – Brief Overview Refer to frameworks: • Brief • Hooks • Review • Brain Boosters What’s at stake if you plan a poor Do Now?

24. Application Part 1 • Review the sample learning ladders from a Humanities and Pre-Algebra course. • Using a scale of 0-2, rate each component of the plan • 0 = not present • 1 = developing; ineffective • 2 = effective if delivered well

25. Priority Pyramid Factors to Consider: • Time • Quantity • Differentiation

26. Application Part 2 • What meets the criteria? • What can be improved upon?

27. Task #5 • Select an essential question and objective from your calendar. • Identify an assessment for the objective.

28. Task #6 • Build a lesson that aligns with the identified essential question and objective. • Use the frameworks to support your decisions.

29. Evaluation • Rate each component of your lesson plan/learning ladder. • Using a scale of 0-2, rate each component of the plan • 0 = not present • 1 = developing; ineffective • 2 = effective if delivered well

30. Task #7 • Continue working on your learning plan for the selected unit.

31. Wrap-Up • Instructional plans should be engaging and effective! • Objectives and assessments drive instructional planning. • An aligned lesson is a happy lesson! 