Chapter twelve: The big picture: UbD as curriculum framework

“Until we grasp that a course of study must be organized backward from big ideas and performance goals related to their use (with content as the means), educational results will continue to be disappointing and understanding will fall through the cracks of instruction. “ (P: 800)

That quote can really summarize what the authors are trying to say in this chapter. We need to think backwards and organize our big ideas in order to accomplish the “understanding” we want our students to have. We must build our framework around the logic of learning instead of the logic of content.

The authors proposed three criteria for effective organization -continuity, sequence and integration, using that criteria will allow us to present a curriculum logically, and again these “essential questions” that focus on big ideas can be used to provide elements that serve as connection between them.

Once we have everything in mind, the author invite us to make the curriculum public and standard, in that way it can be understood by everybody and the “sequence and scope”  will give a certain logic to people who read it.

Chapter nine: Planning for learning

“What the teacher-designer must do here above all else is resist the temptation to fall back on comfortable and familiar techniques” (p: 192)

Teachers must be careful when planning specially when creating new activities for the students, as teachers we must focus on planning the appropriate learning activities, and how can we do that? According to the authors we have to based our teaching on the goals and evidence identified in stages 1 (desired results) and 2 (performance).  The challenge is to think more about the “learning” than the “teaching”. 

What is a good plan? According to the authors a good plan must be engaging and effective. Engaging in the sense of provoking, fascinating, energizing the students. Effective related to helping learners to become more competent and productive. 

Also, there are some key aspects we need to consider when “teaching and learning” called the WHERETO elements where such elements are tools for checking the design. The W makes reference to where the unit is going and why, the H is related to hook and hold the students attention, the E deals with the necessary equipment the students need, the R allows students to rethink big ideas, reflect progress and revise they work, the other E is for students to evaluate  their progress and self assess, the T represents the idea of the students be tailored to reflect their own talents, interests, styles, and needs, and the O is in relation to the organization of understanding. 

In conclusion I think teachers´ aim should be creating a class focusing on the learning first and then the teaching, where the last one should be guided by a good plan and that plan must consider the elements of the WHERETO and that could lead us to a successful class.

Chapter Six: Crafting Understanding

“An understanding has to be worked through and validated as an appropriate and helpful conclusion, not merely accepted as a statement or fact”

As this chapter describes, an understanding makes a claim using facts, an understanding offer a theory based on “data” or interpretation, which requires comprehension. We have to ask questions of the facts, connect them to other facts and try to apply them in various situations to make them an understanding, in order to achieve that we need to consider who our learners are and be careful when distinguishing a fact from an understanding. 

How can we differentiate them? No sentence can be declared to be a fact or an understanding out of context; it depends on the designer´s view. The more thinking, analysis and grasping we have to do, the more it is an understanding. 

So, when designing our syllabuses we really need to take into consideration the “big idea” that should be an understanding, not a fact, which will allow us to develop and analyze “the” idea dipper.

Chapter five: Essential Questions: Doorways to understanding.

“The best questions push us to the heart of things-the essence” (Understanding by Design, p: 107).

As the author tries to tell us in this chapter, the challenge in designing is to start planning from an essential question, organize our programs, courses, unit of study, lessons and everything related to teaching around the essential questions, and make the content answer those questions. 

The aim of education is not just teaching and learning things for an evaluation (as most of our students do), our students need to realize how questioning everything around, could guide them to knowledge and understanding. Questions can be seen as doorways through which students can explore new concepts, theories, and unsolved problems and, through this process of questioning, is how students get involved in the process of learning and understanding. 

Good questions not only promote understanding but also allow students to make connections and promote new ideas to others.

Chapter Three: Gaining clarity o our goals

“The UbD Template is designed to help educators become more circumspect and analytic about the desired results” (Understanding by Design, p: 56).

In chapter three the authors make us realize that desire results are extremely necessary due to the big amount of aims that are simultaneously played in the classroom. Together with establishing the desired goals, we need to set up long-term priorities for the instruction and assessment within the classroom, that allows having clear objectives, and for that reason being able to take decisions and make choices.

Teachers tend to overload their lesson plan; there is too much content we think is important and necessary for students to learn, but there is not enough time. This is the reason we are forced to make choices and set explicit priorities; for instance we have to choose a few big ideas and design our classes around them and using them to frame teaching and assessment, resisting the temptation to teach everything.

The question is how can we choose our priorities in a unit or a course? According to the authors we can take into account three aspects to consider when establishing priorities: worth being familiar with, important to do and to know and big ideas and core tasks.

Once we reflect about that and concentrate on the important, we can have a real and teachable curriculum.

Backward Design

“Teaching is a means to an end. Having clear goals helps to focus our planning and guide purposeful action toward the intended results”. (Wiggins and McTighe, 2005)

If teachers have clear goals and know their “audience”, they will be able to design in order to achieve those goals. However teachers should be aware of certain standards that provide useful frameworks that help to identify teaching and learning priorities, and guide the design of curriculum and assessments.

The backward design invites us to think first on the desired learning and then appropriate teaching will arise. It calls us to make our goals or standards specific and concrete, in terms of assessment evidence, as we begin to plan a unit or course. “Only by having specified the desired results can we focus on the content, methods, and activities most likely to achieve those results”. (Wiggins and McTighe, p:15) It also proposes “result oriented teaching”, to use the textbook as a tool, not the syllabus (coverage), “peer review”, sharing and discussing curriculum and assessment design with colleges and finally “design tools” like a template to support teachers and curriculum developers.

The backward design consists on three stages:

·         Indentify desired results: Goals and priority.

·         Determine acceptable evidence: What forms of assessment will demonstrate if the students are acquiring and understanding the knowledge.

·         Plan learning experiences and instruction: Appropriate instructional activities.

If we follow the stages of the backward design our results will be coherent, and the students’ learning experiences will be as we planned.

new

just trying this thing!! this is new for me! :)