Running Archive of Our
Understanding by Design
Discussion
Find the UDB chat resources page here
The conversation began with John's post on July 23:
I've turned on the switch, and we can now swap email messages about "Understanding
by Design," backwards curriculum planning, built-in assessment, and
related topics. We can allow this discussion to continue as long as you
like. We don't have any official guests scheduled at this time, but if anyone
knows of a UBD trainer or someone with a lot of experience and wants to
invite them to join us, please do!
Marsha Ratzel has been in some of the training and is pretty familiar with
the UBD materials developed by Wiggins, McTighe, et al. She's offered to
help moderate the chat -- after I called for volunteers. We have several
other folks signed up who have experience with UBD and I urge them to take
some leadership in the conversation also. And many of you have read -- or
you're reading -- the Understanding by Design book. So we should be able
to launch this conversation with ease!
Please remember that I've posted some basic resources, available at various
places on the Web, at this MiddleWeb page:
http://www.middleweb.com/MWLresources/backdesign1.html
If you haven't visited this page, I'd urge you to do so now, just to see
what's there. We can add other resources as they're suggested.
Marsha - if you're out there, perhaps you can offer a few opening thoughts
and a kickoff question or two?
JOHN
PS: Mary Anne Kosmoski is back from her trip to NYC and her lunch with Naomi.
She had volunteered earlier to help out with our UBD chat. As I recall,
she's been through the training, so we'll look forward to her input!
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MARSHA WROTE:
Hello everyone,
I'm thrilled to be starting this book study because it has been one of the
two most influential modifiers to my teaching philosophy. During the Spring,
1999 I was introduced to the book when I was taking an online class from
Bernie Dodge and Tom March called "Designing Webquests." Their
course heavily relied on UBD to define the WebQuest and to set each piece
in place before tackling the web components.
After lots of thinking and conferring with my classmates, I could see a
much better way to move from teaching facts/concepts to teaching for an
understanding that would last a lifetime. That enabled me to see a way to
accomplish all my objectives in a more unified way---and to stop sweating
ìthe small stuffî. And much of what I was worrying about was
"small stuff."
What an adventure we're going to have learning to see this process through
so many vantage points. Something else may be your change point, but I think
there will definitely be something of major value you can take to your teaching
toolbox.
You can order UBD products at: http://www.ubdexchange.org/
I recently purchased the Understanding by Design Handbook, a companion book
that helps to apply the theory from the book. It gives a template, worksheets,
exercises, design tools, design standards/tests and a peer review process
for learning and applying ideas from the book.
This book is expensive, but well worth the expense----especially when you
start to try and explain this to someone else who hasn't read the original
book.
Even more recently, I purchased the UBD CDROM. Again, expensive but worth
every penny. It uses QuickTime movies to move you through the concepts explaining
and posing questions. I havenít had much experience with it, but
I think it would be a fabulous tool if you were trying to learn this alone
or could use the movies in a class for discussion starters.
By reading and using the UBD approach, I discovered that assessment was
not only ongoing, but it is really the beginning of every unit. If I had
never used anything else, this helped me to improve my classroom practice
tremendously. I could weigh every move I made in the classroom against its
impact on having students attain the outcomes I specified before I started.
And that assessments were more intended for me to sift through what my students
were grasping and what they were not. That way I could modify my instruction.
(This is a heavy emphasis of National Board stuff---which I just went through
during the 2000-2001 school year.)
So don't be surprised as you go through this book if you find that you'll
have to circle back to a lesson or a unit. Maybe even more than once.
Revisit / rethink / redesign.
I found that as my understanding of this process increased, I wanted
to circle back and improve what Iíd done.
I love the Wiggins and McTighe quote,"design work is more than iterative;
it is idiosyncratic. The starting point, sequence and tools will be varied
as the individual users in unique settings." (p5)
Is that how you view curriculum design? From where are you starting and
where you do want to end up? What do you think?
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MARY ANNE WROTE:
I think a great way to start this is to begin by letting everyone know what
our background is with UBD.
About three years ago, I received the book Understanding by Design as a
"free" book selection with my membership to ASCD. I put it on
the shelf and didn't think much about it for about 6 months. I took it down
to flip through it when I heard Grant Wiggins speak at the ASCD conference.
I was hooked!
I was working in North Carolina at the time and we were several years into
the high stakes testing game. I was floundering around trying to figure
out how to help kids do well on the test--without "teaching to the
test." At the time I was fighting this standards stuff because all
I could see is that I was having to change what I taught and how I taught
it. However, I was mellowing as I realized that this stuff was not going
away!
