Lenape School District
June 25, 2012
Understanding by Design
Day 1
Transfer Goal for Workshop:
We want participants to learn how
to design a unit using UbD beliefs
and components so that…
in the long run, they can
independently plan, assess and
teach for understanding in their
own classrooms.
“Goals Agenda” for Today (while reserving the
ability to “monitor and adjust”)
Participants will demonstrate the ability to..
Explain
• The importance of backward design
• The difference between “knowing” and
“understanding”
• The difference between “coverage” and
“uncoverage”
• The reasons for using UbD and to
Begin to design a unit with the components of
Stage 1: Transfer Goal, Enduring Understandings
and Essential Questions, Knowledge and Skills
Workshop Enduring Understandings:
participants will understand “that”…
•Understand by Design is a way of thinking, planning,
assessing and learning that fosters deeper
understanding of critical/important concepts and skills.
•Transfer is the ultimate goal of schooling.
•Teaching less is actually learning more. “Uncoverage”
and not “coverage” fosters understanding and transfer.
•Assessment drives instruction.
•Success of any UbD unit involves an instructional shift
for “teaching for understanding”.
Essential Questions
• What is “understanding” as a goal
and what does it demand of
assessment and instruction?
• How can we more likely achieve
understanding (and other key
educational goals) by design rather
than by good fortune?
5
“Just Like me!”
It is about
Planning, Assessing,
Teaching, Learning
and Understanding
It’s a Way of Thinking
7
It is NOT…..!
• An
“add on” but a
substitution
• “Throwing the baby out
with the bath water!” Keep
what you have that is
“effective and engaging” but
use it with different intent
• A “program” but a way of
planning, assessing and
teaching
It is a way to
write
curricular units
so that
transfer of
learning to
real life is
achieved.
It is a way of “working smarter”
NOT “harder”!
So, why Understanding by
Design?
On a piece of paper list as many words,
phrases, etc. that you remember from
your World Language class.
What is his “big idea” or message about education?
(T/P/S)
The Google Age
• Facts at our finger tips
• 24 hour news cycle
• Amount of information and information
sources information/data is increasing
daily
• Rapidly evolving, unknown future where
• “universal, timeless” paradigms no
longer work or are no longer relevant
Learning Experience: Visualize
In this world…
• How will people use the subject you
teach in their everyday lives?
•What kinds of problems will they solve
using your subject?
•What kinds of thinking will they need?
So, if our students
have content at
their fingertips,
what can you, do
you and/or should
you teach that they
can’t or don’t learn
elsewhere?
Meet Our Target: in the year
2037
In groups, draw a picture
of your student in the
future.
•Give your person a name
• On the outside of the
figure, write words or
phrases that identify this
person’s needs and wants
Name?
Habits of
Mind s/he
will need, e.g.
perseverance
, selfdiscipline etc
Her/His Job?
Skills s/he
will need?
Other
“neccesaries?”
The 4 big ideas
The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content
effectively for transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and effective understanding, not ‘coverage’
Intellectual engagement is more likely
when it is built in ‘by design’
20
Idea #1
The point of school is effective understanding,
not prompted recall of content & compliance
Understanding = using content effectively
for transfer & meaning
‘Backward’Design: from engaging work
and effective understanding, not ‘coverage’
Intellectual engagement is more likely
when it is built in ‘by design’
21
i.e. Content is a ‘tool’...
22
Toward what end?
23
Highly Effective People
24
Example: teaching
• Who are the most effective
teachers you have ever known?
What do they do with “content”?
• What are the most challenging
problems and situations facing all
teachers, and how do the best
teachers use content to handle
them?
25
So, what do we mean by “backward
design”?
So in UbD, Think About
the Outcomes/Learning FIRST
(What do you want students to
understand, know and be able to
do?)
Think About the Assessment
BEFORE
Developing the Learning Activities
27
Designing Backwards means…
“To begin with the
end in mind”
vs.
To begin with
activities, discrete
facts and skills
Backward Design: Think “GPS”
from a destination
29
Stages in the Backward Design Process
1. Identify
Desired Results
2. Determine
2.
