Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Workshop Understandings Effective curriculum design evolves from clear goals and is aligned across all stages. UbD is a way of thinking more carefully about curriculum and unit design. UbD design standards improves teaching and learning Teaching and assessing for understanding enhances learning of content standards.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Essential Questions Why are the best curriculum designs “backward”? What is good/effective design? Why teach for understanding? How will we know what students really understand? What is the difference between understanding and knowing?

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. It’s important to understand a few things that UbD is NOT… UbD does not purport to be anything new; the authors consider it to be the synthesis of educational best practices. UbD is not a “fix” for what’s “broken” in classrooms. It is a framework for promoting understanding, and a method for designing engagement. The UbD framework does not suggest that everything we ask students to learn must be focused on deep, sophisticated understandings.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. What has worked against understanding in schools?  Instruction has not always prioritized important ideas that are worthy of understanding. To most students, various activities and textbook topics appear of equal importance.  Unit design has not always worked to foster understanding because it has not encouraged students to explore essential questions, link key ideas, or rethink their ideas and theories.  We are often guilty of not providing clear performance targets. Students do not know the purpose of activities and are not asked to connect their learning to performance requirements.  The evidence of understanding has not been established.

“Students can hit any appropriate achievement target that is clear and holds still for them.” -Rick Stiggins Assessment Training Institute.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Stage 1: Identify Desired Results Enduring Understandings Essential questions Knowledge and Skills.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Stage 1: Identify Desired Results Enduring Understandings come from…  Unit Topics  Deconstructed standards

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Enduring Understandings (pg.71) Anchor the units * Provide a larger purpose The big ideas What we want students to retain after they have forgotten many of the details. Worth being familiar with Important to know and do Enduring Understandings

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Worth being familiar with Enduring Understandings Example: Your Driving Test & the 40/40/40 filter Important to know and do Enduring Understandings You must be within twelve inches of the curb when parallel parking. On your mind for 40 Minutes On your mind for 40 days On your mind for 40+ years Your hands are always on your cell pho…I mean steering wheel. Obeying driving laws increases safety.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Overarching and Topical Understandings Pg

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Enduring Understandings Your Turn Worth being familiar with Important to know and do Enduring Understandings In your table groups come up with your own example of a 40/40/40 filter!.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Stage 1: Identify Desired Results Enduring Understandings come from…  Unit Topics  Deconstructed standards What essential question(s) will guide and focus the teaching and learning?.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Essential Questions (pg. 108) Have no one obvious right answer Raise additional important questions (perhaps across content areas) Recur naturally Framed to provoke/sustain student interest

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Overarching questions: Go beyond the unit and focus on larger, broader ideas Specific ideas or information about the unit is not mentioned Link other topics or subject areas Create a theme within the classroom including several different subject areas.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Topical questions: More specific Can be answered by researching the material within the unit assigned May be difficult to answer, but can be answered using the facts and information from within the unit - compare the two on pg. 115

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Essential Questions: Your Turn In your table groups sort through the sample Essential Questions to determine which are topical and which are overarching.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. 6 Facets of Understanding These facets can be used as a stimulus for generating Essential Questions: Explanation Interpretation Application Perspective Empathy Self-Knowledge

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Essential Questions Whenever possible EQ’s should be in age appropriate language. Example: How does an organism’s structure enable it to survive in its environment? Example: How does the size, shape, and strength of an animal help it to live where it does?

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Stage 1: Identify Desired Results Enduring Understandings come from…  Unit Topics  Deconstructed standards What essential question(s) will guide and focus the teaching and learning? What knowledge and skills will be needed?.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Skills and Knowledge Once you have your understanding and questions, you need to determine what prerequisite knowledge is needed to support the understanding.  Facts  Dates  Vocabulary  Simple Concepts.. Knowledge that is Worth being familiar with Knowledge and skills that are important to know and do Enduring Understandings

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Our Example Topic: Geology EALR: Science Classify rocks and soils into groups based on their chemical and physical properties; describe the processes by which rocks and soils are formed.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Our Example Enduring Understandings: Rocks are grouped into categories based on contents.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Essential Questions: Why? How? To what extent?

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. 6 Facets of Understanding These facets can be used as a stimulus for generating Essential Questions: Explanation Interpretation Application Perspective Empathy Self-Knowledge

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. Your Turn Using the Enduring Understanding you’ve developed, create some Essential Questions.

Copyright (C) 1998 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved. 6 Facets Your Turn Take the EQ’s that were generated and sort them by the 6 facets Examine the patterns regarding types of facets that are most often used Discuss the skills and prior knowledge that will be needed