Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design: Connecting Content and Kids by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe

Purpose To guide teachers in thinking about what it means to establish classrooms based on curriculum and instruction designed to ensure that each student is fully supported in developing the lasting understandings of a discipline and in mastering its critical knowledge and skills.

Teachers whose work is guided by the principles of backward design and differentiated instruction do the following: Identify desired learning results for the subject and topics they teach. Determine acceptable evidence of student learning. Plan learning experiences and instruction based on the first two principles. Regard learner differences as inevitable, important, and valuable in teaching and learning.

Address learners' affective needs as a means of supporting student success. Periodically review and articulate clear learning goals that specify what students should know, understand, and be able to do as a result of each segment of learning. Use systematic pre-assessment and ongoing assessment aligned with designated goals to make instructional decisions and adaptations.

Employ flexibility in instructional planning and classroom routines to support success for each learner. Gather evidence of student learning in a variety of formats.

Indicators in UbD/DI Classrooms The Learning Environment Each student is treated with dignity and respect. Each student feels safe and valued in the classroom. Each student makes meaningful contributions to the work of the group. There is a balanced emphasis on individuals and the group as a whole.

Students work together collaboratively. Students are grouped flexibly to ensure attention to both their similarities to and differences from peers. Evidence indicates that varied student perspectives are sought and various approaches to learning are honored. The big ideas and essential questions are central to the work of the students, the classroom activity, and the norms and culture of the classroom.

There are high expectations and incentives for each student to learn the big ideas and answer the essential questions. All students have respectful work—that is, tasks and assessments focused on what matters most in the curriculum, tasks structured to necessitate high-level thinking, and tasks that are equally appealing and engaging to learners. Big ideas, essential questions, and criteria/scoring rubrics are posted. Samples/models of student work are visible.

The Curriculum Units and courses reflect a coherent design; content standards, big ideas, and essential questions are clearly aligned with assessments and learning activities. There are multiple ways to take in and explore ideas. Multiple forms of assessment allow students to demonstrate their understanding in various ways. Assessment of understanding is anchored by “authentic” performance tasks calling for students to demonstrate their understanding through application and explanation.

Teacher, peer, and self-evaluations of student products or performances include clear criteria and performance standards for the group as well as attention to individual needs and goals. The unit or course design enables students to revisit and rethink important ideas to deepen their understanding. The teacher and students use a variety of resources. The textbook is only one resource among many. Resources reflect different cultural backgrounds, reading levels, interests, and approaches to learning.

The Teacher The teacher informs students of the big ideas and essential questions, performance requirements, and evaluative criteria at the beginning of the unit or course and continues to reflect on those elements with students throughout the unit. The teacher helps students connect the big ideas and essential questions of the unit with their backgrounds, interests, and aspirations. The teacher hooks and holds students' interest while they examine and explore big ideas and essential questions. This approach includes acknowledging and building on the variety of student interests in the class. The teacher helps students establish and achieve personal learning goals in addition to important content goals for the class as a whole.

The teacher uses a variety of instructional strategies and interacts with students in multiple ways to promote deeper understanding of subject matter for each student. The teacher uses information from pre-assessments and ongoing assessments to determine skills needs, check for understanding, uncover misconceptions, provide feedback for improvement, and make instructional modifications. The teacher routinely provides for student differences in readiness, interest, and mode of learning. The teacher facilitates students' active construction of meaning, rather than simply “telling.” The teacher understands that individual learners will make meaning in different ways and on different timetables.

The teacher uses a variety of strategies to support students' varying needs for growth in reading, writing, vocabulary, planning, and other fundamental skills that enable academic success. The teacher uses questioning, probing, and feedback to encourage learners to “unpack their thinking,” reflect, and rethink. The teacher uses a variety of resources (more than only the textbook) to promote understanding. The teacher provides meaningful feedback to parents and students about students' achievement, progress, and work habits.

The Learners Students can describe the goals (big ideas and essential questions) and the performance requirements of the unit or course. Students can explain what they are doing and why (i.e., how today's work relates to the larger goals). Students can explain how their classroom functions and how its various elements work to support success of each learner and of the class as a whole. Students contribute actively to effective functioning of classroom routines and share responsibility with the teacher for making the class work.

Students are hooked at the beginning and engaged throughout the unit as a result of the nature of the curriculum and the appropriateness of instruction for their particular learning needs. Students can describe both the group and individual criteria by which their work will be evaluated. Students are engaged in activities that help them learn the big ideas and answer the essential questions. All students have opportunities to generate relevant questions and share interests and perspectives.

Students are able to explain and justify their work and their answers. Students are involved in self- or peer assessment based on established criteria and performance standards. Students use the criteria/rubric(s) to guide and revise their work. Students regularly reflect on and set goals related to their achievement, progress, and work habits.

Conclusion Together, backward design and differentiation describe a comprehensive way of thinking about curriculum, assessment, and instruction, stemming from a shared understanding of what constitutes effective teaching and learning. In other words, teachers will focus on clarity of goal and flexibility in arriving at the goal.