understanding by design: unit development presented by: judi allen october, 2015 1

Understanding by Design: Unit Development

Presented by: Judi Allen

October, 2015

1

Why are we here?

What do you want your students to remember about your class ten, twenty years from now?

ASCD Allen Parish 2010; Rye and Herold

2

Desired Results• Explore backward design principles

and common misunderstandings about design;

• Identify desired results for unit of study and draft a complete unit to include an assessment and learning plan;

• Review unit of study applying design standards

ASCD Allen Parish 2010; Rye and Herold 3


To Raise Student AchievementDistrict Goal:

How do we do this?Research shows

a guaranteed and viable curriculum is the #1 school-level factor impacting student achievement.

--Marzano, What Works in Schools

A Definition

“the course to be run”

Curriculum = a plan to achieve designated goals

Curriculum ≠ a list of topics and related activities


Standards are not curriculum

“These Standards do not dictate curriculum or teaching methods.”

- - The Common Core Standards


Standards are notcurriculum

“Consider an analogy with home building and renovation: The standards are like the building code. Architects and builders must attend to them but they are not the purpose of their design…


The house to be built or renovated is designed to meet the needs of the client in a functional and pleasing manner– while also meeting the building code along the way.”! ! !

-- Wiggins and McTighe!

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Need to “Unpack” the Content

Consider: What are the “big ideas” embedded within the standards?


Content

Standardsbig ideas??

+What the research says

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“Research on expertise suggests that a superficial coverage of many topics in the domain may be a poor way to help students develop the competencies that will prepare them for future learning and work.”

-- Bransford, How People Learn

+From the Agriculture Age to the Conceptual Age

Affluence, Technology, Globalization

18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century

Agricultural Age (farmers)

Industrial Age(factory workers)

Information Age (knowledge worker)

Conceptual Age(creators and empathizers)

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.clipartguide.com/_named_clipart_images/0511-0903-2002-4321_Farmer_Using_a_Pitchfork_to_Move_Hay_clipart_image.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.clipartguide.com/_pages/0511-0903-2002-4321.html&h=350&w=328&sz=80&tbnid=73D4xJZqsmQyuM:&tbnh=120&tbnw=112&prev=/images?q=clip+art+farmer&usg=__aYekmP37sXxAO5wzSEXFSLSxvE0=&sa=X&ei=SgYZTP9opZKcB8P45dQK&ved=0CB4Q9QEwBA

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.clipartguide.com/_named_clipart_images/0511-0901-0904-4511_Industrial_Factory_Polluting_the_Air_clipart_image.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.clipartguide.com/_pages/0511-0901-0904-4511.html&h=253&w=350&sz=55&tbnid=2o40pk9x9fxVpM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=120&prev=/images?q=clip+art+industrial&usg=__L-DI_5FnVz7qyNhVqWAU4dfify4=&sa=X&ei=hgYZTJKXBpjonQe8sOG7Cg&ved=0CCwQ9QEwBA

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.barnstable.k12.ma.us/Cotuit/images/computer_clipart.gif&imgrefurl=http://columbus-angilberto.trip0d.eu/10050500/technology-clip-art/&h=511&w=490&sz=9&tbnid=oEfWL18Zm7-zzM:&tbnh=229&tbnw=220&prev=/images?q=clip+art+technology&hl=en&usg=__tuRB999eIsiKCxWbCwjK6H74ZVA=&sa=X&ei=1wYZTNe0B4OGnAfW8rXBCg&ved=0CBoQ9QEwAA

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cascadewellnessclinic.com/GRAPHICS/2ARTGFX/03ARTGFX/Brain-clip-art.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.cascadewellnessclinic.com/articles/2003art/0311art.shtml&h=211&w=252&sz=9&tbnid=mW1DLSnQyEU61M:&tbnh=93&tbnw=111&prev=/images?q=clip+art+brain&hl=en&usg=__397C5uhB0hjtI_nksTD8v-uhwYM=&sa=X&ei=RAcZTJSfBdnsnQeC79jFCg&ved=0CBoQ9QEwAQ

+ Are we developing. . .

communicators . . .

leaders . . .

creators . . .

critical thinkers . . .

self-directed workers?


+Really Ready to Work? EMPLOYERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON THE

BASIC KNOWLEDGE AND APPLIEDSKILLS OF NEW ENTRANTS TO THE 21ST CENTURY (2009)


+Partnership for 21st Century Core Themes and skills

THEMES: Global Awareness Financial, economic, business, and entrepreneurial

literacy Civic literacy, Health and environmental literacy

SKILLS: Creativity and Innovation Information, Media, and Technology Skills Life and Career Skills


Three-Minute Pause

1. What is understanding? Share your response with a

partner

2. Summarize key points

3. Pose clarifying questions


What is Understanding?

Understanding big ideas make meaning of the learning and permit transfer Transfer is the key evidence of understanding (or

lack of it)

Good design best done “backward” from the desired

understanding Given the understanding we seek, we ask: what

follows for assessment and for student learning?


What does understanding as a goal require - ‘Designs’ - our planning? Learning and teaching activities? Assessment and feedback to learners?

