Module 1: Identify the Desired ResultsGood Spirit School Division

Module Outcomes

• To develop an understanding of the Understanding by Design (UbD) process and how it leads to student achievement.

• To identify the connections between UbD and DI.

• To apply stage one of UbD to curriculum outcomes and objectives using the Good Spirit School Division UbD Unit Plan.

Activating Prior Knowledge Activity

• Think-Pair-Share—Step One

• Jot down everything you know about the curriculum unpacking process.

• Write down each of your ideas on a separate sticky note.

Think-Pair-Share—Stage Two

• Find a partner and share your ideas.

• Look through all the ideas and put them into categories.

• Come up with key ideas or titles for each of the categories.

Think-Pair-Share—Stage Three

• Each set of partners joins together with another set of partners and shares their ideas.

• Join categories together in group of four.

Think-Pair-Share—Stage Four

• One person remains with sets of sticky notes in categories to explain reasoning to others.

• Remaining group members circulate to see categories of the other groups.

Traditional Curriculum Planning

Backward by Design Instructional Planning

Begin with:Interesting activities or textbooks (instruction) and/or list of content or skills to be taught

Begin with: Outcomes or goals we want students to understand (curriculum)

Stage OnePlanning of learning opportunities based on the list of content or skills

Identifying desired results (curriculum)

Stage Two

Implementing learning opportunities (instruction)

Determining acceptable evidence (assessment)

Stage Three

Design assessment based on information presented in lessons (assessment)

Planning learning experiences and instruction based on student need (instruction)

Understanding by Design• Created by Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins.

• Created as a solution to a problem (student achievement)

• Planning framework

• Align long-term outcomes with short-term objectives or goals and with teaching

• Content acquisition is a means to an end

Understanding• Understanding is more than “knowing a lot”

• Turn and talk with a partner:

• If you really understand something you can …

• If you know a lot about something but don’t really understand you can only … but you can’t …

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe Define “Understanding”

• To understand is to be able to wisely and effectively use—transfer—what we know, in context; to apply knowledge and skill effectively, in realistic tasks and settings. To have understood means that we show evidence of being able to transfer what we know. When we understand, we have a fluent and fluid grasp, not a rigid, formulaic grasp based only on recall and “plugging in.” (p. 7)

• From Understanding by Design: Expanded 2nd Edition.

Now that we have defined “Understanding” …

We need to achieve this understanding “By Design”

Three Stages of UbD

• Stage One: Identify the Desired Results

• Stage Two: Design Assessment Evidence

• Stage Three: Create the Learning Plan

“Colour Key” to differentiation in backward design. McTighe, 2010.

Should be differentiated.

May need some differentiation.

Should rarely be differentiated.

Connections between UbD and Differentiated Instruction (DI)

Stage One: Identify the Desired Results

Stage Two: Design Assessment Evidence

Stage Three: Create the Learning Plan

Stage One: Identify the Desired Results

• Step One: Identify the Outcomes or Objectives Addressed in the Unit

• Step Two: Determine the Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions

• Step Three: Describe the Knowledge and Skills

Step One: Identify the Outcomes or Objectives Addressed in the Unit

Identify Outcome or Objective

• Think … what is our ultimate goal?

• Grant Wiggins shares this strategy:

I want students to learn _______________ (skill/knowledge) so that, in the long run, they will be able, on their own to use it to ________________ (long-term transfer and meaning making).

From: Grant Wiggins Presentation, July, 2011, Boston ACSD Conference.

Step Two: Determine the Enduring Understandings and Essential Questions

Enduring Understandings• What do you want students to understand and be able to use

several years from now?

• What are the BIG ideas?

Essential Questions• Open-ended questions that stimulate thought and inquiry

linked to the content of the enduring understandings.

Step Three: Describe the Knowledge and Skills

Knowledge and Skills

What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit? (These may be indicators from the curriculum.)

Knowledge (Students will know …)• What key knowledge will students acquire as a result of this

unit?

Skills (Students will know how to …)• What key skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?

Other Key Points of UbD

• Plan for flexibility.• Know your students.• It has been proven beneficial to plan with someone else.• Teach the least amount of content to be able to transfer

learning.• When assessing think photo album, not snapshot.• Assessment needs to show evidence of learning.• Students need to exert effort to succeed.• Key to UbD is to know where you are going, what it will look

like when you arrive, and what you need to do to get there.

Module Assignment• The assignment for this module is to complete Stage One of

the UbD process using the ELA curriculum if you are an ELA teacher or another curriculum if you do not teach ELA.

• Why ELA?• Complex curriculum• Supports in place• Can integrate into other subject areas

• By January 31, 2014, teachers will hand in the following completed sections of the Good Spirit School Division Unit Template for all outcomes in their target curriculum.

Status of the Group

• Thumbs Up – There (I THINK I have arrived! I BELIEVE I could teach someone else how to unpack stage one of the division UbD planning template.)

• Thumbs Sideways – Getting There (I am NOW beginning to understand UbD and the role it plays in student achievement and teaching planning.)

• Thumbs Down – Not There (I STILL have no idea about the UbD process and require additional training in this area.)