1. E-126 Week 3 Understanding Goals

2. Understanding Goals for This Week  How are understanding goals different from other kinds of goals and objectives?  How do curriculum standards connect to understanding goals?  How do I engage in a learning community with colleagues?  How do I use the TfU framework and performance criteria to reflection on my work and my colleagues’ work?  How do goals that address the dimensions of understanding help achieve disciplinary depth in curriculum?

3. Activities in Class 1. Review progress on identifying GT/ToD 2. Discuss readings: What does constructivist practice have to do with TfU? Characteristics of understanding goals What are “dimensions of understanding? 4. Working with case examples GT, ToD and UG in Dynamic Earth Exercise: Identify GTs, ToD, UGs from examples of practice 5. Tech Tip: Using the message board in the CCDT 3. Reflect on your own beliefs and practices in relation to constructivist “ideal” 6. Review Project Guidelines Expectations Begin to draft project proposals

4. Constructivism--What’s the Big Idea (s)? Cognitive constructivism (Piaget)  Learner is active, not passive  Learning is a process of individual meaning-making  Learning builds upon experience and prior knowledge  Dynamic relationship of learner, teacher and content  Not everyone learns in the same way Social constructivism (Vygotsky)  Culture, language and context important in the process of constructing knowledge.  Meaning is socially mediated  Understanding involves a process of continuous revision and refinement of schemas, concepts, heuristics

5. Constructivism: Implications for Instruction Role of teacher and learner Differentiation of instruction Authentic and relevant to student Collaboration and cooperative learning Focus of instruction is understanding, not information Explicit, visible, accountable Ambiguity, uncertainty, change

6. Understanding Goals What is it important for learners to understand? Dimensions of Understanding: Knowledge Methods Forms Purposes Naive, novice, apprentice, expert Levels of Understanding:

7. Understanding Goals What is it important for learners to understand? Curriculum Based on UGs: Focuses on big ideas essential to a discipline Engages students with multiple dimensions of a subject and concepts across subjects Keeps the focus on understanding by aligning all activities and lessons with goals Makes the aims of and reasons for the learning explicit and public

8. ･ For a history unit with generative topic "Freedom at a Cost: Understanding the Bill of Rights": "Students will understand the relationship between rights and responsibilities in a democratic society." ･ For a geometry unit with the generative topic "Finding Out What's True: Proofs in Mathematics": "Students will develop their understanding of both inductive and deductive approaches to proving various statements (for examples, that two triangles are congruent, that two lines are parallel, and so on).” ･ For a literature unit with the generative topic "Whodunits and How They're Done": "Students will understand how authors create, develop, and sustain suspense in a plot.” ･ For a biology unit with the generative topic "The Meaning of 'Life'": "Students will understand how a biologist distinguishes between living and nonliving things.” For an instructional technology unit with the generative topic “Multimedia Presentations”: Students will understand how to apply the unique affordances of digital video and audio technology for particular content and audiences. Examples of Understanding Goals: Understanding Goals What is it important for learners to understand?

9. Designing Effective Understanding Goals Focus on understanding methods, knowledge, purposes and forms Focus on isolated information, skills or behaviors the teacher wants students to learn. Address essential aspects of GT and that knowledge is dynamic Relate lesson objectives or short- term goals to overarching goals for a unit or course Concerned about students’ enjoyment without rigor in key disciplinary ideas Lesson or unit goals not connected to purposes of study May be phrased as statements or questions or both Goals are tacit or unclear to students Invite students to generate their own goals as the unit unfolds Goals are “stagnant”--fixed and bequeathed without learner involvement Are revisited and revised as understanding evolves May not build upon learners’ prior knowledge or developmental capacities

10. Think ‘n’ Write...You and TfU What: Reflect on how you teach (or, if you don’t teach, reflect on how you have been taught). How is TfU similar to or different from your practice? Be specific and probing: Use concepts from readings and refer to the key features of the Teaching for Understanding framework. Where: “Upload Assignments” on course web site How long? 10 minutes

11. Case Work: Dynamic Earth http://gseacademic.harvard.edu/~t527 As we explore the case, note How do Shamsa’s understanding goals and dilemmas reflect ideas from the readings. Can you think of ways she might modify her goals to respond more fully to the TfU criteria for understanding goals?

12. Video Examples of Practice Divide into three groups. Each group will review one of the video clips (links are in “weekly materials” on the course web site). Discuss together and jot down notes on the following: Identify the lesson or unit topic—is it generative? Identify a possible target of difficulty Frame 2 or 3 understanding goals that might relate to the example. Be prepared to explain what criteria you used to identify GT, ToD and UGs Is this example of practice a good example of TfU? Why or why not?

13. Tech Tip: Using the CCDT Message Board

14. Preparing for October 12 Class Review project guidelines 1. Write a one or two page proposal for your project in the discussion thread called “Project Proposals.” (Watch for comments on your project proposal later in the week.) 2. In the CCDT design you started last week, draft understanding goals for your project BY MONDAY 0CT 2. 3. Complete the readings for next week. 4. After you have done the reading, in the course discussion find the prompt called "Technology Ideas." Brainstorm about new technologies that you think might support the UGs you have devised for your project. Refer to the readings as you describe your reasons for considering those technologies. 5. Read others' posts and feel free to comment or offer suggestions.