The Big Ideas Behind UbD
West Jefferson Hills School District
Monday, January 9, 2011
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To develop a common vocabulary and format for
the curriculum mapping process
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To review the rationale for Backwards Design
and Understanding by Design methodology
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To connect the curriculum mapping process and
products with OnHandSchools, EdInsight
Curriculum Manager tools
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To plan for next steps
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Kids today
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Important knowledge today
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Making connections
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Curriculum writing
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Textbook teaching
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Students are the primary focus of the
West Jefferson Hills School District where, in
partnership with families and community, the
mission is to educate and prepare all students to
become active, contributing members of society
by providing a challenging, innovative
educational program guided by an exceptional
staff in a safe, positive, caring environment, all of
which promote excellence.
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What material must be
covered”?
What activities will be
incorporated into the lesson?
What homework will be
assigned?
What questions should be on
the test?
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“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 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
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groundbreaking, but commonsense approach to
building curriculum, instruction and assessment.
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framework for designing curriculum units,
performance assessments and instruction that lead
students to deep understanding of the content taught
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expands on "six facets of understanding", which
include students being able to explain, interpret,
apply, have perspective, empathize, and have selfknowledge about a given topic
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What enduring understandings
in this content area should
students master?
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How will students demonstrate
their degree of mastery?

What instructional strategies
& learning experiences must
be provided so that students
will be able to demonstrate
what they know and are able to do?
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Understanding by Design: Professional Development Workbook.
Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins. ASCD: Alexandria VA. 2004
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1. Desired Results
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Standards
Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings
Essential Questions
Knowledge & Skills
▪
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2. Evidence
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Bloom’s Taxonomy
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge
Performance Assessment Design
G.R.A.S.P.
3. Learning Plan
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Lesson Plans
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
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Lesson Topic
Concepts
Competencies
Instructional Procedures
Formative Assessments
Lesson Materials
Homework Assignment
W.H.E.R.E.T.O.
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1.Desired results
 What content is worthy ?
2.Evidence
 What is the evidence needed to determine the extent
to which students have achieved the desired results
in Stage 1?
3. Learning Plan
 What are the instructional strategies & learning
experiences needed to achieve the results in Stage 1
as reflected in the assessment evidence gathered in
Stage 2?
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#1
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What are the relevant Standards?
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What Big Ideas do we want students to come
to understand?
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What Essential Questions will stimulate
inquiry among students?
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What Knowledge & Skills must students
demonstrate?
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PA Academic Standards www.pdesas.org
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Common Core Standards www.corestandards.org/
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Professional Organization Standards:
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NCTE www.ncte.org/
NCTM www.nctm.org/
NCSS www.socialstudies.org/
ACTFL www.actfl.org/
NSTA www.nsta.org/
NBEA www.nbea.org/
AAFFCS www.aafcs.org/
AAHPERD www.aahperd.org/naspe/
MENC www.menc.org/
Local School District Program or Course Goals & Objectives
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Worth being familiar with
Decide on the entire range of
possible content matter: all
topics, skills & resources
available for study
Important to know and do
“Big Ideas”
Enduring
Understandings
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Worth being familiar with
Important to know and do
Focus the choices to specify the
important knowledge and skills
that students must have
“Big Ideas”
Enduring
Understandings
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Worth being familiar with
Important to know and do
Big Ideas
Enduring
Understandings
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Select the Big Ideas and
enduring understandings that
students must retain beyond the
details they studied.
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Facts & Skills
Key Concepts &
Core Processes
Generalizations
& Principles
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1. Explain
 Provide thorough, supported and justifiable accounts of
phenomena, facts and data
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2. Interpret
 Tell meaningful stories, offer apt translations, provide revealing
historical or personal dimension to ideas & events, make it
personal or accessible through images, anecdotes, analogies
and models
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3. Apply
 Effectively use and adapt what is already known into diverse
contexts
~ Adapted from the Work and Wisdom of Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe, UbD, 2002
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4. Perspective
 Can see & hear points of view through critical eyes and ears; see
the big picture
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5. Empathize
 Find value in what others might find odd, alien or implausible;
perceive sensitively on the basis of prior or direct experience
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6. Self-Knowledge
 Perceive one’s own personal style, prejudices, projections &
habits of mind that both shape and impeded new
understanding; having an awareness of what one does not
understand and why the understanding is so difficult
~ Adapted from the Work and Wisdom of Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe, UbD, 2002
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Visit the PDE Standards Aligned System
website to find examples of Big Ideas related
to your specific content area and/or course

