Understanding by Design (Wiggins and McTighe)
An Introduction to Curriculum Design

Curriculum Writers will assist the AISD social
studies curriculum team in creating three new
curriculum documents:
◦ Yearly Itinerary
◦ GPS (Grading Period Snapshot)
◦ Curriculum Roadmap
◦ We may also ask you to finish adding lessons to the
AIMS IPG site. Please wait for confirmation from the
team regarding populating AIMS.

This work is actually quite exciting. The curriculum
design closely follows the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay
McTighe (of UBD fame) giving a clear workplan for our
instruction.

UBD—Understanding by Design
◦ Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
Start with the end—the desired results (goals and
standards)—and then derive the curriculum from the
evidence of learning (performances) called for by the
standard and the teaching needed to equip students to
perform.


Yearly Itinerary
An “overview” of
our course for the
entire year or an
entire semester.


Grading Period
Snapshot (GPS)
A document
requested by
principals which
they will use to
guide them through
your classroom
curriculum
throughout the
year.


The curriculum
roadmap contains
most of the
elements that AIMS
contains. Includes
Concepts and
Essential
Questions, as well
as the Unit, Arc and
Lesson Level.

Uses UBD language.
Curriculum
Road Map
Understanding by
Design
Identify
desired
results.
Determine
acceptable
evidence.
Begin
with the end
in mind
Plan learning
experiences and
instruction.
Big Ideas/Enduring
Understandings
Worth being
familiar with
Enduring
understandings go
beyond discrete
facts or skills to
focus on larger
concepts,
principles or
processes.
Important to
know and do
“Enduring”
understanding
Offer potential
for engaging
students
These are the concepts
that will anchor the
course. These are the
important ideas that we
want student to “get
inside of” and retain
after they’ve forgotten
many of the details.
They reside at the
“heart” of the discipline.
Big Ideas/Enduring
Understandings





These questions guide our teaching and engage
students in uncovering the important ideas at the
heart of each subject.
These questions cannot be answered satisfactorily
in one sentence.
These questions are multilayered and provocative
and they reveal the richness and complexities of a
subject.
These questions should be asked over and over.
These questions raise other important questions.

Must a story have a moral,
heroes and villains?



Who is a friend?

Is U.S. History a history of
progress
Essential Question
What is the moral of the story
of the Holocaust?
Is Huck Finn a hero?

Are Frog and Toad true
friends?

Is the gap between rich and
poor any better now than it
was 100 years ago?
Unit Question


Concept (Big Idea)
Essential Questions
Unit
Arc
Resources
TEKS
Vocabulary
Student Work
Products/Assessment Evidence