Welcome to Unwrapping the
NGSSS Social Studies
Standards!
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Unwrapping Standards
Determining what students
need to learn so that a common
assessment can be identified
Course Objectives:
Participants will be able to:
1.See how unwrapping the standards is a process embedded
within their Professional Learning Community.
2.Indentify essential standards within the curriculum.
3.Understand the importance of unwrapping the standards.
4.Apply the process of unwrapping the standards to your
content that you teach.
5.Be able to communicate the process and decisions with
colleagues.
6.Understand how to align lessons and assignments after
standards have been unwrapped.
Unwrapping
Is…
Reflective practice
Goal setting
Developing a common
Language
Improving students’
understanding of standards
Providing clarity among
educators, students, and
parents
Is NOT…
Teaching to the test
Taking the creativity out of
teaching
Only an elementary process
Dumbing down expectations for
students
How does this fit into the PLC
process?
PDCA Inst ruct ional Cycle
Unwrapping
the Standards
PLAN
• Data Disaggregation
• Calendar Development
ACT
DO
• Direct Instructional
Focus
CHECK
• Tutorials
• Assessment
• Enrichment
• M aintenance
• M onitoring
5
The Process of Instructional
Planning
Traditional Practice
Select a topic from the
curriculum
Standards-based Practice
Select standards from among those
students need to know
Design instructional
activities
Design an assessment (the end in
mind )through which students will have
an opportunity to demonstrate those
things
Design and give an
assessment
Decide what learning opportunities
students will need to learn those things
and plan appropriate instruction to assure
that each student has adequate
opportunities to learn
Give grade or feedback
Move on to new topic
Use data from assessment to give
feedback, reteach, or move to the next
level
Essential Learning
What knowledge and skills
must I impart to
my students THIS year so that
they will
enter NEXT year’s class
with confidence
AND readiness for success?
“We may be focused on the tested
standards today, but overall success of
our students it is important to keep
in mind what they will need for
Success in subsequent years of
schooling and in life itself”.
Douglas Reeves
The Big Picture
To begin with the end in
mind means to start with a
clear understanding of your
destination. It means to
know where you’re going
so that you better
understand where you are
now so that the steps you
take are always in the right
direction.
-Stephen R. Covey
The Steps of Unwrapping the
Standards
Learning Objectives – What do I
want my students to understand?
What skills and knowledge will they
need?
Evidence/Assessment- How do I
know they understand?
Planning- What next?
Standard
Knowledge
Reasoning
Performance
Skill
Product
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Target
Knowledge
Reasoning
Performance
Skill
Product
X
1.
2.
3.
4.
Knowledge
Reasoning
Skills
Products
 The
facts and concepts we want
students to know.
 Often
stated using verbs such as
knows, lists, names, identifies, and
recalls.
 Also
call for procedural knowledge,
knowing how to do something, uses.
H.O. 24
 Students
use what they know to
reason and solve problems.
 Represent
mental processes such as
predicts, infers, classifies,
summarizes, compares, concludes,
analyzes.
 Inductive
 Deductive
 Comparison
 Classification
 Evaluation
 Synthesis
 Students
use their knowledge and
reasoning to act skillfully.
 Skill
targets refer to performances
that must be heard or seen to be
assessed.
 Knowledge
targets always underlie
skill targets.

Students use their knowledge, reasoning,
and skills to create a concrete product.

