Understanding by Design

Understanding by Design • the ‘big ideas’ • for ELL teachers

1. Identify desired results 2. Determine acceptable evidence 3. Plan learning experiences & instruction 3 Stages of (“Backward”) Design

Why “backward”? • The stages are logical but they go against habits • We’re used to jumping to lesson and activity ideas - before clarifying our performance goals for students • By thinking through the assessments upfront, we ensure greater alignment of our goals and means, and that teaching is focused on desired results

Unit Template Overarching understandings Essential Questions Knowledge and skill to be acquired Understanding by Design Template • The UBD template embodies the 3 stages of “Backward Design” • The DDN Curriculum site provides an easy mechanism for exchange of ideas.

! Misconception Alert:the work is non-linear • It doesn’t matter where you start as long as the final design is coherent (all elements aligned) • Clarifying one element or Stage often forces changes to another element or Stage • The template “blueprint” is logical but the process is non-linear (think: home improvement!)

You’ve got to go below the surface...

to uncover the really ‘big ideas.’

1. Identify desired results 3. Plan learning experiences & instruction 3 Stages of Design, elaborated 2. Determine acceptable evidence

Stage 1 – Identify desired results. • Key: Focus on Big ideas • Enduring Understandings: What specific insights about big ideas do we want students to leave with? • What essential questions will frame the teaching and learning, pointing toward key issues and ideas, and suggest meaningful and provocative inquiry into content? • What should students know and be able to do? • What content standards are addressed explicitly by the unit? U Q K CS

Worth being familiar with Important to know and do “Enduring” understanding Establishing Priorities Knowledge that is worth being familiar with Knowledge and skills that are important to know and do Understandings that are enduring

Taking a Closer Look at Understandings: They are... • specific generalizations about the “big ideas.” They summarize the key meanings, inferences, and importance of the ‘content’ • Require “uncoverage”because they are not “facts” to the novice, but unobvious inferences drawn from facts - counter-intuitive & easily misunderstood • deliberately framed as a full sentence “moral of the story” – “Students will understand THAT…”

Explain - provide thorough, supported, and justifiable accounts of phenomena, facts and data Interpret - tell meaningful stories; offer apt translations; provide a revealing historical or personal dimension to ideas and events; make it personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies, and models. Apply - effectively use and adapt what is known in diverse contexts. Perspective - can see and hear points of view through critical eyes and ears; see the big picture. Empathize - find value in what others might find odd, alien, or implausible; perceive sensitively on the basis of prior direct experience. Self-Knowledge - perceive the personal style, prejudices, projections, and habits of mind that both shape and impede our own understanding; having an awareness of what one does not understand and why understanding is so hard Six Facets of Understanding

Brainstorming Essential Questions Based On the Facets Interpretation Explanation Application critiquedescribebuild illustrate express create judge justify design translate predict perform provide metaphors synthesize solve assume role of be aware of analyze consider realize argue imagine recognize compare relate reflect contrast role-play self-assess infer Empathy Self-Knowledge Perspective

Provocative Essential Questions • Have no one obvious right answer. • Raise other important questions. • Address the philosophical or conceptual foundations of a discipline. • Recur naturally. • Are framed to provoke and sustain student interest.

SD Content Standards • Goals -the "end results" of what we expect after thirteen years of content study • Indicators -further define the goals and provide the targets and anchors for instructional levels • Benchmarks -articulate what the goal and indicator represent at the different developmental levels, providing the targets for student performance • Standards -represent the classroom learning objectives or activitiesto help students reach the expectations articulated in the benchmarks, indicators, and goals

Identify the Content Standards for your Unit • By Goal, Indicator, Benchmark • 3-5 for a 6 week unit of study • Remember these are the “Big Ideas” specifically addressed by teaching and learning experiences in the unit. • Specific knowledge and skills (grade level standards)will also be listed on the design template.

