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Nanci Smith Ph.D., ASCD Faculty Member | [email protected]| www.ascd.org© 2017 by Nanci N Smith.
Understanding By Design
Transfer is the long-term goal
It reveals understanding and the point of
schooling
Authentic application
Meaningful learning &
authentic application
enhances motivation
Students fail to apply,
poor tests results
Backward Design
Effective plans are
purposeful and
well-aligned
Activity and
coverage-oriented
teaching
Learners less engaged,
display minimum-
compliance attitudes
UbD big idea Why important? If not…
Focus on understandingthe “big ideas”
Helps students make connections (“cognitive velcro”)
Learning can be
fragmented and
less focused
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Two Big Ideas of UbD
3 stages of
Backward Design
Teach & Assess for
Understanding
A “guaranteed and viable curriculum is the #1 school-level factor impacting student achievement.”
-Robert Marzano, What Works in Schools
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✦What is worth understanding?
Essential Questions about Understanding
✦What is understanding? How will we know that students really understand?
✦ How might we better anticipate and address predictable student misunderstandings?
✦Why are the best curriculum designs “backward”?
✦ How might we “work smarter”in curriculum design?
✦ How shall we “walk the talk”and apply design standards to our own work ?
Essential Questions about Understanding
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“BACKWARD” DESIGN LOGIC
Think like anassessor, not an activity designer!
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1. Identify desired results
2. Determine acceptable evidence
3. Plan learning experiences & instruction
3 STAGES OF (“BACKWARD”) DESIGN
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Figure B.1
The UbD Template, Version 2.0
Stage 1—Desired Results
Established Goals
What content standards and
program- or mission-related
goal(s) will this unit address?
What habits of mind and cross-
disciplinary goal(s)—for example,
21st century skills, core compe-
tencies—will this unit address?
Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to . . .
What kinds of long-term independent accomplishments are desired?
Meaning
UNDERSTANDINGS
Students will understand that . . .
What specifi cally do you want students to understand?
What inferences should they make?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Students will keep considering . . .
What thought-provoking questions will foster inquiry, meaning-
making, and transfer?
Acquisition
Students will know . . .
What facts and basic concepts should students know and be
able to recall?
Students will be skilled at . . .
What discrete skills and processes should students be able to
use?
© 2011 by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
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Stage 2—Evidence
CodeEvaluative
Criteria
Are all desired
results being
appropriately
assessed?
What criteria
will be used in
each assess-
ment to evalu-
ate attainment
of the desired
results?
Regardless
of the format
of the assess-
ment, what
qualities
are most
important?
PERFORMANCE TASK(S):
Students will show that they really understand by evidence of . . .
How will students demonstrate their understanding (meaning-making and transfer) through complex performance?
OTHER EVIDENCE:
Students will show they have achieved Stage 1 goals by . . .
What other evidence will you collect to determine whether Stage 1 goals were achieved?
Figure B.1
The UbD Template, Version 2.0 (continued)
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Stage 3—Learning Plan
Code What pre-assessments will you use to check student’s prior knowledge,
Pre-Assessment
skill levels, and potential misconceptions?
What’s the goal
for (or type of)
each learning
event?
Learning Events
Student success at transfer, meaning, and acquisition depends upon . . .
• Are all three types of goals (acquisition, meaning, and transfer) addressed in the learning plan?
• Does the learning plan refl ect principles of learning and best practices?
• Is there tight alignment with Stages 1 and 2?
• Is the plan likely to be engaging and effective for all students?
Progress
Monitoring
• How will you monitor students’ progress
toward acquisition, meaning, and transfer,
during lesson events?
• What are potential rough spots and
student misunderstandings?
• How will students get the feedback they
need?
Figure B.1
The UbD Template, Version 2.0 (continued)
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THE UBD TEMPLATE
fosters alignment:
✔ content standards
✔ ‘big ideas’
✔ essential questions
✔ assessments
✔ learning activities
3 Stages of Backward Design
1. Identify desired results.
2. Determine acceptable evidence.
3. Plan learning experiences & instruction.
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STAGE 1: A GLANCE
o Transfer: The independent use and application of information in novel situations –
o Meaning: Making sense of learned information
o Acquisition: “Getting” the basic information
Stage 1 – Identify desired results.
Consists of 5 components:transfer goalsestablished goalsunderstandingsessential questions knowledge and skills
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“Unpack” Content StandardsConsider: What “big ideas” are
embedded within the standards?
content standards
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Major Concepts and SubconceptsThese are the written statements of truth, the core to the meaning(s) of the lesson(s) or unit.
