Understanding by Design (UbD)according to Wiggins and McTighe

Backward Planning

September 2012

Sometimes education feels like being caught in a wind tunnel.

http://www.videobash.com/video_show/ducks-vs-wind-8233

Connections…

• Common Core – Teaching inch wide & mile deep concept

• Project COACH – Evaluation Model Planning Rubric =*Alignment & Mapping indicators

• Rigor & Relevance – Quadrant D

• Backward design calls for us to make our lesson goals and objectives specific and concrete.

• Choices about teaching methods, sequence of lessons and resources materials can be successfully completed only after we identify desired results and assessments .

• Remember when given a destination, what’s the most effective and efficient route?

Why use backwards design?

Traditional• Students memorize for

the test and then forget

• Activity-based design leads to hands-on, but not minds-on, learning

• Teachers do all the work to cover the skills

UbD• Students develop

deep, enduring understandings

• Understanding-based design leads to active and engaged minds

• Students work to uncover concepts

Stages of Backward Design

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results• What should students know, understand, and

be able to do? (long and short range)• This is where we consider the goals, examine

content standards and review curriculum expectations. (Enduring Understandings, Essential Questions, Clear Learning Targets)

Understanding by Design

1. Consider the enduring understandings of your study.

2. Develop essential questions to carry the curriculum.

3. Identify targeted skills to improve over the year.

4. Establish unit understandings and unit questions.

5. Design lessons. Structure the lesson deliberately for authenticity. Intentionally develop skills through the lens of content. Strive for complexity of thinking. Embed opportunities for contextualization.

Based on the UBD work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Teacher Questions• How does my subject relate to the world/life?• What are the most important “take-aways” for

students to have?• What do I want students to achieve?• How do my individual lessons fit with the

overall goal for the class/subject?• Why am I teaching this lesson? • What does the learner need in order to

accomplish the learning goals?

Student Questions• What’s the point of this?• What’s the big idea here?• What does this help me understand or

be able to do?• To what does this relate?• Why should I learn this?

Good design is about being more thoughtful and specific about your purpose and what it implies.

If you don’t know exactly where you are headed, then any road will get you there.

Our Enduring Understandings

• Big-picture ideas retainable beyond the course– Every Achilles has a vulnerable heel. [History]– Algebra equips us with tools to become informed

decision-makers. [Algebra]– Discipline is the key to a healthy lifestyle. [Health]– Humans are machines. [Biology]– Strong writers capture their audiences. [English]– Artists establish the dark, reserve the light, and

negotiate the middle. [Studio Art]– Geometry brings order to chaos. [Geometry]– The best teaching changes lives forever. [Prof Dev]

Enduring Understandings

Based on the UBD work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

• Identifying concepts– What is your study really about?– Strip the curriculum to its guiding concepts.– Example: World History

• CONTROL– Law & Order– Weakness & Exploitation– Power & Dominion

Enduring understandings

Based on the UBD work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

• Grow understandings from the concepts.– CONTROL

• Law & Order• Weakness & Exploitation• Power & Dominion

– Every Achilles has a vulnerable heel.– All governments strive to achieve order; it is

the breadth and depth of control that vary.

Enduring understandings

Based on the UBD work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

WISDOM TABLE…You try it.

Consider your subject.Establish the ruling concepts.

Generate enduring understandings.Share out with the people around you.

Based on the UBD work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

What is an Essential Question?

A question that lies at the heart of a subject (as opposed to being either trivial or leading), and promotes inquiry and uncoverage of a subject.

Understanding by Design

An Essential Question…Is NOT• It is NOT a question that can

be answered with a yes or no.

• It is NOT a question that can be answered in one sentence.

• It is NOT a blurry or large question that requires a five-pound book to answer.

IS• It frames and focuses

research.• It connects to enduring

understandings.• It encourages critical

thinking.• It tells your audience what

your unit will address.• It has no single “right”

answer.

• Not always fact-specific• May recur throughout the year in different

units• Offer prospects for cross-curricular

exploration• Examples:

– WHAT IS THE TRAGIC FLAW?– WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE IN-BETWEEN?

Essential questions

Based on the UBD work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

What is the tragic flaw?

• Can it anchor to an enduring understanding?– World History: Every Achilles has a vulnerable heel.

• Is it relevant to multiple units of study?– What was the tragic flaw of Maximilien Robespierre?

– According to Hindus what is the flaw of humanity?

• Can the question extend beyond this class?– What flaws are borne by J.D. Salinger’s characters? – Are there any flaws that invalidate the experiment? – How does HIV tragically flaw human health? – What flaws do old-school artists find in today’s hip-hop?

Based on the UBD work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Our Essential Question

What is the best way to teach?

or

How can we teach them up?

More Examples• Why is the concept of cloning human beings controversial? • What invention of the 20th Century has had the greatest impact?• Why was _________ the greatest home run hitter in baseball

history?• Which credit card is best for me?• To what extent does separation of powers cause deadlock in the

U.S. government?• How can a diet be healthy for one person and not another?• What is the value of place value?• Is pain necessary for progress in athletics?• What “fictions” find there way into non-fiction?• To what extent is DNA destiny?• Can everything be quantified?