Check out the Common Core Standards for
additional ideas.
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Concepts
Themes
Issues or Debates
Problems or Challenges
Processes
Theories
Paradoxes
Assumptions or Perspectives
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State in full sentences
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Specify what students must understand
about the Big Ideas
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Novelists often provide insights about human
experience and inner life through fictional
means.
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Writers use a variety of stylistic techniques to
engage and persuade their readers.
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Reading involves making sense of the text,
not just decoding the words.
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Some wars are considered “just” wars
because people believe they must confront
an evil enemy.
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History is a “story” and who tells the story
affects how it is presented.
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There is rarely a single, obvious cause to a
complex historical event.
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Statistics can represent or model complex
phenomena.
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Any number, measure, numerical expression,
algebraic expression, or equation can be
represented in an infinite number of ways
that have the same value.
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Relationships between quantities can be
represented by graphs, tables and equations.
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Proper posture and breath control contribute to
good vocal tone.
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Healthy nutrition practices influence all aspects
of our lives.
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All life is interrelated as evidenced by the
differences and similarities among species.
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Words are power.
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Drafting is a form of visual language.
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The essence of photography is capturing
light.
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Form follows function.
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You are what you eat.
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Art is the first language.
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Accounting is the language of business.
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Power is distributed and manifested crossculturally.
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Statistical relationships do not imply
causation.
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Nonfiction texts always depict truth.
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History is written by the victors.
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
Visit the PDE Standards Aligned System
website to find examples of Essential
Questions related to your specific content
area and/or course

