1. Teaching for Understanding Highlights of the Work of Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe Lynn Erickson & Others

2. Teaching for Understanding What is understanding? What does it mean to really ‘get it’? How would you explain ‘understanding’ to a new teacher or a ‘non- educator’? If that’s what understanding is, what follows? How does it impact planning (intentionally by design)? How do we achieve teaching for understanding (vs good luck, flying by the seat of our pants, etc)?

3. The big ideas of Designing for Understanding ‘Backward Design’ Transfer is the essence of ‘understanding’ & the point of schooling Understanding is meaning making not ‘taught’

4. What we typically do… Identify content to be acquired Brainstorm lessons to learn the content Create an assessment to see if they learned the content Without checking for alignment

5. Before Planning for Understanding After Planning for Understanding And

6. After Planning for Understanding

7. STAGE 1-Identify Desired Results “ Unpack” the CONTENT STANDARDS to derive the big ideas, key knowledge/skills Select/develop ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS to guide inquiry into the big ideas. Frame the big ideas as specific ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS Identify key KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS.

8. Designing for Understanding STAGE 1-Identify Desired Results STAGE 2-Determine Acceptable Evidence (assessment) STAGE 3-Learning Plan (learning experiences & instruction)

9. References and Resources Cruz, E. (2003). Bloom's revised taxonomy. In B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/bloomrev/start.htmhttp://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/Articles/bloomrev/start.htm Dalton, J. & Smith, D. (1986) Extending children’s special abilities: Strategies for primary classrooms. http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm http://www.teachers.ash.org.au/researchskills/dalton.htm Ferguson, C. (2002). Using the revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to plan and deliver team-taught, integrated, thematic units. Theory into Practice, 41(4), 239-244. Forehand, M. (2008). Bloom’s Taxonomy: From emerging perspectives on learning, teaching and technology. http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomyhttp://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy Mager, R. E. (1997). Preparing instructional objectives: A critical tool in the development of effective instruction, (3rd ed.). Atlanta, GA: The Center for Effective Performance, Inc. Pohl, Michael. (2000). Learning to think, thinking to learn: Models and strategies to develop a classroom culture of thinking. Cheltenham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow. Tarlinton (2003). Bloom’s revised taxonomy. http://www.kurwongbss.qld.edu.au/thinking/Bloom/bloomspres.ppt. http://www.kurwongbss.qld.edu.au/thinking/Bloom/bloomspres.ppt University of Illinois, Center for Teaching Excellence (2006). Bloom’s taxonomy. www.oir.uiuc.edu/Did/docs/QUESTION/quest1.htm www.oir.uiuc.edu/Did/docs/QUESTION/quest1.htm Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2005) Understanding by design. Expanded 2 nd Edition. Alexandria, Va: Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development.