Acceptable
Evidence
3. What do I need to do in the
classroom to prepare them to do
well on the assessment?
Wiggins and McTighe
What is it that I want the
students to understand and
know and to be able to do?
How will I know
that they know/can
do what I want them
to know/do?
Plan
Learning
Experiences
There is a big
difference
between
just “Knowing”
and
Really
“Understanding”.
What words come to mind when you hear
Knowing? Understanding?
Knowing
Understanding
32
Complete one of these two sentences:
• “Knowing is like __________________
while understanding is
like_____________________.”
OR
• “The difference between knowing and
understanding is like the difference
between
_________________________ and
_________________________.”
But -
What about the
tests????
34
External tests demand
independent meaning & transfer!
•Every formal testing situation
provides no hints, reminders,
scaffold or explicit hints as to
which content is demanded
and how it should be used!
35
© Grant Wiggins 2011
Irony: the difficult test
questions involve
Understanding, not recall
•Unfamiliar reading
passages, and math
problems
•They have to –
–Make meaning –
what is this
about?
–Transfer – what
should I do here?
36
© Grant Wiggins 2011
What are the students struggling
with?
• Unfamiliar reading passages and writing prompts
• Unfamiliar versions of math and science problems
• No obvious prompts or “clues” as to which ‘content’
applies (since there is no teacher or textbook
‘heads-up’ available as to what this is about)
• Failure to use the writing process if not prompted
to do so
• Not answering the test question asked; failure to
stop and consider: what does this question/task/
problem demand?
How many buses does the army need to
transport 1,128 soldiers if each bus holds
36 soldiers?
Answer from 30%
“31 Remainder 12!”
38
12 soldiers
39
??
FCAT - Florida
44%
40
MCAS (MASS) test item: 10thgrade English reading item
A fellow fourth grader broke the news to me after she saw my
effort on a class assignment involving scissors and construction paper.
“You cut out a purple bluebird,” she said. There was no reproach in her
voice, just a certain puzzlement. Her observation opened my eyes— not
that my eyes particularly help—to the fact that I am colorblind. In the
36 years since, I’ve been trying to understand what that means. I’m still
not sure I do….
Unlike left-handers, however, we seem disinclined
to rally round our deviation from the norm. Thus there’s no ready source
of information about how many presidents, or military heroes, or rock
singers have been colorblind. Based on the law of averages, though, there
must have been some. We are everywhere, trying to cope, trying to blend
in. Usually we succeed. Until someone spots our purple bluebirds. Then
the jig is up.
41
The most wrong item on the state
test: 71% incorrect!
– This selection is best
described as
•
•
•
•
A.
B.
C.
D.
a biography.
a scientific article.
an essay.
an investigative report.
Many students said it could not be an
essay because “it was funny” and
because “it had more than 5
paragraphs.”
42
NAEP Grade 4 Math
There will be 58 people at breakfast and each
person will eat 2 eggs. There are 12 eggs in
each carton. How many cartons of eggs will
be needed for the breakfast?
A.
B.
C.
D.
9
10
72
116
Incorrect: 77%, Omitted 3%
FCAT – 9th grade reading
44
FCAT – 10th grade math
45
FCAT – 10th grade math
46
FCAT 10th grade math
27%
47
Sad Irony
•Despite our laments, local assessment is
worse than state testing, in terms of
higher-order questions, transfer
demands, and aligning with state
standards
– See article - March 2010 Educational
Leadership “Stop Test Bashing”
48
© Grant Wiggins 2011
A 3rd-Grade Social Studies
Unit
Topic:
Westward
Movement and
Pioneer Life
P.6 or 10
49
For the next five minutes…
Please work in groups of three or
four to discuss and jot down your
answers to these questions.
•What are the strengths?
•What are the problems?
•What recommendations do you
have?
Activities
• Read text – answer chapter
questions
• Read Sarah Plain and Tall.
Puzzle and “word search.”
• Create a “pioneer life” memory
box.