How do we achieve understanding by design vs.‘ good fortune’?

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What is ‘understanding’?- really ‘getting it’?


Three stages of UbD


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1. Identify desired results

2. Determine acceptable evidence

3. Plan learning experiences & instruction

Three stages of UbD (backward Design)


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1.What should students be able to DO with their learning?

2. What IS valid evidence of ability to meet the long-term transfer goal?

3. What learning experiences & instruction do students need to get there?

Typically:


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1. Identify content to be acquired

2. Brainstorm lessons to teach the content

3. Create an assessment to

judge if students learned the content

Without checking for alignment

Without checking for alignment


UbD Template

Three stages of backward design





Stage 1: Desired results


Stage 1 - Desired Results

Understanding(s): Essential Question(s):

Transfer Goals

Students will know and be able to do:

• Insights students earn that will transfer to new learning

• Inquiry students pursue to earn insights and develop proficiency

• Content priorities for the unit / course / subject• Students will be accountable to demonstrate in their work• Key vocabulary concepts

• Demonstrates how unit will embody system expectations

Worth being familiar with

Important to

know & do

Big ideas & Understandin

gs

Establishing Priorities: From “Big Ideas” to Understandings

“Big ideas”worth

exploring and understanding

in depth

Foundational knowledge & skill

Nice to know


Key protests of Civil Rights Movement

Analyze effects of landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions such as

Brown v. Board of Education

Conflict creates change



in depth


Nice to know


U.S. II.25Analyze the origins, goals, and key events of the Civil Rights Movement. (H)

Task: Identify standard(s) in your content area Choose a unit for your work todayO Identify standard(s) from the ELA &

literacy framework for Social Studies & Science or Massachusetts Technology Literacy Standards and Expectations for Art, Music, Foreign Language curriculum framework or Comprehensive Health Curriculum Framework

Begin to design stage 1

Design Standards for Understandings

Big ideas at the heart of the discipline

Requires “uncoverage” A full-sentence specifying what we

want students to come to understand about the big idea

MeasurableLasting value beyond the classroomASCD Allen Parish 2010; Rye and Herold 28

Designing with Essential Questions

O More question-based, problem-based, and challenge-based design: as opposed to content-based design

O Moving away from the textbook as syllabus: to the textbook as resource, in support of understanding-focused goals

O More like athletics, art: complex performances of transfer that require the inferences and the content

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Design Standards for Essential Questions

Align with understandings

Provoke genuine inquiryEncourage transfer


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Is this an Essential Question?

O What are the elements of writing?

O How do you find the mean?

O To what extent can you lie with statistics?

O What are the causes of the Civil War?

O Why read old books?

O To what extent can we predict the future?

Sample essential questionsEnglish Language Arts/Arts/Music

What does a reader bring to a text?How do you write so other people can understand what you are trying to say?What is the speaker trying to communicate? How does the delivery influence my response?How do the visual materials send messages?Can fiction reveal truth? Should a story teach you something?What roles does music play in the world?Where do artists/writers g e t their ideas?How does art/literature reflect, as well as shape, culture?


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Sample essential questions


33

Science

How do you know something is alive?

Are we destined to become our parents?

How is this system designed to handle change?

Sample essential questions


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Social Studies

What story do maps tell?What makes a community work?How do the stories we tell shape who we are?To what extent can one person change the world?

How the big ideas hang togetherSample from a teacher’s draft


Big Idea Understanding

s

Essential Questions

Cultural voice / heritage

A group’s identity is defined by a shared system of beliefs and practices.

•How does family influence who we are? Who we become?•What makes a group powerful?•What do we learn about a group/culture by the stories they tell?

knowledge and skills

. . .assist students in gaining

understanding AND

in illustrating their understanding


Content—Knowledge--Skills


Design Standards for Knowledge and Skills

What students should know Appropriate given the unit focus,

assessments, and time allotted Succinctly stated

What students should be able to do Appropriate given the unit focus,

assessments, and time allotted Choice of verb indicates performance

expectation


Identifying key knowledge and skills


Knowledge:• __________________• __________________• __________________• __________________• __________________• __________________• __________________

Skills:• __________________• __________________• __________________• __________________• __________________• __________________• __________________

Given the targeted content standards and understandings,

what will students need to know and be able to do?

Factual knowledge


includes... - vocabulary/ terminology*- definitions - key factual information- critical details- important events and people- sequence/timeline

Skills


includes... basic skills - e.g., decoding, drawingcommunication skills - e.g., listening, speaking, writingresearch/inquiry/ investigation skillsthinking skills - e.g., comparing, problem solving, decision makingstudy skills - e.g., note takinginterpersonal, group skills

The understandings are declarative statements that demand exploration.

The essential questions engage students and guide them to understanding.

Stage 1 truly centers on understanding.

Knowledge and skills align with and are appropriate for the understandings.

Self-assessment of Stage One:4-3-2-1





Three stages of UbD


Desired results for Stage 2

The purpose of assessment is to provide reliable and authentic evidence of understanding and transfer.

Assessment not only measures student performance, it motivates it.

