UbD Deeper Dive

Video Transcription

Today, we are going to look at Understanding by Design. For today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Malcolm Forbes, which states, "The purposes of education is to replace an empty mind with an open one."

Now, by the end of the lesson today, you will be able to review the purpose of Understanding by Design and understand the components of Understanding by Design. So first, let's go ahead and take a look at a little overview of UbD. Understanding by Design was developed by Wiggins and McTighe. Now, this curriculum design tool occurs within a number of stages that we'll talk about in just a little bit.

As we look at this design tool, it is largely focused on what's called backwards design. It emphasizes students being able to apply knowledge to those essential questions and then also to the real world. As I said before, there are three stages to Understanding by Design, and those are the elements that we are going to look at.

So stage one-- within stage one of Understanding by Design, this is where the teacher really identifies those desired results. There are four primary components that we're going to want to focus in on. The first is the transfer of goals and competencies. So standards really, in this sense, are reframed as the idea of the what and the why of what it is that we're getting into.

Essential questions are a big part of what we're looking at here. So these are really the kind of big ideas of the various units. There are no right or wrong answers when it comes to essential questions. So to look at the differences between these two, the transfer goals and competencies might look something like students will be able to really look at where various elements of irony are placed within a novel. Whereas, opposed to a central question might be something along the lines of what is it that helps me create my identity.

You're going to want to look at the idea of meaning making and understandings. This is where students are really able to kind of connect with the material and create their own connections. And those knowledge and skills, so what students should be able to know and be able to do by the end of the unit or the course. And these are always really aligned to the standards and written out as those various targets that we want students to reach.

Stage two is where you determine the acceptable evidence. So this is focusing in on how are you going to determine mastery from these students. Students can demonstrate mastery through formative assessments, through various summative assessments, or even, more common within Understanding by Design, performance assessments, so really some of those projects that students can work on to help apply what they're doing outside of the classroom.

You really want to consider the six facets of understanding. So the facet number one is to explain the way in which students can recall those various facts and data. There's interpret, where students are able to really tell meaningful stories. There's applying, adapting the knowledge to other concepts, the ability to have perspective and see that bigger picture. And then, building on that, the idea of being able to empathize-- not only seeing another person's viewpoint, but being able to find value in someone else's views.

And then having that self-knowledge, where students are able to know what they don't know yet, to be able to perceive the way in which they learn. We want to make sure you incorporate opportunities for all six of these facets for understanding. They are hierarchical. They involve a higher level thinking as you progress through the six facets, so explaining is at a much more basic level than having that element of self-knowledge.

Also, teachers can use an acronym known as GRASPS. The G in GRASPS really looks at the goal. So when we're looking at a performance task, what is the goal I have for the student? Is it to engage in a persuasive speech or an informative speech, or to really focused in on what's the overarching goal of the lesson?

The R stands for what is the role of the student. So if we were doing a speech, is the role of the student to be able to get up and be the speaker? Is the role of the student the audience member, and so on?

The A looks for who is the audience for this student. So within this particular speech that we're talking about, is the student looking at various classroom? Are they out speaking with members of the public? Are they speaking to other teachers or people in positions of power?

When we look at the S, we look at what is the situation. So, again, we kind of look back to that idea of the situation of the student to either focus in on persuading, or are they trying to inform us of something? Is this a dinner party as opposed to a board meeting?

The P here is what is the performance. So when we look at that, is the student going to be orally presenting the speech? Are they going to show us some written documents? Will there be a presentation involved with it?

And finally, the S stands for what are the standards for success. So what is the criteria that we're setting in order to see that the students have actually met that goal?

So what I want to do is take a look at just an example of some various assessment activities and see which elements of grasp each one can relate to. So when we look at like vocabulary building cards, where students are finding those, the goal there would be to identify that vocabulary. If we look at the book club, you can see that the role of the student there is as the reviewer, and the audience is going to be other readers. When we look at something like proofreading, the situation there is that students are looking critically at the writing.

If we look at the argument, perhaps the performance there is that students are going to not only turn in an actual written document, but then have to persuade their classmates of the validity of their argument.

Stage three is where you, as a teacher, really starts to determine what you're going to do within that learning plan and how you're going to differentiate those elements so that we're really able to follow. When you develop that learning plan, there's a really helpful other acronym called WHERETO.

Here, the W is the where and why, really focusing in on students understand where the learning is going to take them. The H is to hook and to hold, to engage those students and help them understand the importance of what it is that they are learning. Three is equip. It can also be considered experience, where students really find that they have the tools and the resources that they need to be able to engage with the material.

Four is rethink, reflect, and revise. The E is evaluate, helping to ensure that students have assessments so that they are able to watch and track their learning. T is tailored, making sure that the learning is really personalized for each individual student's needs. And then organize, providing the work in an order that helps really to support that student understanding.

Let's see how we can apply the WHERETO elements for it. So for that where, when we look at something like that book club choice, or Burke's Pentad and literary analysis, looking at those short story questions and answers. Hopefully, that is-- as well as with the different people, different times-- showing students how engaging with those elements of literature can really help inform the understanding of the world around them.

The hook, immediately getting them interested, would be with something like the book club, top book choices. So kids are choosing books that they are excited for. Equip and experience-- I would want to make sure that with those vocabulary and the SQ3R that I'm making sure students have those tools that are necessary to read efficiently and as an expert.

Allowing students the time to reflect, you can see reflected in those areas for brainstorming under proofreading in the argument, as well as evaluating and tailoring. When we look at the various ways in which students can really make these different activities their own-- the vocabulary cards, building them and creating them for themselves, choosing the books that they want. And then the organization-- as you can see, we start off with the very basics, and we continue all the way up to them writing that argumentative essay.

Now, I want to talk briefly about the connections between Understanding by Design and competency-based education. First and foremost, it's important to note that Understanding by Design really supports competency-based education curriculum development, because it really focuses in on those ideas of knowledge, skills, competencies, mastery, and meaning-making, making sure that students have everything that they need to be able to work through all of those various elements.

Consideration when you are working with both of these needs to be given to, first, what the students should know by the end of the lesson or the class, how that information will be assessed, and, finally, what that mastery will look like. How will I determine if you've reached mastery?

Now, although we're really focusing in on the lessons in the classroom, you need to remember that Understanding by Design and competency-based education really puts an emphasis on real-world application so that students can transfer the knowledge that they've learned.

Now that you've reached the end of the lesson, you have been able to review the purposes of UbD, and you've been able to understand the components of UbD. As you think back on this, what do you think would be the most difficult element of incorporating Understanding by Design into your lesson planning?

Now it's your turn to apply what you've learned in this video. The Additional Resources section will be super helpful. This section is designed to help you discover useful ways to apply what you've learned here, and each link includes a brief description so that you can easily target the resources you want.