• Prairie Day
– Churn butter
– 19th century game
– Letter – sealing wax
– Computer game
– Corn husk doll
– Quilting
– Tin punching
51
Assessment
• Quiz on vocabulary
• End-of-chapter
questions
• Memory box “show
and tell”
• Learning stations
• Student reflection
on the unit
52
“Revealing” Student
Comments
Letter sent home with student comments.
 I liked the tin punching because you could make
your own design or follow other designs. You can see
the sunlight through the holes.
 I liked the station where you wrote a letter. I
liked it because you put wax to seal it.
 It was fun to design an outfit for myself on the
computer.
 I liked the prairie games. My favorite was the sack
racing because I like to jump.
 I liked the corn husk doll because it was fun. I
learned that making dolls was not easy.
53
Westward Expansion and
Prairie Life
• What are the strengths of the
Westward Expansion-Prairie Life
Unit?
– Reading literature in social studies
– Student choice (memory box)
– “Fun activities”
– Student reflection on the unit
54
Westward Expansion and
Prairie Life
• What are the problems?
– Life on the prairie – Did the students
gain an accurate picture?
– What is it that this teacher wanted the
students to understand , know and be
able to do?
55
Problem: No “big idea” focus
– Activity-driven – is (as design of Prairie Day) not
focused on any big ideas that need to be uncovered
and learned - “understanding by osmosis” or
wishful thinking
– “Coverage” - driven work ( at higher grade levels,
generally) - aimless “ stuff”
Both lead to frequent student misunderstanding;
inert, rigid and passive thought; and “amnesia” (as well
as disengagement)
56
Beyond mere activity
A mantra for understanding as a goal:
– It’s not the “teaching” or the “activity”
that causes understanding. Only attempts
by the learner to make sense of the work
can lead to understanding.
– “Hands-on” is not enough. It has to also
be “minds-on”
57
Now, look a the revised Social
Studies and/or Math Unit…
•What makes this
unit different?
• In which class
would you want
your own
son/daughter/gran
dchild/niece/nephe
w enrolled?
p.8-11
Westward Expansion and Prairie Life and
Geometry Units were “Designed Backwards”
1. Identify
the desired
results
2.
Determine
acceptable
evidence
3. Plan
learning
experiences
and
instruction
59
DEEPER LOOK AT
BACKWARD DESIGN
Dialogue/Take a minute to
discuss and “make meaning” of
this idea: “How does designing
curriculum in this manner
increase the likelihood of
improving student life long
learning?”
Stage One
What is worth
understanding?
61
Transfer Goals
•What are they?
•What is their purpose?
• How are they written?
• How are they related to
• the other stages/parts
of UbD?
• What are some
examples?
• When/How do I use
these in a classroom?
Transfer Goals
“Transfer goals highlight the
effective uses of
understanding, knowledge and
skillin the long run—that is,
what we want students to be
able to do when they confront
new challenges, both in and
outside of school, beyond the
current lessons and unit.”
Characteristics of Transfer Goals:
• They require “application” (not just simply
recognition and recall)
• They require “new” situations
• They require the learner to use “strategic
thinking” in deciding which prior learning is
appropriate to use
• The learner must apply their learning
“independently”
• The learner must use “habits of mind” (e.g.
perseverance, good judgment, selfregulation) “
Why transfer goals?
The Transfer Goal
“operationalizes”
the standard/s.
Backward design from
‘content coverage’
• I want students to understand
–the 3 branches of government
No - not a learning goal - this
just says what the content is
67
Backward Design from
Transfer Goal Sought
• I want students to leave my course having
understood that –
– The 3 branches provide a necessary balance
on each other
• I want students to transfer that
understanding to – A modern situation:
• The problem of designing a government for a new
country - or a system of governance for our school.
Authentic Education
68
Content mastery =
the means, transfer is the
end
• If content mastery is the means, what is the end?
• I want you to learn fractions so that, in the long run,
you are able, on your own to recognize, frame, and
solve any problem in your lives that involves fractional
relationships.