Check out the Common Core Standards for
additional ideas.
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Are open-ended, provocative questions that
have no simple “right” answers
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Stimulate, guide and sustain student inquiry
while focusing on learning and performance
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Focus instruction on uncovering the
important ideas of the content
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Raise other important questions
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Why study________? So what?
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What makes the study of ______universal?
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If the unit on _______ is a story, what is the
moral of the story?
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What larger concept, issue or problem underlies
__________?
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What couldn’t we do if we didn’t understand
______?
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How can mathematics help us decide grading, voting,
ranking?
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What do good readers do?
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How do we read between the lines?
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Who are my true friends and how do I know?
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Why would a brother kill a brother?
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In what ways are the effects of the Civil War still with
us?
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What distinguishes a fluent foreigner from a
native speaker?
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What makes places unique & different?
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How should we balance individual rights with
the common good?
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How can a diet be healthy for one person and
not another?
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What is a number? Why do we have numbers?
What if we didn’t have numbers?
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Where do artists get their ideas?
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How does art reflect as well as shape culture?
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What determines value?
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How are form and function related in biology?
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What should students know and be able to do?
 Discrete cognitive, knowledge-based student
objectives
 Discrete affective, attitude-based student objectives
 Discrete psychomotor, performance-based student
objectives
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Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy
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Discrete affective, attitude-based
student objectives
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Benjamin Bloom
1913-1999
Discrete psychomotor,
performance-based student objectives
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Norman L. Webb
Senior research scientist with the Wisconsin Center for
Education Research and the National Institute for Science
Education. Webb is a mathematics educator and evaluator
who leads the Institute's work on strategies for evaluating
systemic reform and rethinking how we evaluate
mathematics and science education, while focusing on the
NSF's Systemic Initiatives reform movement. His own
research has focused on assessment of students' knowledge
of mathematics. Webb also directs evaluations of
curriculum and professional development projects.
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#2
1/9/2012
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What are the various types of assessments?
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Summative
Formative
Benchmark
Diagnostic
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When are each of the types of assessments
used?
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Why are each of the types of assessments used?
1/9/2012
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Students should be presumed innocent of understanding until
proven guilty by a preponderance of evidence.
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Obtain valid, reliable, credible and useful evidence of student
learning through:
 Performance Tasks
▪ A performance task is a goal-directed assessment exercise. It consists of an
activity or assignment that is completed by the student and then judged by the
teacher or other evaluator on the basis of specific performance criteria
 Rubrics
▪ A rubric is a scoring tool that teachers use to assess student learning after a
lesson. Using a set of criteria and standards (directly tied to the stated learning
objectives), educators can assess each student's performance on a wide variety
of work, ranging from written essays to class projects.
 Self-Assessments
▪ The ability of students to observe, analyze, and judge their own performance
on the basis of criteria and determine how they can improve it
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Album vs. Snapshot of Student Learning
requires collecting diverse evidence from a
variety of summative, formative, benchmark
and diagnostic assessments
 Informal checking for understanding
 Observations & Conversations
 Tests and quizzes
 Questions & Discussions
 Performance Tasks
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GOAL: Provide a statement of the task. Establish the goal, problem,
challenge, or obstacle in the task.
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ROLE: Define the role of the students in the task. State the job of the
students for the task.
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AUDIENCE: Identify the target audience within the context of the scenario.
Example audiences might include a client or committee.
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SITUATION: Set the context of the scenario. Explain the situation.
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PRODUCT: Clarify what the students will create and why they will create it.
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STANDARDS , CRITERIA, INDICATORS: Provide students with a clear
picture of success. Identify specific standards for success. Issue rubrics to the
students or develop them with the students.
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Worth being familiar with
Important to know and do
Performance tasks and projects
that are open-ended, complex,
authentic and representative of
real life situation.
1/9/2012
Traditional paper & pencil
quizzes, tests: selected
response, multiple choice,
true/false, matching, short
answer.
“Big Ideas”
Enduring Understandings
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Establishes Big Ideas & Essential Questions
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States performance requirements
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Identifies evaluative criteria
Creates hooks & holds to engage students
Implements variety of strategies & resources
Facilitates student learning
Incorporates 6 Facets of Understanding
Uses questioning, probing and feedback
Teaches basic knowledge & skills in context of Big Ideas and Essential
Questions
Uses data derived from formative assessments
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Describe Standards & performance requirements
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Explain what they are doing & why they are doing it
Are hooked & consistently engaged in learning
Describe the criteria, rubric, by which their work will be
evaluated
Demonstrate learning through performance
Generate relevant, thought-provoking questions
Able to explain & justify their own work
Engage in self & peer assessment practices
Use the criteria, rubric, to self-assess their work
Set relevant goals and track own achievement
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Big Ideas & Essential Questions are posted & remain the
central focus to the work of learners
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Norms & culture of the classroom support engaged learning
High expectations for all permeate the classroom climate
All students & their ideas are treated with dignity & respect
Clear, consistent rubrics are available to students before they
initiate their work
Samples or models of student work are visible
Learning experiences are differentiated as needed:
accommodations & adaptations as well as enrichment &
extensions are provided
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#3
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What instructional strategies will produce the desired
results expected from students?
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What enabling Knowledge & Skills will students need to
achieve the desired results?
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What activities will equip students with the Knowledge
& Skills they need to achieve the desired results?
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What needs to be taught & coached based on the
performance goals?
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Lesson Topic
Standards
Competencies, skills, abilities, performance
objectives – Bloom’s Affective & Psychomotor Domains
 Essential Questions
 Concepts, cognitive, intellectual knowledge
objectives – Bloom’s Cognitive & Affective Domains
 Summative Assessments
 Formative Assessments
 Instructional Procedures
 Adaptations
 Differentiation
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W = Where are we headed & why?
H = Hook and hold students’ attention.
E = Equip students with necessary experiences,
tools & knowledge to explore key ideas &
meet goals.
R = Allow student to rethink ideas, reflect on
their progress & revise their work.
E = Allow students to evaluate their own
progress.
T = Tailor instruction to students’ needs.
O = Organize instruction to optimize learning.
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W
Where are we
going? Why?
What is
expected?
H
How will we hook
and hold student
interest?
O
How will we
organize and
sequence the
learning?
WHERETO
T
How will we tailor
learning to varied
needs, interests,
styles?
E
How will we equip
students to explore
and experience?
R
How will we help
students rethink,
rehearse, revise, and
refine?
E
How will students
self-evaluate and
reflect on their
learning?
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1. Desired Results




Standards
Big Ideas/Enduring Understandings
Essential Questions
Knowledge & Skills
▪
▪

2. Evidence



Bloom’s Taxonomy
Webb’s Depth of Knowledge
Performance Assessment Design
G.R.A.S.P.
3. Learning Plan

Lesson Plans
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪
▪

1/9/2012
Lesson Topic
Concepts
Competencies
Instructional Procedures
Formative Assessments
Lesson Materials
Homework Assignment
W.H.E.R.E.T.O.
57
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http://www.grantwiggins.org/ubd/ubd.lasso
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http://www.ascd.org/research-a-topic/understanding-by-designresources.aspx
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http://www.ubdexchange.org/
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http://www.uintahbasintah.org/papers/ububydpresentation.pdf
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http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/teaching-guides/pedagogical/understandingby-design/
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http://www.pearsonubd.com/
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Dr. Paula A. Calabrese
Tri-State Area School Study Council
University of Pittsburgh
drpaulacalabrese@gmail.com
www.drpaulasprescriptions4pd.wikispaces.com
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