It is through the understanding component of instruction that we teach our students to truly grasp the “point” of the lesson or the experience.
Understandings are purposeful. They focus on the key ideas that require students to understand information and make connectionswhile evaluating the relationships that exist within the understandings.
Understandings show what the mathematician values or reasons about within a context.
A STUDENT WHO UNDERSTANDS SOMETHING CAN…
o Explain it clearly, giving examples
o Use it
o Compare and contrast it with other concepts
o Relate it to other instances in the subject studies, other subjects and personal life experiences
o Transfer it to unfamiliar settings
o Discover the concept embedded within a novel problem
o Combine it appropriately with other understandings
o Pose new problems that exemplify or embody the concept
o Create analogies, models, metaphors, symbols, or pictures of the concept
o Pose and answer “what-if” questions that alter variables in a problematic situation
o Generate questions and hypotheses that lead to new knowledge and further inquiries
o Generalize from specifics to form a concept
o Use the knowledge to appropriately assess his or her performance, or that of someone else.Adopted from Barell, J. (1995) Teaching for thoughtfulness: Classroom Strategies
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MATTERS OF UNDERSTANDING
✔ big ideas or core processes at the“heart” of the discipline
✔“enduring” - lasting value beyond the classroom
✔ transferable to other topics and inquiries
✔ require “uncoverage”
2 TYPES OF UNDERSTANDINGS
• Overarching - Great artists often breakwith established traditions, conventions and techniques to better express what they see and feel.
• Topical - Impressionist artists used novel painting techniques to represent everyday life. They used color, light, and shadow to convey the impression of reflected light at a particular moment.
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◆ State the desired understandings as a full-sentence, specific generalization (the “moral of the story”).
◆ Don’t just specify the topic to be taught, but the understandings to be acquired.
FRAMING UNDERSTANDINGS
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Understandings...n Great artists often break with conventions to better
express what they see and feel.n Price is a function of supply and demand.n Friendships can be deepened or undone by hard timesn History is the story told by the “winners”n F = ma (weight is not mass)n Might does not make rightn Math models simplify physical relations – and even
sometimes distort relations – to deepen our understanding of them
n The storyteller rarely tells the meaning of the story
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Scope of understandings
n Begin understandings with: students will understand that:
n Overarching (Program, year, or multiple units):n “Artists constantly break rules to help us see and
feel anew”n Topical (Unit specific):
n The Impressionists broke the rules of the Academy to make us see the real play of light on objects and people
n Hip-hop and rap music strip songs of melody to make the words more rhythmic and memorable.
U
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Sample Large Understandingsn Overarching (large in scope) Understandings
highlight the recurring & transferable ‘big’ ideas in a subjectn English: Constant reflection on audience and
purpose is key to effective writing and speakingn Math: Much of math involves a modeling cycle:
n using abstractions to represent things, n manipulating the abstractions via logical
rules,n checking how well results match the original
thing (from AAAS Science Literacy Atlas)
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Samples Understandings in HistoryOverarching (for year or program) from a Standardn SWUT civilizations leave legacies to help us understand
our past and create our present and future.
Topical (Unit on Greek Civilization) From a Benchmark or grade level expectation
n SWUT that the Greek contribution to the arts including architecture continue to influence artists and architects throughout western civilization.
n SWUT that the Greek form of a republican government became a factor in creating democracies throughout the world.
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n You have to ask questions of a text to make meaning of it
n Open up space when you do not have the ball, to create offensive opportunities.
n Persuasion rarely depends upon logical reasoning; it is often an appeal to emotions
n Any discrepant data may represent an error or it may represent a vital new insight
n Science isolates key variables and controls for them; it is not meant to be constant trial and error
Understandings Embedded in Skills
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UNDERSTANDING PRESUMES
KNOWLEDGE . . .Knowledge does
not presume understanding!
WRITING UNDERSTANDINGS
o Begin with the stem, “Students will understand THAT…”
o Explain the “why or so what” about the learning
o Are not just truisms are statements of facts by definition (e.g., triangles have three sides)
o Do not use the phrase, “Students will understand how to…” this would be a skill.
o Do not use the phrase, “Students will understand why…”
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Essential Questions
n What questions –n are arguable - and important to argue about? n are at the heart of the subject?n recur - and should recur - in professional work, adult
life, as well as in classroom inquiry? n raise more questions – provoking and sustaining
engaged inquiry?n often raise important conceptual or philosophical
issues?n can provide purpose for learning?