• SO: you have to design your course BACKWARD from
genuine problems and problem-solving, and the kinds
of problems you want them to be able to solve on
their own.
Authentic Education
69
Content mastery =
the means
• If content mastery is the means, what is the
end?
• I want you to learn the food “plate” so that, in
the long run, you are able, on your own to make
healthy food choices.
• SO: you have to design your course BACKWARD
from real-life situations, and decisions that
students will have to make so that they will be
able to make the right choices concerning their
own diet.
70
Content mastery =
means
the
• If content mastery is the means, what is the end?
• I want you to learn about the water cycle so that,
in the long run, you are able, on your own to
understand the assumptions behind and
implications of proposed solutions for drought and
water pollution.
• SO: you have to design your course BACKWARD
from the kinds of present-day issues and decisions
you want them to be able to address.
Authentic Education
71
Content mastery =
the means
• If content mastery is the means,
what is the end?
• I want you to learn grammar so that, in the long
run, you are able, on your own to speak and
write in any situation with precision, clarity,
and maximum impact.
• SO: you have to design your courses
BACKWARD from the kinds of communication
challenges that depend upon precise grammar.
Authentic Education
72
Content mastery = the means, not
the long-term goal; “transfer “ is the
ultimate goal
Generalization, then:
–You have to design backwards from
the long-term accomplishments you
seek - important tasks that
require the ‘content’; a “transfer
task”
Authentic Education
73
How are these used in a
classroom?
They are announced at
the beginning of each
unit and throughout the
unit to identify and
emphasize the
important real-life
application of the
subject to the learner.
Life
“I want you to learn
_____________________
________________________________
________________________________
_________
…so that, in the long run,
you will be able, on your
own, to…..
________________________________
_______________________________.”
Stage 1 – Identify Desired Results
Consists of 5 components:
“Established goals”: CC,national,
state standards, department/school
goals, personal objectives
Transfer Goal
Enduring Understandings
Essential Questions
Knowledge and Skills
77
“Unpacking” Priorities
worth being
familiar with
important to
know & do
‘big ideas’
Identify
central key
‘big ideas’
for your unit
worth
understanding
pp.78-81
78
Establishing Clear Learning Priorities via
Ideas & Transfer
Worth being
familiar with
Important
to
know & do
Big ideas
& core transfer
tasks
Packet
“nice to know”
important
knowledge & skills
“big ideas”
& core transfer tasks
at the
heart of the subjectt
79
Stage 1 – Identify Desired
Results.
What standard or
goal am I
addressing?
What is the point?
What should they
come away having
learned? What is
the larger
purpose?
80
Stage 1 – Identify Desired Results.
What “big ideas” do we
want students to come
to understand?
What essential questions
will stimulate inquiry?
What knowledge and
skills need to be
acquired?
81
STANDARDS
THE COMPASS OF UNDERSTANDING
BY DESIGN
Essential Questions on Standards
• What do the Standards demand
of us? What don’t they demand
of us?
• What is the relationship between
Standards, local curriculum, and
local assessment?
3 Big Ideas
Transfer
Read
Translate
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
3 Big Ideas
Transfer
The goal of
education is
transfer
Read
Close reading
of the document
required
Translate
Look closely
at the parts
of speech
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
The highest-level
standards demand transfer
Our Compass!
They give us the
direction we need
85
Big Idea #1
Transfer
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
The goal of
education is
transfer
The highest-level
standards demand
transfer
Transfer
Transfer is the point
• Goal is not memorization for quizzes
and test
• Standards = Transfer
• NJCCS, 21st Century Life and Career
• Common Core Standards, College
and Career Readiness
• Video on Common Core
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Transfer
Goal: College & Career
Readiness
• Anchor
• General, cross-disciplinary literacy
expectations
• Preparation to enter college and workforce
• Ready to succeed
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Big Idea #2
Read
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Close reading of
the document
required
Compass!
Read
Close Reading
• READ THEM CLOSELY:
–Complex
–Need Analysis
• Know The Standards
• How they affect Curriculum and
Instruction
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Read
Standards as a text,
staff as good readers!
