Chapter 12 - The Big Picture

1. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • How big is big? • Cannot be answered in isolation • Partnership with state & district standards along with an interdisciplinary team is best (Wiggins & McTighe, 2006)

2. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • Essential questions as course and program foundations • Essential questions can be used to provide the backbone of courses and programs into which individual units fit • Assists in overarching questions

3. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • Cross-disciplinary questions • Crosses curricular boundaries (sometimes on purpose, sometimes not)

4. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • Framing curriculum by performance tasks • The assessment plan has to involve more high-quality, application-focused performance tasks constructed around the 6 facets (Wiggins & McTighe, 2006): • Explanation • Interpretation • Application • Perspective • Empathy • Self-knowledge • The assesment and rubric must be considered when framing the curriculum (Wiggins & Tighe, 2006) • It is easier to create these in a team setting...partnering with state & district standards with strong interdisciplinary or other academic teams

5. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • From tasks to rubrics • Wouldn't it be nice if there were a system of rubrics used: • Good - Department wide • Better - School wide • Even Better - District wide • Best - State wide

6. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • Applying "scope and sequence" to a curriculum for understanding • The flow of learning work in the classroom should be the same as it is on the athletic field or in the art studio • In other words, we need to be able to do the subject with understanding - acquire knowledge and skill not for sake of self, but for handling key tasks in the field (Wiggins & McTighe, 2006)

7. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • The logic of content versus the logic of coming to understand content • Goes back to knowledge and understanding • We can read a text book and know the content, but do we understand the content

8. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • Rethinking scope and sequence • Original meanings: • Scope refers to the major functions of social life • Sequence refers to the center of interest at a particular point in time

9. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • Hook and rethinking, rethought • Do we have to follow a certain sequence when teaching a certain subject? • Do we need to follow the text book from chapter 1 to the end?

10. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • The spiral curriculum • Develops curriculum around recurring, ever deepening inquiries into big ideas and important tasks • The teacher's task is to design related challenges so that learning results in the "production of new ideas" • New facts and ideas become the ground for further experiences in which new problems are presented • This is the continual spiral (Wiggins and McTighe, 2006)

11. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture • Toward a better syllabus • Essential questions and core problems at the heart of the subject • Core performances and challenges hat frame all work and impy all learning • Rubrics and scoring systems used • Summary and justification of ht eassessment and grading policies, in reference to institutional goals and state standards • Summary of the major learning goals in a brief week by week calendar • Built in flexibility to ensure the syllabus can adapt to feedback based on student performance and understanding (Wiggins & McTighe, 2006)

12. Chapter 12 - The Big Picture References Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J.(2006). Understanding by design . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc..