Welcome Social Studies Curriculum Writers June 14-25, 2010

1. Welcome Social Studies Curriculum WritersJune 14-25, 2010 Understanding by Design (Wiggins and McTighe) An Introduction to Curriculum Design

2. Our Task • Curriculum Writers will assist the AISD social studies curriculum team in creating three new curriculum documents: • Yearly Itinerary • GPS (Grading Period Snapshot) • Curriculum Roadmap • We may also ask you to finish adding lessons to the AIMS IPG site. Please wait for confirmation from the team regarding populating AIMS.

3. How will we accomplish our task? • This work is actually quite exciting. The curriculum design closely follows the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe (of UBD fame) giving a clear workplan for our instruction. • UBD—Understanding by Design • Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe Start with the end—the desired results (goals and standards)—and then derive the curriculum from the evidence of learning (performances) called for by the standard and the teaching needed to equip students to perform.

4. Understanding the Language • An “overview” of our course for the entire year or an entire semester. • Yearly Itinerary

5. Understanding the Language • A document requested by principals which they will use to guide them through your classroom curriculum throughout the year. • Grading Period Snapshot (GPS)

6. Understanding the Language • The curriculum roadmap contains most of the elements that AIMS contains. Includes Concepts and Essential Questions, as well as the Unit, Arc and Lesson Level. • Uses UBD language. • Curriculum Road Map

7. Understanding by Design Identify desired results. Determine acceptable evidence. Begin with the end in mind Plan learning experiences and instruction.

8. Enduring understandings go beyond discrete facts or skills to focus on larger concepts, principles or processes. Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings Worth being familiar with Important to know and do “Enduring” understanding These are the concepts that will anchor the course. These are the important ideas that we want student to “get inside of” and retain after they’ve forgotten many of the details. They reside at the “heart” of the discipline. Offer potentialfor engaging students

9. EnvironmentCivilizationGlobalizationCivic Engagement Power and Conflict LiberationPower and Authority Rule of Law Origins Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings

10. Essential Questions • These questions guide our teaching and engage students in uncovering the important ideas at the heart of each subject. • These questions cannot be answered satisfactorily in one sentence. • These questions are multilayered and provocative and they reveal the richness and complexities of a subject. • These questions should be asked over and over. • These questions raise other important questions.

11. Sample Essential and Unit Questions • Must a story have a moral, heroes and villains? • Who is a friend? • Is U.S. History a history of progress • What is the moral of the story of the Holocaust? • Is Huck Finn a hero? • Are Frog and Toad true friends? • Is the gap between rich and poor any better now than it was 100 years ago? Essential Question Unit Question

12. Curriculum Roadmap Unit Arc Resources TEKS Vocabulary Student Work Products/Assessment Evidence • Concept (Big Idea) • Essential Questions