• What is implied by the –
– language?
– hierarchy?
– the sub-Standards?
– Introduction?
– Appendices
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Read
Standards as a text,
staff as good readers!
• 3 different types of Standards
–‘content’ standards
–‘process’ standards
–‘performance’ standards
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Read
Standards as a text,
staff as good readers!
• ‘content’ standards
– What must be taught?
• ‘process’ standards?
– What skills and complex abilities must be developed, to
effectively use ‘content’?
• ‘performance’ standards?
– What kind of content use (type of performance), to what
level of performance (rigor) is ‘good enough’?
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Read
Standards as a text,
staff as good readers: Math E
• ‘content’ standards
– Polynomials
• ‘process’ standards
– Modeling of real-world problems that involve polynomials
• ‘performance’ standards
– Routine and non-routine problems,
• scored using rubrics,
• ‘anchors’ of quality work
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Read
Standards as a text,
staff as good readers: ELA
•
‘content’ standards
– Contextual meaning of words and phrases in a text,
– figurative and connotative meanings
•
‘process’ standards
– Determine a theme or central idea of a text;
– Summarize the text without personal opinions or judgments.
•
‘performance’ standards
– Compare and contrast texts in different forms or genres… to similar themes and
topics.
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Big Idea #3
Translate
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Inside out
Approach
Rigor in the
assessment is key!
Lost in Translation?
• Focus on practical
• Inside out approach
– Parts of Speech i.e. nouns, verbs, adverbs
– Workbook pages 120-121
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Tip #1: Nouns
Translate
• Find the key nouns.
• Determine their meaning:
–What are the Big Ideas?
–How should they be investigated?
–Should they recur?
–What knowledge and skills are
essential to that Big Idea?
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Tip #2: Verbs
Translate
• Find the key verbs
• Determine their meaning:
Students who can meet the
Standard are able to do what it
says.
• What are the performance
implications?
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Translate
Tip #3: Key Qualifiers
• Find the qualifying adverbs or
adjectives:
• Criteria in the rubrics
• By what criteria should
performance against Standards
be assessed?
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Translate
C. C. ELA example
1. Write arguments to support
claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts,
using valid reasoning and
relevant and sufficient
evidence.
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Translate
Example (color coded)
1. Write arguments to support
claims in an analysis of
substantive topics or texts,
using valid reasoning and
relevant and sufficient
evidence.
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Translate
Your turn:
• Take one of your standards and translate
it
• NJCCS, Common Core, NJ 21st Century
Life and Career
• Nouns, Verbs, and Qualifiers
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Translate
Tip #4: Performance
Standards = Rigor
• You have to properly determine the rigor
required of performance:
–The rigor of the task
–The rigor of the scoring
• How does your Unit match up?
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Tip #4 is CRITICAL
Translate
• Degree of difficulty of task
• Quality of outcomes, not inputs!
– Swimming etc.
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Translate
Hidden problem of lack of
rigor
• Consider the following test questions:
– What is 50% of 20?
– What is 67% of 81?
– Shawn got 7 correct answers out of 10 possible
answers. What % did he get correct?
– JJ Redick was on pace to set an NCAA record in
career free throw %. He had made 97 of 104; what
was his %?
– In his first tournament game, Redick missed his first
5 free throws. How far did his free-throw % drop?
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Translate
The challenge of rigor
• Solve the following quadratic equation:
– X2 –x – 6 = 0
• Given the following rectangle with the lengths
shown below, find x:
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Translate
T-chart to identify
valid/invalid TASKS
“Write arguments to support claims”
–
This does not mean
This means that
the assessment
must require
students to...
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
that the student
need only…
Translate
Tip #5: PERFORMANCE
indicators & rubrics
• Identify valid indicators
(and eventually, rubrics) of
meeting/not meeting
standards.
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Translate
T-chart to
clarify INDICATORS
“Write arguments to support claims”
– The best
Weak arguments are
arguments are
those in which...