I saw UBD as the way to train myself to effective use the standards in my
classroom. More importantly, performance based assessment meant I didn't
have to completely give up inquiry or constructivist instruction. I didn't
have to teach to the test--I did have to teach the content as was laid out
in the standards. I didn't have to give up my philosophy of teaching.
In the introduction to "UBD" Wiggins states, "even good students
don't always display a deep understanding of what's been taught through
conventional measures." It's the old "we teach an inch thick and
a mile wide!"
I've been using UBD ever since. I have taught the teachers I work with to
use the templates and we use them to develop interdisciplinary units. I
can't imagine planning any other way! Using it creates an atmosphere of
deciding what is important for kids to learn and them designing instruction
to teach it--it gets away from the old activity driven classroom where we
did it because it was fun regardless of what the kids needed to learn.
I have attended three different workshops including a "Train the Trainer"
workshop last year in Boston. If you ever get a chance to here Grant Wiggins
or Jay McTighe speak at a conference do not turn it down!
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MYRNA WROTE:
I bought the book last year at the ASCD conference and was 'hooked' because
it made so much sense.
This year I introduced UBD - just the 6 facets of understanding and structured
team meetings around forming essential questions. The content of the meetings
totally changed and I might add, improved our weekly get togethers. In short,
we were talking about learning, assessing and creating programs that were
integrated.
Teachers were teaching each other and arguing about the material! In July
I attended an UbD workshop in Chicago and returned ready and fired up to
continue our work.
Our next step is to go back to work we've done - review, revise and peer
review.
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MARSHA WROTE:
Myrna,
That's such exciting news.
As we prepare to read through the facets, which facet seem to impact your
thinking the most? Was this uniformly felt throughout the team or not?
Marsha
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MELBA WROTE:
I'm just getting started with UBD. My school along with 2 others will be
attending 3 pre-contract training sessions with emphasis on UBD framework.
I believe we are to write the essential question and begin our quest towards
a unit. Since I don't really feel I know this process, I am feeling very
uncomfortable about it, especially since I am expected to co-chair the math
section.
Thank goodness I am involved (more like lurking) with our curriculum-writing
project even though I have not contributed much, I have learned quite a
bit.
I do have all the components of the book: the book, study guide, workbook,
and the CD. Anyway, that is my limited background with Understanding by
Design.
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BILL WROTE:
My background with UBD is pretty limited. I only bought it just a month
ago in order to participate in this discussion. My instincts were that UBD
might help me deal with the fact that even though my students feel like
they're learning and their parents feel like the kids are learning, I feel
like they could be doing so much more than they are now.
I have become familiar with the basic ideas of UBD through the Middleweb
collaborative unit development project, enough to believe that my instincts
were probably right but that it will take a certain amount of time to overhaul
my teaching. This seems especially true since I'm only just now really understanding
what a rubric is and the role they can play in helping kids achieve deeper
and more endurning understanding.
I look forward to hearing what everyone has to say, to learning all I can
before opening day becomes more than a distant blip on the horizon, to helping
my students really Learn, and along with that... to finishing the book ;-)
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KATHY WROTE:
I have read both the original book and the handbook. I have not received
any formal training. I think it would make a great difference. I began doing
things like UBD, first when I was a VISMT teacher associate and then as
the standards became the thing. I first used backwards design as I was working
on developing my first standards based unit. I then used it again when I
went through National Board certification.
I am really looking forward to this discussion to help me cement and continue
utilizing these ideas.
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IVONE WROTE:
Hi all,
I got the book when many on this list suggested it for our book discussion.
However I am going to be honest with you. I have gotten only through the
first 4 chapters. I hate theory. It puts me to sleep.(It doesn't help that
everytime I attempt to read it I am laying on the deck by the pool ;-))
However, I have been doing concept based instruction for a number of years
and find that UBD is similiar. I brought this point up in my Differentiated
Instruction course that I am taking. Everyone there agreed but we had not
read the whole book. My question the the group is : How is UBD different
from concept based or is it essentially the same thing?
I would love to attend a conference on UBD as I find for my learning style
that is more beneficial than reading a book. At the ASCD conference this
year, I knew nothing about UBD and made no attempt to attend the UBD presentation.
Now I regret it.