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Sample Essential Questions:n Is the market “rational”?n Does a good read differ from a ‘great book’?
Why are some books fads, and others classics?
n To what extent is geography destiny? n How important is the past?n Shouldn’t an axiom be obvious?n Is a scientific theory (evolution, Big Bang)
more than a plausible opinion?n What is the government’s proper role?
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Scope of Essential Questions
Overarching: For program, year or multiple units frequently from Standardsn “In nature, do only the strong survive
- and what do we mean by ‘strong’”?n “Why leave home?”
Topical: For specific unit topics from GLE’sn “How strong are insects?”n “Why did the easterners leave home
for the West?”
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Sample Essential Questions for Language Arts
Overarchingn How do authors express their thoughts and
feelings? (For program, year, or multiple units)
Topical (for a unit on writer’s voice)
n What is writer’s voice?n What techniques do writers use to create
voice?n How can I develop an identifiable voice in my
writing?
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Factual Knowledgeincludes...§ vocabulary/ terminology
§ definitions
§ key factual information
§ critical details
§ important events and people
§ sequence/timeline
include...§ basic skills - e.g., decoding, drawing § communication skills - e.g., listening,
speaking, writing§ thinking skills - e.g., comparing
§ study skills - e.g., note taking
§ interpersonal, group skills
Skills
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KNOW (Facts,Vocabulary, Definitions)
o Definitions of Plot, Character, etc.
o The trig derivatives
o How to diagram a sentence
o Latitude and Longitude
o Key vocabulary: Union, Confederacy, Slavery, Emancipation…
o The organization of the Periodic Table of Elements
o How to graph
Three-Minute Pause
Meet in groups of 3 - 5 to...summarize key points.add your own thoughts. pose clarifying questions.
√√√
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3 Stages of Backward Design
1. Identify desired results.
2. Determine acceptable evidence.
3. Plan learning experiences & instruction.
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THINK LIKE AN ASSESSOR– NOT A DESIGNER
Design assessments beforeyou design lessons and activities. Be clear about what evidence of learning you seek.
Think “Photo Album” vs. “Snapshot”
Sound assessment requires multiple sources of evidence, collected over time.
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GATHER EVIDENCE FROM A RANGE OF ASSESSMENTS
✔ authentic tasks and projects✔ academic exam questions,
prompts, and problems✔ quizzes and test items✔ informal checks for understanding ✔ student self-assessments
CHECK FOR ALIGNMENT – CODING!!
Performance Task
Other Evidence
Performance Task(s):
valid assessment demands alignmentamong:✔ content standards
✔ understandings
✔ performance task(s)
✔ other evidence
UnderstandingsContent Standards
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Important Distinction!
Sideline drills Playing the Game
Practicing and testing• discrete skills• de-contextualized
Requires “putting it all together”• authentic• contextualized
KEY VALIDITY QUESTIONS:
1. Could the performance be accomplished (or the test passed) without in-depth understanding?
2. Could the specific performance be poor, but the student still understand the key ideas?
o Then the proposed performance task/test o will yield INVALID inferences!
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DESIGNING TASK SCENARIOS
◆ What is the goal in the scenario?
◆ What is your role?
◆ Who is the audience?
◆ What is your situation (context)?
◆ What products/performances will you prepare?
◆ By what standards (criteria) will your work be judged?
G
R
A
S
P
S
SOCIAL STUDIES SCENARIO EXAMPLE FOR AN AUTHENTIC PERFORMANCE TASKo Your goal is to determine why the urban riots of the
late 60's happened. You are one of many august members of an LBJ appointed panel, the KernerCommission, who must report to the president and the country on why the violence happened and what can be done about it.
o You will produce a collective report that must be thoughtful, thorough, and clearly presented. Your personal contribution will be judged through journal entries, observations of work and discussion, and sections of writing you produce.
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GRASPS FOR WESTWARD MOVEMENT
o G-Demonstrate understanding of life on the prairie and the westward movement for early American pioneers
o R- you are a museum director responsible for displays and artifacts of life on the prairie
o A-museum goerso S-As part of the display, you must gather artifacts,
pictures, and diary entries, depicting a week in the life of a family of settlers living on the prairie.
o P- various products representing the hardships, challenges, courage, and ingenuity of pioneers including pioneer children.
o S-completeness and accuracy of display, use of varied resources. Individual work and group work evaluated
ASSESSMENT TASK
o Create a museum display, including artifacts, pictures, and diary entries, depicting a week in the life of a family of settlers living on the prairie.
o The display should also include a “map of the settlement” and a description of how the geography of the region impacted the settlement. A written or oral explanation will provide students the opportunity to demonstrate how their museum display expresses their understanding of the Westward Movement.