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
those in which…
Translate
Tip #6: PERFORMANCE
Exemplars
• Identify valid examples of
student work and teacher
designs.
© Wiggins & McTighe 2011
Your First Unit
• Talk with your tablemates: Choose
some Big Ideas for your first unit.
• Look through the standards and pick
out the ones that apply to those Big
Ideas.
• Should be Likable
Stage 1 – Identify Desired Results
Consists of 5 components:
“Established goals”: CC/national
standards,department/school goals,
personal objectives
Transfer Goal
Enduring Understandings
Essential Questions
Knowledge and Skills
113
Now, we move on to Enduring
Understandings…
•What are they?
•What is their purpose?
•How are they written?
• How are they related to
the other
stages/parts of UbD?
•What are some
examples?
•When/How do I use
these in a classroom?
pp.108-110
Examples of
Enduring Understandings for Various Grades
 Laws and rules prevent chaos.
 Fairy tales often illustrate profound
philosophical truths.
 The words of poetry stir up feelings and
ideas in the reader or listener.
 In music the silence is as important as the
notes.
 Mathematics is a language consisting of
symbols and rules.
 Living things grow and change, sometimes in
115
What characteristics do the
Enduring Understandings all seem
to have in common?
pp.108-109
Characteristics of Understandings
• Big ideas that are at the core
of a discipline
• The “purpose for learning”
the content and the skills
• Transferable to real life
• Universal
• Often cross-disciplined
Always start: “Students will understand THAT….”
p.115
Understandings
Use this concept attainment strategy to
help you UNCOVER the meaning of
and construction of ENDURING
UNDERSTANDINGS.
p.107
Why Enduring Understandings?
Enduring
Understandings focus
the unit on unifying
ideas and inquiries,
not just discrete and
disconnected content
knowledge and skills.
(p. 71, Wiggins,2010)
EUs, EQs and
Transfer Task
Knowledge/Skills
Transfer Goal to Real
Life
Framing Enduring Understandings
Properly Framed
Improperly Framed
The student will
understand “that”…
The student will
understand how to….
pp.81-87
121
Caution!
You should have no
more than 5 EUs
at the most!!!
Now, write an understanding for
your unit.
Be sure to start the sentence with the
stem: “Students will understand that…”
P 111-114
and 116-118
Collaboration Time!!
2 Minute Meaning Making
Turn to the person
next to you and
share what you have
written.
What thoughts,
connections,
questions or
concerns do you
have?
Now, we move on to Essential
Questions…
•What are they?
•What is their purpose?
•How are they written?
• How are they related to
the other stages/parts of
UbD?
•What are some examples?
•When/How do I use
these in a classroom?
Essential Questions…
What are they?
* Focus on the key understanding goals of
the unit.
What is their purpose?
•Foster deeper understanding through
inquiry by asking students to explore the
big ideas
pp.90
Characteristics of Essential
Questions
• Have more than 1 answer, meant to be
discussed, investigated
• Cannot be answered in a single sentence
• Might be controversial or pose a dilemma and as
such require reasoning and justification
• Raise other important questions
• Naturally and appropriately recur K-12 and
beyond See page 91 for important descriptions
of essential questions.
127
Types of Questions
OVERARCHING
• These questions go
beyond the particulars
and address the big
ideas and enduring
understandings.
• These questions can be
for any unit.
TOPICAL
• These questions are
subject and topic
specific.
• They guide the process
within the particular
subject.
See page 92 for both types of questions.
The aim is a mixture of both.
The best skill-focused
questions…
Refer to issues and challenges in
using the skill - purpose,
strategy, value, limits:
When is it best to…?
How should I most effectively…?
What should I do if ….?
When is it unwise to ….?
The weakest questions….
• Do not provoke thought or take us
deeply into the subject
• Ask only for a glib or superficial
personal reaction or response
• Yield only a list of initial and uncritical
responses
• Signal that there is a “right” answer
• Are irrelevant to what we really want
students to learn in the unit
130
AN EXAMPLEDrafting Essential Questions in
Literature:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Overarching Essential Questions
What makes a great book?