I have to say I love this list and the sharing of professional ideas. I
am unable to do it at school with my collegues as they are at a different
place from me professionally. This list keeps me energized and wanting to
go back to the classroom. Thanks all!
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MARY ANNE WROTE:
Quoting Ivone:
"I have been doing concept based instruction for a number of years
and find that UBD is similiar. I brought this point up in my Differentiated
Instruction course that I am taking. Everyone there agreed but we had not
read the whole book. My question the the group is : How is UBD different
from concept based or is it essentially the same thing?"
This question was actually one that I struggled with at the beginning. Some
of the models we were working with were Susan Kovalik's Integrated Thematic
Instruction and Sandy Kaplan's Concept based instruction. Teachers were
trying to take their entire curriculum and restructure it within a yearlong
concept. It was amazing, but our entire 4th grade curriculum matched the
concept of "systems" perfectly! We did have to stretch things
alittle bit.
What UBD gave us was a structure to plan on a daily basis. Managing a yearlong
theme can be devastating--trying to keep track of what you have covered,
what's left. We could take one generalization or "understanding"
like "Change can occur in cycles"and teach for a month and get
nowhere! UBD gave us a way to tie standards and day to day instruction to
the big picture ideas.
The two ideas--UBD and concept based-- are not the same thing, but they
are very compatible and actually, work better together than on their own.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
JOHN WROTE:
Don't forget this very short but pithy article (with graphic) at the UBD
website:
http://www.ubdexchange.org/resources/news-articles/backward.html
AN EXCERPT:
Backward design may be thought of as purposeful task analysis: Given a task
to be accomplished, how do we get there? Or one might call it planned coaching:
What kinds of lessons and practices are needed to master key performances?
The approach to curricular design we are advocating is logically forward
and commonsensical but backward in terms of conventional habits, whereby
teachers typically think in terms of a series of activities (as in the apples
unit presented in the Introduction) or how best to cover a topic.
ALSO:
THE THREE STAGES OF BACKWARDS DESIGN
Identify Desired Results
Determine Acceptable Evidence
Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
THE SIX FACETS OF UNDERSTANDING
Explanation Interpretation Application Perspective Empathy Self-Knowledge
(See rubric - pp. 76-77 of UBD)
ONCE AGAIN, IF YOU DON'T HAVE THE BOOK, YOU'LL GET A REAL JUMP ON THIS CONVERSATION
BY READING THIS BOOK EXCERPT ONLINE AT:
http://www.ascd.org/readingroom/books/wiggins98book.html
-John
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MYRNA WROTE:
Marsha
At the workshop the 6 facets of understanding were not the focus. We spent
a lot of time on developing essential questions but I think that the performance
task and peer review were the most important areas. The value of getting
feedback and having to answer questions about the design of a unit had the
most impact on the group. Without 'giving away' some aspects of the workshop,
I found that having to switch hats first from unit designer and then to
assessor was hard to do and will require practice.
Myrna
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BILL WROTE:
Marsha wrote on several occasions:
I love the Wiggins and McTighe quote,"design work is more
than iterative; it is idiosyncratic. The starting point, sequence and tools
will be varied as the individual users in unique settings." (p5) Is
that how you view curriculum design? From where are you starting and where
you do want to end up? What do you think?
As we prepare to read through the facets, which facet seems to impact your
thinking the most?
Mary Anne wrote:
I saw UBD as the way to train myself to effective use the standards
in my classroom. More importantly, performance based assessment meant I
didn't have to completely give up inquiry or constructivist instruction.
I had a long hard day which revolved around getting my car inspected and
then, later, reinspected... one of the few upsides was the chance to do
some catch up work on UBD while waiting in lines. Of course, the scrap of
paper on which I made my notes is gone, but I think I can recapture the
ideas. Sorry this is kind of long, but so were the lines ;-)
First, I want to consider Marsha's opening question. I do think that curriculum
designs tend to be highly idiosyncratic. (If true, I suspect this is at
the root of some of the conflict with state-imposed standards, leaving high-stakes
testing out of it for now.) In the past, I have had colleagues who have
held wildly divergent views both on where their students are starting and
where they want their students to go. Even when there is surface agreement,
there are often underlying differences which may come out during a discussion
of assessment methods, or a discussion of classroom activities, or even
discussing which text(s) to use.