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ASSESSMENT TASK
o This task will address understandings in the unit posed through the following questions: How does a week in the life show the courage, ingenuity, and collaboration of the pioneers? How does the reality of life differ from what was expected? How does the display depict the “Pioneer Spirit?”
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3 Stages of Backward Design
1. Identify desired results.
2. Determine acceptable evidence.
3. Plan learning experiences & instruction.
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BEST DESIGN EXERCISE
What was the best-designed learning experience you ever encountered? Focus on the design (the tasks, goals, methods, sequence, resources used, assessments, etc.) – not your interests or the talents of the teacher.
“Best” = the design resulted in highly engaged and effective learning.
Teaching and Learning for Understanding
Acquireimportant knowledge and skills
Make Meaningof “big ideas”
Transfer learning to new situations
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MOST COMMON ACQUISITION STRATEGIES
• Lectures
• Demonstrations
• Readings
• Videos
• Guest Speakers
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MORE ACQUISITION STRATEGIES
• Present unit and/or lesson goals, schedule, and expectations for performance.
• Show models and exemplars for expected products and performances.
• Help students acquire basic information and skills through explicit instruction and question and answer and modeling.
• Give some short form of diagnostic assessment or pre-assessment about concepts, knowledge, or skills related to the unit or lesson topic.
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ENHANCE DIRECT INSTRUCTION THROUGH:
• Discussion partners
• Processing time (10-2 wait time)
• Written outlines
• Graphic organizers
• Listening logs
• Interactive notebooks
• Signal cards
• Assessing Prior Knowledge
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MAKING MEANING
We can learn content but not ‘understand’ its meaning or use it wisely.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of different representations of functions?
If I have only acquired the facts, I have no good answer to the question (unless I answer completely by a script, but then any questions put to me leave me speechless).
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“R” = REFLECT, RETHINK, REVISE AND REFINE
o How will you cause students to reflect & rethink to dig deeper into the core ideas? o How will you guide students in revising and refining their work based on feedback and self-assessment?
RETHINKING MOVES...
shift perspective
play Devil’s advocate
conduct research
argue/debate
examine alternatives
exploreweaknesses
Rethink
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INSTRUCTION THAT SUPPORTS ACTIVE CONSTRUCTION OF MEANING:
© Nanci Smith and Janie Ray Smith. 2012
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Problem-Based Learning
Socratic Seminar
Reciprocal Teaching
Questioning & probing
Concept attainment activities
Use of analogies
Understanding notebooks
Rethinking and reflection promptsClassroom Strategies That Work, R. Marzano
TYPICAL MEANING MAKING STRATEGIESTHAT SUPPORT TRANSFERo Identifying Similarities and Differences
o Summarizing and Note Taking
o Nonlinguistic Representations
o Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers
o Generating Hypotheseso From A Handbook of Classroom Instruction that Works. Robert Marzano, et
al. ASCD
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o How should I apply my prior facts, skills, and ideas effectively in this particular situation?
o The situation must be new and uncharted.
o The goal is independent transfer.
Transfer
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VERBS FOR TMA
Acquisition Meaning Making TransferApprehend Analyze AdaptCalculate Compare AdjustDefine Contrast ApplyDiscern Critique CreateIdentify Defend / Prove / Verify DesignMemorize Explain / Translate InnovateNotice Evaluate / Test Perform EffectivelyParaphrase Generalize Self-AssessPlug in Interpret Solve (Depends on Context)Recall Justify / Support Trouble ShootState SummarizeSelect Synthesize
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Performance Task: Making the Grade
Your math teacher will allow you to select the measure of central tendency (i.e., mean, median or mode) by which your quarterly grade will be calculated.
Review your grades for quizzes, tests, and homework to decide which measure of central tendency will be best for your situation. Write a note to your teacher explaining why you selected that method.
EVALUATE THE EXPERIENCE
Below is a link to ASCD’s Professional Learning Evaluation. We encourage all participants to complete the online evaluation at the
conclusion of the workshop. All responses will be anonymously reported to ASCD.
www.ascd.org/ascdpleval
Session PIN = NNS3
Thank you for taking the time to honestly evaluate the program. The results we receive help us to improve the quality of services we
provide.