Product targets include creating a table,
graph, or scatter plot, notate music, use
desktop computer to create presentation,
create wellness plan.
Example
Describe how events, ideas, or
information are organized (e.g.,
chronology, comparison, cause
and effect) in a whole text or in
part of a text.
Standard
Knowledge
Target
Describe
X
Reasoning
Performance
Skill
Product
Bloom’s Taxonomy
Knowledge
Count, Define, Describe, Draw, Find, Identify, Label, List, Match,
Name, Quote, Recall, Recite, Sequence, Tell, Write
Comprehension
Conclude, Demonstrate, Discuss, Explain, Generalize, Identify,
Illustrate, Interpret, Paraphrase, Predict, Report, Restate, Review,
Summarize, Tell
Application
Apply, Change, Choose, Compute, Dramatize, Interview, Prepare,
Produce, Role-play, Select, Show, Transfer, Use
Analysis
Analyze, Characterize, Classify, Compare, Contrast, Debate,
Deduce, Diagram, Differentiate, Discriminate, Distinguish,
Examine, Outline, Relate, Research, Separate,
Synthesis
Compose, Construct, Create, Design, Develop, Integrate, Invent,
Make, Organize, Perform, Plan, Produce, Propose, Rewrite
Evaluation
Appraise, Argue, Assess, Choose, Conclude, Critic, Decide, Evaluate,
Judge, Justify, Predict, Prioritize, Prove, Rank, Rate, Select,
BLOOM’S TAXONOMY
WEBB’S DEPTH OF
KNOWLEDGE
KNOWLEDGE
COMPREHENSION
Recall
APPLICATION
Basic Application of
Skill/Concept
ANALYSIS
Strategic Thinking
SYNTHESIS AND
EVALUATION
Extended Thinking
H.O. 27
H.O. 28
WEBB’S DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE
Level 1
•Recall elements and details of a story
•Conduct basic math calculations
•Label a map
•Represent in words or diagrams scientific
concept or relationships
•Perform routine procedures
•Describe the features of a place or people
WEBB’S DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE
Level 2
•Identify and summarize the major events in a
narrative
•Use context clues to identify unknown words
•Solve routine multiple-step problems
•Describe the cause/event of a particular event
•Identify patterns in events
•Formulate a routine problem with data
•Organize, represent and interpret data
WEBB’S DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE
Level 3
•Support ideas with details and examples
•Use voice appropriate for audience and purpose
•Identify research questions and design
investigations
•Develop a scientific model for a complex
situation
•Determine authors purpose and how it affects
interpretation
•Apply concepts in other contexts
WEBB’S DEPTH OF KNOWLEDGE
Level 4
•Conduct a project that requires action research
•Apply math models to illuminate a problem or
situation
•Analyze and synthesize information from multiple
sources
•Describe and illustrate how common themes are
found across texts from different cultures
•Design a math model to inform and solve a
practical or abstract situation
Cognitive Complexity
Cognitive complexity refers to the
cognitive demand associated
with a standard. What are
students asked to DO!
Beginning on H.O. 29
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge
Level 4 Extended Thinking
Level 3 Strategic Thinking
X
Describe
Level 2 skill/Concept
Level 1 Recall
Skill (Verb)
Beginning the Process
LEARNING OBJECTIVE





Abstract
A focus on larger ideas
Helps students see relevance and purpose
Helps to ensure student understanding
Allows for transfer to other content
Attributes of
Learning Objectives
 Brevity
 Conceptual
 Open-ended
 Enduring
Jane’s Wisdom…
Learning Objectives represent that deep
thinking, the end result we want students
to ‘walk away with’ and see as relevant to
their own lives. It is the educator that
decides the Learning Objective, but it is
the student that will ultimately say them.
That is why as educators we must often
word Learning Objectives
in student friendly language.
US pg. 30
Samples of Adult-worded
to Student-worded
Narratives need a specific setting and supporting details to
advance plot.
Stories need a place to happen with details that keep
readers interested.
Descriptive writing develops a main idea with supporting
details.
The strongest nonfiction writing explains an idea
completely.
Identifying Learning
Objectives