Second, I want to pull out a quote from page 40: "For as long as there
is a cat and mouse game in education that gives students an incentive to
appear to understand what they are supposed to be learning, the challenge
of teaching and assessing will be great." Mary Anne has already written
inspiringly on how she was able through UBD to keep teaching her way while
still paying attention to standards imposed from outside.
Those others of you who have been using UBD, what has your experience been?
I am lucky enough not to be forced to use standards, but concerned with
establishing some sort of articulation with my students whose past and or
future may lie in the public school system (for now, I'm trying not to worry
about the fact that these kids come from three different states!). My hope
is that I could follow Mary Anne's example. What do the rest of you think?
Finally, on page 45, the authors say "Further analysis might yield
different conceptual distinctions and hierarchies (note - as opposed to
their framework of six facets of understandings), and we are open to what
our readers might say on this subject." Okay, readers! What *do* we
have to say on the subject? My first instinct was to try to apply Howard
Gardner's multiple intelligence theory to the six facets. The eight intelligences
( I'd forgotten one and looked them up) are:
- bodily-kinesthetic
- interpersonal
- intrapersonal
- linguistic
- logical-mathematical
- musical
- naturalist
- spatial
http://www.cms.k12.nc.us/Allschools/Sharon/Multiple.htm
...has a nice summation of each of these kinds of intelligence.
The first thing I learned should have been obvious to me from the book,
that Self-knowledge is in a way fundamental to other kinds of understanding.
I felt all proud of Pine Cobble for choosing "Nosce te ipsum"
("Know theyself") as the school motto. The second thing I noticed
was the problem with bodily-kinesthetic and musical intelligences - how
do they fit with these understandings? The best I've come up with is Application
either to sports or to, umm, musical performance. What am I missing? - it
doesn't seem like hands-on or musical work should merely be means toward
an end of different kinds of understanding. *Are there missing facets of
understanding?*
My brain is starting to hurt. Time for a little break.
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MARY ANNE WROTE:
Myrna--
I am curious. What kinds of essential questions did you come up with? Could
you give us some examples?
This is one area I find I always need help with. I find that if my essential
question is not "good" I end up somewhere I don't want to be!
It is like teaching kids to apply when you want them to analyze!
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MARSHA WROTE:
I think Myrna's point is well taken about the facets being a means to articulate
the ends. And it seems to me that the reason for even worrying about the
facets is so that you know where you want the student's performance to end
up. It also seems to me that much of the understanding facets is like Bloom's
Taxonomy. In a nutshell, it looks like there are levels of understanding--some
beginning and some deep.
It also forces me to ask myself highly self-critical questions as I prepare
a unit. For example, last summer I dragged out my cells unit and looked
through the plan I had used for several years. Because that unit was developed
around the textbook sequence, students had historically been very strong
in explaining the parts of a cells, the unique qualities of plant and animals,
etc. I think they were capable of giving me interpretations of what they
observed under the microscope or in the slides I shared with them on the
Video Flex.
But as I began to think about, "do they understand for a lifetime?
will they "know" this in 5 years, 10 years, etc?" I begin
to question the method.
I didn't think students were learning from perspective that yielded much
insight, I didn't think they developed much insight about what a scientist
must experience as they struggle to learn the mysteries of a microscopic
environment, and certainly my students didn't grow metcognitively.
So that called for me to change. Last year, I totally rearranged the room
over a weekend so it looked like a lab--long rows of tables with microscopes
and power sources. I even wore a lab coat to set the ambiance. When students
came in I handed each pair an onion, a slide preparation kit and told them
they needed to find out how the onion was "built". I did provide
instruction on how to operate a microscope and prepare a slide. And I hooked
the Video Flex up to the TV so everyone could use it as a critiquing stage.
After much frustration, excitement, thrilling discoveries---the whole gamut
of emotions, my students mostly felt like conquerors. They "understood"
not only the difference between parts of the onion, they knew how scientists
felt as they struggled to find the answer, and they clearly could articulate
how they had grown as young scientists. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!
Now I don't know exactly which facets went where, but I do know that thinking
about the difference I wanted to see in their understanding forced me to
change my delivery style. And that in turn freed my students up to learn
more than the book facts. Even though we didn't draw any Cellville projects
(boy were they cute) or make any edible models of cells (boy, were they
tasty), I believe that my students have indelibly learned about the nature
of science and inquiry.
That's how pausing to consider the facets has changed my instructional design.
Never mind how it has impacted my assessment. You can tell I'll bet that
assessment is everywhere throughout the unit now.