If you value the desired result, learners deserve accessible opportunities to demonstrate learning.


How to Assess TargetsThe photo album versus the snapshot

How to Assess TargetsThe photo album versus the snapshot.

Recognizing the limits of testing

“Evaluation is a complex, multi-faceted process. Different tests provide different information, and no single test can give a complete picture of a student’s academic development.

-- from CTB/McGraw-Hill Terra Nova Test Manual


49

Stage 2: Assessment Plan


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Stage 2 - Assessment Evidence

Curriculum Embedded Performance Assessment :Other Evidence:

Performance taskProducts / Performances

Academic Prompts

-All other forms of assessment

Quizzes, tests, prompts, work samplesObservationsStudent self-assessment

Stage 2: Assessment Plan


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Stage 2 - Assessment Evidence

Transfer Task(s): Other Evidence:

Determine types of assessment

(Formative)

Summative

Determine types of assessment

Diagnostic

Formative

Summative

Worth being familiar with

Important toknow & do

Big ideas &Enduring

Understandings



in depth


Nice to know

Traditional quizzes & tests

Paper/pencilSelected-responseConstructed response

Performance tasks & projects

ComplexOpen endedAuthentic


Designing performance tasks

• Goal

•Role

•Audience

•Situation

•Product/Performance

•Standards


G

R

A

S

P

S

Is the task relevant?Connected to the classroom — demonstration/extension of what was learnedConnected to the real world — work that professionals in the field would doConnected to student’s life — Connected to capacity — students have clarity on what is expected from them and the necessary skills / knowledge to be successful


Do students have the ability to be successful?

O Assess before teachingO Offer appropriate choicesO Provide feedback early and often O Encourage self-assessment and goal

settingO Allow new evidence of achievement to

replace old evidence


Do You:

O Is there a range of assessments as opposed to a single task/test (photo album vs. snapshot)?

O Could a student be successful on the assessment package without truly understanding?

O Could the student understand and not be successful on the assessment package?


Review Standards—Stage Two:

Three stages of UbD





Stage 3: Learning Plan


Stage 3 - Learning Plan

• Design a set of learning experiences that fosters understanding and transfer.

Stage two planning is revealed in Stage three instructional design

Pre-assessment(Finding Out)

Formative Assessment(Keeping Track & Checking -up)

Summative Assessment(Making sure)

Feedback and Goal Setting

Readiness, Interests, and Learning Preferences of studentsEssential Questions[reading/writing]

Exit Cards Peer evaluation3-minute pausesVocabulary - quiz/notebooksObservationsCreating RubricsSelf-evaluationJournals - Essential Questions+

Performance TaskAcademic PromptPortfolio


Where are we headed? How will the student be ‘hooked’?

What opportunities will there be to be equipped, experienced, and explore key ideas?

What will provide opportunities to rethink, rehearse, refine and revise?

How will students evaluate their work?

How will work be tailored to individual needs, interests, styles?

How will work be organized for maximal engagement and effectiveness?


WHE

ER

TO

Teaching with misunderstandings in mind

A study of how plants make food was conducted with students from elementary school through college [to] probe understanding of the role of soil and photosynthesis in plant growth and of the primary source of food in green plants (Wandersee, 1983). . . Students from all levels displayed several misconceptions:

O Soil is the plants’ food.O Plants get their food from the roots and store it in the

leavesO Chlorophyll is the plant’s blood”

-- Bransford, How People Learn


Implications for instruction


Address predictable misunderstandings by design.

• Provide real or simulated experiences related to the desired understandings.

• Build in checks for understanding and misunderstanding along the way.

• Require students to revisit/rethink what they thought they understood.

• Final assessments should check to see if common misunderstandings have been overcome.

OAcquire Information

OConstructing Meaning

OTransfer


A M T

A fact is a fact; a skill is a skill. We acquire each in turn.

Acquisition does not yield understanding; it is necessary but not sufficient.

If I have skills and facts, it does not mean that I understand.

I cannot, however, understand without those skills and facts.


Acquire information

What do these facts imply?

When would I use this skill (or not)?

What is their sense, importance, value?


Constructing meaning

Ticket to Leave

Share… OYour topic and at least one essential question for your unit.

OOne understanding and one question you have about UbD or Stage One

Understanding by Design (Wiggins and McTighe)

Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook (Wiggins and McTighe)

Assessment for 21st Century Learning—DVD 1,2 &3

Moving Forward with Understanding by Design—DVD Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design (Tomlinson and McTighe)

Schooling by Design (Wiggins and McTighe)

Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work (Marzano)

All available at ascd.org

For more information:


©2010 by Thomas Rye and Donna Herold. All rights reserved. This handout is intended for your personal use only. Further reproduction and dissemination, in whole or part, requires the permission of the various owners as credited herein.

ASCD Publications present a variety of viewpoints. The views expressed or implied in this publication are not necessarily official positions of ASCD.

understanding by design: unit development presented by: judi allen october, 2015 1

Documents

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designascd allen parish

curriculumthese standards

big idea6 standards

century skills connection

unit developmentpresented

complete unit

viable curriculum