Understanding by Design grant wiggins

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Understanding by Designgrant wiggins jay
mctighe

• Chapter 10
• Teaching For Understanding

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Understanding, n., - The act of one who
understands something, in any sense of the verb
knowledge discernmentcomprehension
interpretation explanation. - Webster's
Revised Unabridged Dictionary

• Design, v., - To have purposes and intentions
• to plan and execute
• - Oxford English Dictionary

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Backward Design, n., an approach to designing a
unit that begins with the end in mind and designs
toward that end. - Higgins McTighe
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Stage 1 Identify Desired Results Consid
er goals, big ideas identify the targeted
understandings
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Stage 2 Determine Acceptable Evidence
Think in terms of Assessments to document and
validate understanding NOT Content to be covered
or Learning activities
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Stage 3 Plan Learning Experiences Instruction
Teaching is a means to an end
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Based on what we know What is the teachers
classroom role in helping students understand ?
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It is not teaching that causes learning
Understanding is the result of the learner
successfully making sense of the teaching.
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How can we, as teachers, uncover our ideas
through well-designed learning experiences?
The goal is to make an idea accessible and real
to the students, regardless of the teaching
methods.
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This sentence appears, in passing, unexplained,
as part of the account of the Revolutionary War
in a commonly used U.S. textbook
Washington had the daring to put his patriots
to good use , too, as he broke the rules of war
by ordering a surprise attack on the enemy in
their winter quarters.
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Nothing more is said regarding the rules of war.
Great classroom discussion points How can
there be rules for all-out battles to the
death? And if surprise attacks were something
wrong, how did soldiers normally fight? And why?
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Possible essential questions

• Is all fair in war?
• How can we be sure that we arent being
  hypocritical when we judge such events?
• What rules exist and by what authority?
• Have these rules (and crimes) changes over
  time?
• What happens (or should happen) when the
  rules are broken?
• Is war crime a legitimate moral idea or a
  contradiction in terms just the vengeance of
  the victor on the loser?

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TEXTBOOKS easily hide the big questions, the
issues, the history of the ideas, and the
inquiries that led to what we know
The very process needed by the learner to come to
an understanding !!!
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Textbooks
How do we use them?
Should we use them?
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• Uncoverer
• of student misunderstandings and
• persistent performance errors through artful
  experiences and discussions

Teacher

• Mistakes are
• not avoidable or shameful
• key episodes in gaining
• understanding

Student
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Usefulness of CFU exercises Periodic Assessments
Create situations where students ask questions,
develop strategies for solving problems, and
communicate with one another explaining their
answers and discussing how they arrive at their
conclusions
Assessing understanding through discussion,
projects, or tests that demand explanation and
extended writing . Therefore incorporating ELAs.
Value of self assessment Through the use of
Rubrics
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Consider this Teacher as coach More a guide
assessor than a giver of information
Authentic intellectual work involves original
application of knowledge and skills, rather than
just routine use of facts procedures.
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Understanding develops as a result of ongoing
inquiry and rethinking.
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I hear, I forget.I see, I remember.I do, I
understand.- Chinese Proverb
I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to
provide the conditions in which they can
learn. - Albert
Einstein
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The big picture of a Backward Design approach
Key Design Question Design Construction Filters(Design Criteria) What the Final Design Accomplishes
Stage 1  What is worthy and requiring of understanding? National Standards.State Standards.PGCPS Standards.Regional topic opportunities.Teacher expertise and interest. - Enduring ideas- Opportunities for authentic, discipline-based work.- Uncoverage- Engaging.   Unit framed around enduring understandings and essential questions.
Stage 2  What is evidence of understanding? Six facets of understanding.Continuum of assessment types. - Valid- Reliable.- Sufficient.- Authentic work.- Feasible.- Student friendly   Unit anchored in credible and educationally vital evidence of the desired understandings.
Stage 3  What learning experiences and teaching promote understanding, interest, and excellence? Research-based repertoire of learning teaching strategies.Essential enabling knowledge and skill. - WHERE is it going?- Hook the students.- Explore and equip.- Rethink and revise.- Exhibit and evaluate.   Coherent learning experiences and teaching that will evoke and develop the desired understandings, promote interest, and make excellent performance more likely.