WISDOM TABLE…You try it.

Lean on concepts and EU’s.Construct an Essential Question.

Evaluate against the criteria. Revise. Share out with the people around you.

Based on the UBD work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Establish an understanding of Clear Learning Targets

• Learning Targets: Statements of what we want students to learn and be able to do.

Aren’t Learning Targets the same as standards? NO.Standards are externally created goals for student learning.

Several Learning Targets must be achieved to master one standard, & those targets are created at the classroom level.

Aren’t Learning Targets the same as activities? No

Activities are the methods teachers use to help the student achieve the learning target--what students do in class.

What did you do? vs. What did you learn?

“Just remember why many teachers are activity-based rather than goal-based…You can survive the day without a goal, but you can’t survive the day without an activity.” Mike Rutherford

Learning Target Types:1. Knowledge targets2. Reasoning targets3. Skill targets4. Product targets

Utilizing Learning Targets helps to deconstruct a content standard into smaller teachable parts—knowing the type will help identify the enabling learning targets.

Knowledge Targets: Master factual and procedural knowledge, to be learned outright or retrieved.•Recognizes and describes patterns •Understands long-term physiological benefits of regular participation in physical activity •Explains the important characteristics of U.S. citizenship •Knows that energy can be transformed between various forms

Reasoning Targets: Use knowledge to reason and solve problems. Thought processes to learn.•Uses statistical methods to describe, analyze, evaluate, and make decisions •Analyzes fitness assessments to set personal fitness goals, strategizes ways to reach goals, evaluates activities •Examines data/results and proposes meaningful interpretation

Skill Targets: Demonstrate mastery of specific performance skills—demonstration or physical skill-based.•Measures length in metric and US units •Reads aloud with fluency and expression •Dribbles to keep the ball away from an opponent •Participates in civic discussion with the aim of solving current problems •Uses simple equipment and tools to gather data

Product (Performance) Targets: Create quality products—focus is the product. •Constructs bar graphs •Develops a personal health-related fitness plan •Constructs physical models of familiar objects •Creates a scripted scene based on improvised work

Target types tend to be cumulative or hierarchical:• Knowledge = knowledge

•Reasoning = knowledge + reasoning

•Skill= knowledge + reasoning + skill

•Product/Performance= Knowledge + reasoning + skill + product/performance

Rigor & Relevance – Quadrant D

Examples of Learning Targets from the Common Core State StandardsKnowledge Targets:Math- Recognizes acute, obtuse, & right angles.ELA- Identifies nouns & verbs.Reasoning Targets:Math- Identifies shapes as two- or three-dimensional.ELA- Evaluates the argument in a text, with relevant evidence.Skill Targets:Math- Measures the length of an object.ELA- Responds to questions that relate to broader themes.Product Targets:Math- Draws a bar graph to represent data with four categories.ELA- Creates a visual display for use in a presentation to enhance

the message.

Learning Targets use student-friendly language…

• I can…• When I’ve learned this…Can students tell you what they are learning?I can write summary of a newspaper article. I can locate fractions on a number line.I can describe the interactions contained in the rock cycle.I can identify cause & effect relationships in an informational text.*Rather than the language of the Standard which was created for teachers.

From clear Learning Targets create your “Question for the day.”

Those questions that can be answered at the end of the day/class period.Vs.

“ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS”…

Our Unit Goal/Standard• Have effective, efficient planning that leads to

student mastery• Create a unit based on backwards planning

Our Learning Target/Lesson Objective• Write Enduring Understandings, Essential

Questions, and Clear Learning Targets

Our TopicBackward Planning/Understanding by Design

WISDOM TABLE…You try it.

Select a standard for your EU and Essential Question.Write Learning Targets that align to the standard.

Share out with the people around you.

Based on the UBD work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Let’s begin with the end in mind!

Plan for GOALS and OBJECTIVES NOT MATERIALS AND ACTIVITIES.

http://www.wingclips.com/movie-clips/school-of-rock/just-give-up

Film: The School of Rock• Guiding Concept: “Salvation”• Enduring Understanding: The Man will beat you down.• Essential Question: How do you stick it to the man?• Learning Targets: I can…

– analyze the rock-n-roll experience;– trace the history (chronology) of rock-n-roll;– compare and contrast rock with other musical

genres;– explain how rock-n-roll can save the world.

• Evidence of Understanding: Project “Rock Band”

http://worldsciencefestival.com/videos/the_power_of_the_pentatonic_scale

: Music• CONCEPT

– Power• ENDURING UNDERSTANDING

– Music is one of humanity’s most powerful tools.• ESSENTIAL QUESTION

– How can music unify humanity?• LEARNING TARGET and UNIT ?

– I can identify and perform the pentatonic scale.– How powerful is the pentatonic scale?

Remaining pages in packet….• Sample Templates from different disciplines

from the book Understanding by Design.

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