How about you? Have you ever had this kind of experience where you thought
your unit was terrific and fits everyone's standards, and then you suddenly
realized there could be so much more. And then you just had to change and
take a chance?
----------------------------------------------------------------------
MARSHA CONTINUED:
Second, I want to pull out a quote from page 40: "For as long as there
is a cat and mouse game in education that gives students an incentive to
appear to understand what they are supposed to be learning, the challenge
of teaching and assessing will be great."
Bill, I so much agree. It seems like what they wanted to get across was
it doesn't matter what you call things---but don't settle with surface understanding.
Make yourself think deeply and push students to do the same.
Do you ever wonder if we, as teachers, shy away from thinking deeply because
so many of us don't have the content area depth to do that? Or is it because
we were never taught in that manner?
The second thing I noticed was the problem with bodily-kinesthetic and musical
intelligences - how do they fit with these understandings? The best I've
come up with is Application either to sports or to, umm, musical performance.
What am I missing? - it doesn't seem like hands-on or musical work should
merely be means toward an end of different kinds of understanding. *Are
there missing facets of understanding?*
I don't know if this fits for you or not, but it seems to me that the MIs
are embedded in understandings. Bodily-kinesthetic to me means making the
kiddos "do" their thing. For me as a science teacher, it means
labs (hands-on doing) instead of pencil/paper/reading the textbook styles.
For me as math teacher, it means using manipulatives. I know some folks
have been talking about CMP. Boy is that BK. Integer markers marching up
and down number lines, positive/negative chips adding and subtracting numbers,
doing lineups on what the answer to problems because of multiple ways to
get to the mathematically correct answer, etc.
Music is more problematic for me. Beyond using music as a calming background
noise (Mozart of course) and singing those stupid Bill Nye the Science Guy
songs, I haven't done too well in this category.
Marsha
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IVONE REPLIED TO MARSHA:
I agree with your following comment: I don't know if this fits for you or
not, but it seems to me that the MIs are embedded in understandings.
As far as the musical, say the students were working on vocabulary, couldn't
they use the vocabulary in a rap song or a poem that they created? Would
that fit the idea of lasting undertsanding??? I remember being in middle
school as a student in French class and our semester project was to create/translate
a tv comemrical into French and present it to the class. To this day. I
can still translate where is the beef to French.;-) Ivone
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IVONE WROTE:
Quoting Marsha: "How about you? Have you ever had this kind of experience
where you thought your unit was terrific and fits everyone's standards,
and then you suddenly realized there could be so much more. And then you
just had to change and take a chance?"
While I was reading your email, I was thinking of a unit I do on the causes
of the Civil War and how if I used backward design it would change. I had
the kids doing all kinds of things yet my assessment left a lot to be desired.
I am finding as we go through this chat that I undertsand UBD much better.
In doing so I relaize that my nuits need work as I really am not clear as
to what I want my stduents to come away with for lasting understanding.
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MARSHA WROTE:
I think Ivone's idea of using rhythm to learn vocab is a wonderful technique.
How many of you guys know the parts of speech based on SchoolHouse Rock
or Fifty Nifty United States or the Preamble to the Constitution? All pretty
solid examples of using that intelligence to further learning.
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MARSHA COMMENTED ON
Turning Questions into a Hierarchy for Unit Design
Once you start thinking about facets, then you come to the essential questions
part. It seems to me that most essential questions by nature are interdisplinary---they
cut across curricular lines and ask questions that are very "heart
and soul" (aka Jamie McKenzie's words)of each of us and are central
to our lives. These questions offer an organizing theme, but need sub-essential
questions to get the unit design off the ground. Often they can be families
of sub category questions that define the relationship between knowledge,
skills and understanding. For me making these links is hard work. It makes
me sweat. It's not something I've been trained to do, yet it provides the
most promising rewards and makes the assessment pieces just fall into place.
Before moving onto assessment, it seems to me that you have to sift through
all the lofty ideas and really get down and dirty with all the ideas. You
need to sort them into what students should 1) learn for a lifetime; 2)
skills that are important to know and be able to do; and 3) knowledge that
is worth being familar with. The UBD Handbook gives this Nutrition Unit
example.....