Read the standard thoroughly
Underline ideas
Make additional notes
Look for nouns (Knowledge) and skills
(verbs)
Phrase in a way that lets the student know
what they need to concentrate on and why
Start with the STANDARD
Determine the meaning of
words and phrases in a
text, including vocabulary
specific to domains related
to history / social studies.
Learning Objectives
Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text,
including vocabulary specific to domains related to
history / social studies.
Nouns
Verbs
Meaning
Words
Phrases
Text
Vocabulary
Domains
Determine
Related
History/Social Studies
KNOWLEDGE
SKILLS
Learning Objective:
I must understand the meaning of
vocabulary words and phrases that I read in
social studies text.
LET’S TAKE A LOOK
AT THE
NGSSS
STANDARDS
NGSSS SOCIAL STUDIES STRANDS,
STANDARDS AND BENCHMARKS
Strand: GEOGRAPHY
Standard 4: Understand the characteristics, distribution, and migration of human
populations.
BENCHMARK CODEBENCHMARK
SS.6.G.4.1Explain how family and ethnic relationships influenced ancient cultures.
SS.6.G.4.2Use maps to trace significant migrations, and analyze their results.
SS.6.G.4.3Locate sites in Africa and Asia where archaeologists have found evidence of early
human societies, and trace their migration patterns to other parts of the world.
SS.6.G.4.4Map and analyze the impact of the spread of various belief systems in the ancient
world.
Strand: ECONOMICS
Standard 1: Understand the fundamental concepts relevant to the development of a
market economy.
BENCHMARK
SS.6.E.1.1Identify the factors (new resources, increased productivity, education, technology, slave
economy, territorial expansion) that increase economic growth.
SS.6.E.1.2Describe and identify traditional and command economies as they appear in different
civilizations.
SS.6.E.1.3Describe the following economic concepts as they relate to early civilization: scarcity,
opportunity cost, supply and demand, barter, trade, productive resources (land, labor, capital,
entrepreneurship).
Now that we have identified the
Essential
Standards…..let’s UNWRAP!!
Your Turn
 Each
person will work on a NGSSS
Standard for the course your teach.
 Frame the standard into a Learning
Objective
 Ask yourself what a student must
concentrate on for this benchmark
 Remember it is still at an abstract
stage.
Identifying Learning
Objectives





Read the standard thoroughly
Underline ideas
Make additional notes
Look for nouns (Knowledge) and skills
(verbs)
Phrase in a way that lets the student know
what they need to concentrate on and why
UNWRAPPING SHEET
STANDARD: ______________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Nouns
Verbs
KNOWLEDGE
SKILLS
LEARNING OBJECTIVE:
PLANNING QUESTIONS:
SHARE OUT
Share the Learning
Objective that you created
for the standard you
selected.
ONE HOUR
 Red Robin
 Moe’s
 Burger Kings
 Beef O’Brady’s
 Tijuana Flats
 Honey Baked Ham
 And many more…
Standards Based Education
Identify
desired
results
Determine
acceptable
evidence
Plan learning
experiences
and
instruction
Identify Desired Results
In this step you are
unwrapping the standard,
listing Learning Objectives
AND Planning Questions.
Planning Questions:
Have no right
answer
 Are meant to be
argued
 Broad
 Answered by
“enduring
understandings”
of the concepts

Developing Planning Questions
 Two to five per unit.
 Open ended
 Look at how and why
 Consider depth of knowledge
 Use kid friendly language
 Natural sequence
 Use as organizers
 Share with other teachers
PLANNING QUESTIONS
STANDARD: Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a
text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history /
social studies.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE: I must understand the meaning of
vocabulary words and phrases that I read in social studies text.
PLANNING OBJECTIVES:
HELP YOU DETERMINE WHAT YOU NEED TO
INCORPORATE INTO YOUR LESSONS TO HELP
STUDENTS MEET THE LEARNING OBJECTIVE.
From Learning Objectives to
Planning Questions
Planning Questions
What strategies will help readers
better understand the meaning of
vocabulary words?
How do effective readers identify
important vocabulary words in text?
Your Turn
 Take
the standard you have been
working with and write 2-3
planning questions for that
standard.
SHARE OUT
Share the Planning
Questions that you created
for the standard you
selected with your
neighbor.
Aligning your Lessons
Using the
backward
design, let’s
Learn to align
lessons and
assignments.
Understanding By Design
by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
Plan Learning Experiences and
Instruction
Consider the following:
•What skills or knowledge must be in
place?
•What activities will equip the students?
•What do I need to teach?
•What resources are best suited?





Begin with the standard and benchmarks
Put them in student friendly language
Write your planning questions
Determine what students need to know
and be able to do
Determine what assessments you will you
use to determine mastery
◦ Both formal and informal

Create your learning plan and activities
BACKWARDS PLANNING