Test Design Against Standards • To what extent are the targeted understandings: • * Enduring • * Framed as Generalizations • * Framed by Provocative Essential Questions

Choose 1 to answer individually. Share response with your team. Team selects 2 to share with group. I was surprised… I have been wondering… I realized that… Today I learned... Reflection - Stage 1

1. Identify desired results 2. Determine acceptable evidence 3. Plan learning experiences & instruction 3 Stages of Design: Stage 2

Just because the student “knows it” … • Evidence of understanding is a greater challenge than evidence that the student knows a correct or valid answer • Understanding is inferred, not seen • It can only be inferred if we see evidence that the student knows why (it works) so what? (why it matters), how (to apply it) – not just knowing that specific inference

Reliability: Snapshot vs. Photo Album • We need patterns that overcome inherent measurement error • Sound assessment (particularly of State Standards) requires multiple evidence over time - a photo album vs. a single snapshot

For Reliability & Sufficiency:Use a Variety of Assessments • Varied types, over time: • authentic tasks and projects • academic exam questions, prompts, and problems • quizzes and test items • informal checks for understanding • student self-assessments

Worth being familiar with Important to know and do “Enduring” understanding Curricular Priorities and Assessment Methods • Assessment Types • Traditional quizzes and tests • Paper-pencil • Selected-response • Constructed-response • Performance tasks and projects • Open-ended • Complex • Authentic

Assessment of Understanding Brainstorming…. • Using the Facets of Understanding • Considering a Range of Evidence • Determining Possible Performances

Scenarios for Authentic Tasks T • Build assessments anchored in authentic tasks using GRASPS: • What is the Goal in the scenario? • What is the Role? • Who is the Audience? • What is your Situation (context)? • What is the Performance challenge? • By what Standards will work be judged in the scenario? G R A S P S

A Performance Task is Authentic if it… • Is realistic. • Requires judgment and innovation. • Asks a student to “do” the subject. • Replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are tested in the workplace. • Assess a student’s ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skills to negotiate a complex task. • Allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, and consult resources; obtain feedback on performances; and refine performances and products.

UBD Templates Holistic Frame Analytic Frame Analytic Frame for the Facets RubiStar PBL Checklists QuizStar http://4teachers.org Rubrics,Checklists and Other Evidence

Test Design Against Standards • To what extent do the assessment provide: • * Valid and Reliable Measures • * Authentic Performance Task Opportunities • * Sufficient and Varied Information

Choose 1 to answer individually. Share response with your team. Team selects 2 to share with group. I find it interesting that... I have been wondering… Today’s activities caused me to think differently about __ because... Today I learned... Reflection - Stage 2

1. Identify desired results 3. Plan learning experiences & instruction 3 Stages of Design: Stage 3 2. Determine acceptable evidence

E F F E C T I V E E N GAGING and Stage 3 big idea:

Coverage vs. Uncoverage Misunderstanding and Misconceptions Taking a Closer Look at...

Think of your obligations via W. H. E. R. E. T. O. L W • “Where are we headed?” (the student’s Q!) • How will the student be ‘hooked’? • What opportunities will there be to be equipped, and to experience and explore key ideas? • What will provide opportunities to rethink, rehearse, refine and revise? • How will students evaluate their work? • How will the work be tailored to individual needs, interests, styles? • How will the work be organized for maximal engagement and effectiveness? H E R E T O

Test Design Against Standards • To what extent will students: • * Know where they are headed and why? • * Be hooked? • * Explore and experience key ideas? • * Reflect and Rethink? • * Evaluate their own work? • * Have work tailored to meet their needs? • * Participate in learning activities organized to be engaging and effective?

Choose 1 to answer individually. Share response with your team. Team selects 2 to share with group. I feel comfortable with... I would like to learn more about... I am still unclear or unsure about... I realize I need to take a closer look at... Reflection - Stage 3

Peer Review • Consider…. • Strengths • Areas needing improvement • Feedback • Guidance

TEA Participants at UNL • In what ways • does the Backward Design Process support the Five Core Propositions of “What Accomplished ELL Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do”?

Understanding by Design