Enduring understandings include
* a balanced diet contributes to good health
* dietary requiements differ for individuals, depending on variables of
age, activity level, weight, and overall health
Knowledge and skills that are important to know and do include
* types of food in each food group and their nutritional values
* USDA food pyramid guidelines
* How to interpret food labels and their nutritional values
* Knowledge that is worth being familar with include
* General eating patterns and menus from the past
* Different conditions requiring special dietary planning (e.g. diabetes)
Defining all three levels help to make it clear where the focus of instruction
will be and point the way to assessment tools. It seems to me that the Content
Standards that all disciplines have are really the enduring understandings
piece of this sieve in most cases. Is that true for your disciplines? Because
it sure seems to be the case for science.
I think the Figure 2.2 (p.29) has been helpful to me in clarifying unit
design. Especially the first bullet, "Make the content the answers
to the questions." When I finally figured that out, it became much
easier for me to move from the overarching questions that had no answer,
to tangible things I COULD tackle. I already and had in place most of things
that were important and they should be familiar with. All I had to add was
the overarching theme which ties this unit to others and helps students
see the big picture. Has that happened to any of you when you worked on
units?
It wasn't so much that I wasn't teaching good stuff, I just didn't know
how to glue it all together for kids.
And then the second bullet, "The task and performance standards should
clarify what acceptable pursuit of, and answers to, the questions actually
look like". Don't you think that if you can do all the stuff from above,
the assessment piece is easy? And my experience has been that kids do so
much better at "getting it" when my assessments were designed
before I started instruction rather than afterwards. Sort of like reading
the end of the chapter questions before you read the chapter so you know
what you're reading to find.
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MARY ANNE WROTE:
I have seen several teachers use music in history classes. Using "When
Johnny Comes Marching Home" when teaching about the Civil War. Using
"Big Band" music for WWI, etc. Again, it gives the kids alittle
different view of the time. Have any of you used paintings (art prints)
in various content areas? I have a history teacher who again uses art prints
and photographs in her classroom all the time to get to understand how people
who lived in various time periods saw themselves. This week, I happened
to be helping a new teacher plan an opening lesson on plants. She was sitting
in my office and saw a print of Monte's Iris's on my wall. Her idea was
to have the students chose a flower from a bouquet and draw it before she
taught the lesson, then redo the same project after she taught the particulars.
It certainly would change the kids perspective.
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IVONE REPLIED
Quoting Marsha: " And my experience has been that kids do so much better
at "getting it" when my assessments were designed before I started
instruction rather than afterwards. Sort of like reading the end of the
chapter questions before you read the chapter so you know what you're reading
to find."
I totally agree with you Marsha. I think that it has to do with us knowing
what direction we want to go in. By knowing beforehand and really thinking
things through the kids benefit from our understanding. I look at unit tests
that I created when I first started teaching 8th grade social studies and
I cringe. I do have a big problem with ongoing assessment. Thats what UBD
has made really aware of and hopefully will help me address that.
Ivone
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JOANNE WROTE:
Quoting Mary Anne: "Have any of you used paintings (art prints) in
various content areas? I have a history teacher who again uses art prints
and photographs in her classroom all the time to get to understand how people
who lived in various time periods saw themselves."
This fall our eighth graders will be reading _Call of the Wild_. I plan
on introducing the setting of the novel by using the picture book illustrated
by Ted Harrison of Robert Service's poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee."
Harrison's vibrant colors and deep blues get across the concept of bitter
cold better than many photographs, and, of course, the poem itself makes
the point hilariously. I also plan on using any other photographs and paintings
(anything visual I can find) to enhance the reading. I haven't worked out
the details of how I will incorporate this facet yet, but one idea would
be to have the images slowly rotate in a power point type presentation while
I read a chapter aloud to the group. Or, perhaps read a chapter, then have
a music/slide show of the Yukon. I am trying not to get over zealous and
have impossible expectations of myself this first year, but this is the
sort of thing I see myself doing in the future.
If I were ever to teach Willa Cather's _Death Comes for the Archbishop_
(which I have never read, btw, but know that the Southwest setting acts
as a character in the novel) I would definitely incorporate Georgia O'Keefe's
artwork of the Southwest. I think the two would coincide beautifully.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
AND MARSHA WROTE:
Mary Anne,
I used paintings last year when I did weather. I had a book that I bought
at a museum which showed paintings that went with all sorts of science topics.
So I scrounged around my district for art prints. It was very powerful.
I'll look around for the book if anyone's interested.
Now I'm working with one of our 8th grade teachers on a Civil War unit.
Winslow Homer did all sorts of sketches of battle scenes and civilian life
around that time. So we are trying to come up with a way for students to
see that timeperiod by examining Homer's sketches.