Can fiction reveal truths?
How do I know what the author is saying?
Does literature primarily reflect culture or
shape it?
Overarching Essential Questions
vs Topical Questions
Overarching
• What makes a great book?
• Can fictions reveal truths?
• How do I know what the
author is saying?
• Does literature primarily
reflect culture or reshape
it?
Topical (Unit on Orwell’s 1984)
• Why do we continue to
read Orwell’s 1984?
• Could Orwell’s world be
duplicated today?
• How is rhetoric evident in
fiction as well as nonfiction?
• Has Orwell’s 1984 had an
impact on society?
Drafting practice on pages 93 to 103.
Essential Questions
What do I do with
Essential Questions?
– If I’m serious, I use
the Essential
Questions in planning,
for assessing and for
teaching.
– If I’m not serious, the
Essential Questions
just float away.
Authentic Education
133
Caution!
You should
have no more
than 5 EQs at
the most!!!
EQs “unlock” EUs
Video: ASCD HS ELA
Essential Questions
Let’s take a look at how EQs are
used in two different a classrooms:
Middle: volcanoes
HS: ELA
--------------------------------------What did you notice about the
learners?
What was the teacher’s role?
Sample Skill Essential
Question “Starters”:
If this is what
you want your
students to
understand,
what questions
could you ask in
class that
would compel
them to
uncover and
grapple with
the
“Why do…?”
“How can..?”
“Why…?”
“To what extent…?”
“When should…?”
“What makes…?”
EQ Collaboration Time!
What content knowledge and
skills will students need to
effectively answer these
questions?
The students need
to know…
The students need
to be able to…
Knowledge
includes...
 vocabulary/ terminology
 definitions
 key factual information
 critical details
 important events and people
 sequence/timeline
140
Skills
include...
basic skills - e.g., decoding, drawing
 communication skills - e.g., listening,
speaking, writing
 research/inquiry/ investigation skills
 thinking skills - e.g., comparing,
problem solving, decision making
 study skills - e.g., note taking
 interpersonal, group skills

141
Instead of thinking of
content as “stuff” to
be covered, consider
knowledge and skills
as the means of
addressing/uncoveri
ng questions central
to understanding key
issues in your
subject.
Knowledge and Skills Needed
• You have the Enduring Understandings
• You have the Essential Questions of the
unit.
• What content knowledge and skills must you
teach NOW for the students to deeply
understand the unit?
ALIGNMENT
ALERT!
STANDARD
ENDURING
UNDERSTANDING/
GENERALIZATION
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Misunderstanding
Alert
Many teachers
believe the
Standards must be
COVERED by
them, rather than
their students
being able to DO
the Standard.
Instruction now needs
to change…teach less
and assess more!
So basically
now, you
have just
practiced
writing a
Stage 1,
using the
components
of UbD!
UBD Template
Stage 1 - Desired Results
The UbD
Template–
It is only a graphic
organizer …after the
fact!
Other Evidence:
Stage 2 - Assessment
Evidence
Performance Tasks
Other Evidence
– ‘by design’
addresses the
issues we have
identified
Other Evidence:
Stage 3 - Learning
Plan
147
The template houses
your thoughts as you
design your unit…
Transfer Goal
Enduring
Understandings
Essential Questions
Knowledge and Skills,
etc.
“Shaping Up” Feedback
Something I learned that
squares with my beliefs…
A question going around in my mind…
Three points I want to remember for my
current or next unit in my classroom…
UbD is an Evolutionary Process
 Awareness
 Training
 Creation of Units
 Peer Review
 Implementation
 Examination of
Student Work
 Refine and Revise
Some points to remember…
• If we are truly preparing students for life in the 21st c.
then a goal of assessment must be “transfer”.
• Students must be able to give evidence of understanding
“on their own” in novel situations.
•Our assessment must be aligned with our stage 1
standards and goals.
•Authentic assessment motivates students to engage in
real life situations/topics/issues and problems that are
important and valued by them.
“Thank you for all you do for
yourselves, each other and
for your students”.