Starting this reading assignment, I thought that I had a pretty good understanding of what Understanding by Design meant. I had assumed that the definition of this concept would somewhat be like the students would understand the material after careful design of lessons. I was only thinking about the concept on the surface and not really digging down deep to understand what the two major concepts, understanding and design, really meant when creating the units for the classroom. I found that understandings are specific insights, inferences, or conclusions about a big idea or picture that the teacher wants the students to take away from the classroom. When thinking about design, I learned that is about how the lessons are created last when planning a unit. The design aspect really is described better when looking at Backwards Design. The first chapter I read was about the concept of Backwards Design. The stages are simple: 1. Identify desired results 2. Determine acceptable evidence, and 3. Plan learning experiences and instruction. Usually, teachers start with the lessons and then apply them to the overall curriculum goal or outcome. But with Backwards design, it is the opposite where the goals are addressed first and then the lesson plans are made from what goals need to be met.
Even in my 406 class, this backwards design was never talked
about. We were taught to start with the lesson plans and then work our way up
to results and assessments. This concept made me stop and think about the pros
and cons for each of the unit designs. Which one would really impact my students
better? Which one would help me better organize and focus the lessons to the
important aspects that need to be understood by the students? I found that I
was thinking a lot about the Backwards Design and how it would be more
conducive to the learning that needed to take place.
One part that I found interesting that all three
readings touch upon was about understanding what part of the curriculum are important
concepts that had to be taught. They separated all of the information from the
curriculum into three circles: worth being familiar with, important to know and
do, and “enduring” understanding. From all of my previous instruction about
curriculum, I was never really given a way to separate the curriculum in a way
that was easy to understand for teaching purposes. This graph helps me
understand that not everything in the curriculum needs to be in the “enduring”
category, and instead only be touched up during the lessons.
I enjoyed reading about the Understanding by Design concept.
By learning about all these different techniques for creating lessons and
figuring out goals for the classroom, I think that teachers can have higher
performance and more directed teaching for the students. Teachers should always
be implementing new ways to create lessons so that the students can get the
most out of them, and with the is type of unit structure the teachers can
better see where the focus needs to be set in the lessons.
I would love to see /hear your pros and cons list, because this is a new topic for me as well. It almost seems obvious to start from the goals and work up from there, but why don't teachers usually structure their lessons this way? I am as confused as you are! I like that you added the chart on your blog, because it just solidified your point that not everything has to be "enduring" in every lesson. I think its funny that we constantly talk about planning lessons for the students, but we haven't covered backwards design until now. If teachers can structure lessons in a way that students will stay focused and interested, then perfect! Let's do it!
ReplyDeleteHi Laura! When reading your post, I was also reminded of my previous education classes. In 406, something I took away is that assessments and objectives need to aligned. I believe that working backwards can be really advantageous when working towards this alignment.
ReplyDeleteI also liked the graphic that you included, and it reminded of building a students schema. I think of schema like a big spider web, with a big idea in the center, and lots of other threads connecting and spinning out from there. I believe that this graphic speaks to that concept. If there is a strong enduring concept, even the items 'worth being familiar with' are more likely to stick and impact student learning.
Before reading this I had never been taught the Backwards Design. It sort of reminded me of how teachers write objectives because we have a goal of what we want our students to know, or do, etc. I think this method can be very useful because creating the assessments first can give the teacher some guidelines on what to teach and how much to emphasize on each topic. The diagram used (the one you also included) can allow the teacher to organize topics based on how well the students should know it. It creates a lot of work for the teacher planning the unit but eliminates the work in the end. I think it will also allow for the teacher to plan lessons according to how important it is for the student to know the material. I agree with you and think that teachers should use different methods to see which are most successful. I think I would use this method, would you?
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