......saw a print of Monte's Iris's on my wall. Her idea was to have the
students chose a flower from a bouquet and draw it before she taught the
lesson, then redo the same project after she taught the particulars.
This would be wonderful. What a great idea. I wonder if they couldn't do
some sort of comparative analysis after the redo project to show how they
changed their first drawing to reflect their learning. Students could take
a digital photo of each drawing couple it with the reflection and put it
in their science portfolio.
Marsha
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MARY ANNE REPLIED:
Marsha--
The digital picture is a great idea. Teacher Created Publications used to
have a series of art prints themed around the Civil War relatively cheap.
I think I paid $14.99 for mine, but that was several years ago. They have
other sets of prints divided by themes like "Communities" and
"Habitats." They are printed on fairly heavy cardboard--heavy
enough that I had to reset the laminator.
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MYRNA WROTE:
Marsha--
Sorry it's taken a why for me to get back with several examples of essential
questions.
One thing that was stressed at the workshop was that the essential question
is arguable; it is intended to lead to more questions. So, some samples
would be:
1. Do people from different cultures tell stories differently or is the
purpose , form and content of storytelling universal?
2. Is a hero without flaws?
3. Can a formula be found for any given data?
4. When is it breaking the rules, when is it bending the rule in sports?
5. What good is a bug?
6. Do only the strong survive?
Each of these questions is supposed to elicit other questions. An interesting
exercise would be to take a question and play with it to see 'what big idea
- or 'enduring understanding' it comes from.
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MARSHA REPLIED:
These examples give so much insight. I think the idea that the essential
questions leads you to so many more questions is a key thing to remember.
Those sub-essential questions could then take the forms of probing, hypothetical,
etc.
I'm game for Myrna's proposed exercise. How about if we play with #4 during
this weekend? (I just proposed this #4 because it was in the middle of her
list and thought it might take us too long to decide on one.) Monday, we
can see what we came up with.
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MARY ANNE WROTE:
Hi all--
While searching for ideas to kick off the school year, I stumbled on this
unit prepared by a teacher using UBD. I was especially impressed with the
way this unit is planned for a considerable length of time. It supports
the idea that an essential question and all the sub-questions are not easily
answerable and should cause some debate.
http://csf.concord.org/esf/Curriculum/Curriculum_DisplayUnit.cfm?ViewID=51
What do you think?
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MYRNA WROTE:
Mary Anne I loved the ideas in this unit and the way the teacher integregated
3 disciplines.( Do you see the arts in here too?) I would love to see some
assessment rubrics for the many tasks.Activities #10 , 4 and 11 are given
the most time and are all performance tasks involving groups. It would be
great to see more on each of these specifically the opportunities given
to the students to give feedback to each other and to the designer.
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DEB WROTE:
Mary Anne wrote:
"While searching for ideas to kick off the school year, I stumbled
on this unit prepared by a teacher using UBD."
I think this is an excellent example of a unit that is truly interdisciplinary
as opposed to "thematic". It's clear that real issues and skills
that relate to the subquestions will be taught/mastered in the disciplines.
When I think about thematic units I've seen on whales, for example, where
the math component meant word problems about whales that could just have
easily been about apples or bears...I am really impressed.
Beginning with the end in mind and generating authentic questions really
seems to be the key.
I agree with Marsha that I'd be interested in seeing the rubrics used by
these folks and possibly some student work samples. Perhaps we can write
to them and invite them to join the list...
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BRENDA WROTE:
The site that Mary Anne just shared with us is fabulous.
I browsed through the Education for a "Sustainable Future Organization"
site as a whole.
http://csf.concord.org/esf/
There is a lot of wonderful material here and it is worth looking at the
free software downloads available here as well. For example:
1) A "What If" Builder: The What-If Builder is a tool to create
decision-tree models, also known as 'Action Mazes,' 'tree literature,' 'plot
branching,' or 'choose your own adventure.
2) Community Planner: The Community Planner is a spatial modeling and visualization
tool for community design and evaluation. Students can create a map of a
neighborhood, town, or community, and analyze the map based on indicators
that they can help define
3) Ecological Footprint Calculator: The Ecological Footprint Calculator
measures our use of nature, by calculating how much land is required to
produce all of the resources we consume, and absorb all of the waste we
produce.
Thank you for teeling us about it, Mary Anne!
I think I'm going to post this on the main list too.
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MORE TO COME!
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