“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.
We have been reading much about understanding, but you have made and important remark about syllabus design. It would have been quite significant to learn how we can put into practice what we have been posting so far.
ReplyDeleteI cannot agree more. Most of what we haver read and written about makes a lot of sense, but can we really apply this to our contexts? I'm not sure we have the necessary skills to do it.
ReplyDeleteBig ideas, essential questions and understanding are three points very important to consider in teaching language. I think that they cannot be worked in isolation.other subject, not only English, should consider those ones.
ReplyDeleteI also agree, but it is also true that not always we can count with the necessary tools or time to apply what we have read. I think that most of us are trying to do it, but again there are many factors that are involved in this process.
ReplyDeleteIt's an interesting book, but we don't have the tools (not all the time). It is something that sounds really great but it is a little bit difficult to pu it into practice. We don't have perfect students, they don0t even know whay they are students and why they are studying.
ReplyDeleteI actually think we are doing this all the time. We have to, and we do have the tools. We have just never looked at it and analyzed it as so. On the other hand, it would be good to discuss what we´ve read so that we could apply it to how we´re currently dealing with designing our curriculums.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I do that. Actually, I'm sure I don't do that. I think designing as the book suggests is more difficult and time consuming than giving classes. It would be great if we could do it as part of our job; I mean if we were paid for it. In every school I've worked they insist that planning is important but I've never been given time to plan seriously.
ReplyDeleteTo reach that I think we need to have clear our objectives: they have to be comunicative and not ambitious... We know that programs have too many objectives that in the practice are not reached.
ReplyDeleteIf we have less objectives and more welll planned we could go for then in deep...
I agree on the importance of "understanding" . Since we have read a lot about this concep I think that we should try to see whether it is possible to apply in designing our syllabuses or not.
ReplyDeleteI cannot say something different of all of you, I'm sure that all of us want different classes or just think that it could be better,but we don't have enough time to prepare everything we want, taking in consideration the essential questions, understanding, different kind of students, etc, etc, etc.
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