UBD+Understanding+by+Design

UBD

__**Concepts**__: what do we want students to understand? __**Skills**__: What do we want students to be able to do? __**Attitudes**__: What do we want students to feel, value and demonstrate? __**Action**__: How do we want students to act? || expectations for evidence of learning? How does this method tap into Gardner's work? || I n the "Acknowledgments" of Understanding By Design, I found this sentence: "Grant is particularly grateful for Howard Gardner's invitation a few years back to visit with the Harvard Teaching for Understanding group to provide feedback on their then-emerging work. That rich conversation was a seminal moment in the development of this book" (p. vii). While that is something of a "footnote" to this work, it strikes me how our thinking is a domino--how one idea snowballs into another. The quest for deeper, more sophisticated, more complete understandings were brought to the fore by Gardner in the 90s. || What are the connections between the written curriculum and classroom practice? || pre-assessments and formative assessments ? || In the back of their book, Wiggins and McTighe provide a concise table which outlines "The Backward Design Process, Enhanced" (193). In the first column, the row is headed "Key Design Question." They write: "Stage 1: What is worthy and requiring of understanding?"; "Stage 2: What is evidence of understanding?"; "Stage 3: What learning experiences and teaching promote understanding, interest, and excellence" (193). It seems to me, Lisa's question ("How to create pre-assessments and formative assessments?") is answered by--literally--moving backward from the outcome to the plan. I see. I see: understanding by design! || How do we plan for assessment? || open-ended questions || How does the learning environment change to meet the specific goals of inquiry? Is this approach practical in a real classroom? ||  ||   ||
 * Inquiry Learning- Understanding by Design (UBD)**
 * ** Know ** || ** Want to Learn ** || ** Learn ** || ** Further Questions ** ||
 * Involves students in developing questions June knows nothing about this method. || What is this? || From what I have gleaned from my reading, the authors parse out knowing from understanding, suggesting that "understanding" is a qualitatively different phenomenon than simply knowing and/or demonstrating a skill (p. 5) The authors contend, "Understanding, then, involves sophisticated insights and abilities, reflected in varied performances and contexts" (Wiggins and McTighe 5). || __**Knowledge**__: What do we want students to learn?
 * developing a trans-disciplinary theme or central idea || What are the
 * relates curriculum content to bigger concepts and ideas || How to create
 * Inquiry is directed toward
 * assessments are developed prior to the initiation of any learning activities ||  ||   || How do we discover what students have learned? ||
 * Requires specific plans for engaged learning that target skills and learning behaviors || What skills and learning behaviors are enhanced by the inquiry method? ||  || What does inquiry look like? ||
 * students and teachers reflect on the quality of the learning experience and additional connections, or challenges || How does the role of the teacher change using this inquiry method? || Learning isn't limited to teacher's knowledge. Teachers share responsibility of learning with students. Teachers are facilitators who pose questions and provide perspectives that students don't always consider. ||  ||
 * Learning is related to significant the acquisition of knowledge ||  || To ask good questions and eventually acquire new knowledge, teachers must assess and gradually provide background knowledge. Students ask questions in the small group context to support learning and then organize thinking about what to do at the next step of inquiry. ||   ||
 * Learning is relevant to the central theme ||  ||   ||   ||
 * teacher looks for and documents observations of learning that are pre-determined ||  ||   ||   ||
 * || - -sounds like Steven Covey's "Begin with the end in mind..." ||  ||   ||

Carnesi, S., & DiGiorgio, K. (2009). Teaching the inquiry process to 21st century learners. Library Media Connection, 27(5), 32-36. Retrieved from @http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=37588576&site=ehost-live

McTighe, J., & Thomas, R. S. (2003). Backward design for forward action. Educational Leadership, 60(5), 52-55.

Stripling, B. (2008). Inquiry: Inquiring minds want to know. School Library Media Activities Monthly, 25(1), 50-52. Retrieved from @http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=34105750&site=ehost-live

Todd, R. Evidence-based Practice and School Libraries: From Advocacy to Action. In Hughes-Hassell, S., and V. H. Harada, School Reform and the School Library Media Specialist. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. 57-78.

Stripling, Barbara. "Assessing Information Fluency: Gathering Evidence of Student Learning." School Library Media Activities Monthly 23.8 (2007): 25-29. Print.

Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. //Understanding By Design//. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1998. Print.