Understanding by Design in

Columbia Heights Public Schools

Outcomes

Define big idea, enduring understanding, essential question, skill

List examples of each in your content area

Given a state benchmark in a content area, identify the big idea, enduring understanding, essential questions, and associated skills.

Explain the reason we are separating unit design into 3 stages.

1. Identify desired results

3. Plan learning experiences

& instruction

Understanding by Design

2. Determine acceptable evidence

Why “backward”?

The stages are logical but they go against habits

We’re used to jumping to lesson and activity ideas - before clarifying our performance goals for studentsBy thinking through the assessments upfront, we ensure greater alignment of our goals and means, and that teaching is focused on desired results

What is a map?A map offers a calendar of designs in a school or district, unit by unit, over the course of the year

Maps can be as simple or complex as you like: simply select the template fields you wish to see “mapped” over timeMaps can be viewed or downloaded as a spreadsheetMaps can be works in progress - e.g. local work only on essential questions done so far: see map of all essential questions, by date, grade level, etc.

Why map?Maps help teachers and schools-

Ensure that key state standards are not falling through the cracksKnow what the big ideas are in units and courses across the systemFind natural ways to link their work with that of other teachers, to make the student’s experience more rich and coherentIdentify unhelpful redundancies or gaps in program that happen from isolated design

You’ve got to go below the surface...

to uncover the really ‘big ideas.’

The big ideas provide a way to connect and recall

knowledgeThe Parallel

postulateS.A.S.

Congruence

A2 + B2 = C2

Like rules of a game

Like Bill of Rights

Big Idea: inference

“Big Ideas” are typically revealed

via – Core conceptsOn-going debates/issuesInsightful perspectivesIlluminating paradox/problemOverarching principleUnderlying assumption Key questions Insightful inferences from facts

Examples of Big Ideas

PatternsBalanceAdaptationCommunityInventionPerspectiveRepetitionLoyalty

Culture

Change

Cycles

Rhythm

Fairness

Friendship

Harmony

Discovery

Some questions for identifying truly “big

ideas”Does it have many layers and nuances, not obvious to the naïve or inexperienced person?

Can it yield great depth and breadth of insight into the subject? Can it be used throughout the school system?

Do you have to dig deep to really understand its subtle meanings and implications even if anyone can have a surface grasp of it?

Is it (therefore) prone to misunderstanding as well as disagreement?

Does it reflect the core ideas as judged by experts?

From Big Ideas to Understandings about

themAn understanding is a

“moral of the story” about the big ideas

What specific insights will students take away about the the meaning of

‘content’ via big ideas?

What will they remember 3 years later?Understandings summarize the desired insights we want students to realize

Understanding, defined:

They are...specific generalizations about the “big ideas.” They summarize the key meanings, inferences, and importance of the ‘content’deliberately framed as a full sentence “moral of the story” –

“Students will understand THAT…”

Require “uncoverage” because they are not “facts” to the novice, but unobvious inferences drawn from facts - counter-intuitive & easily misunderstood

Understandings: examples...

Great artists often break with conventions to better express what they see and feel.Price is a function of supply and demand.Friendships can be deepened or undone by hard timesRules are made to protect peopleHistory is the story told by the “winners”F = ma (weight is not mass)Math models simplify physical relations – and even sometimes distort relations – to deepen our understanding of themThe storyteller rarely tells the meaning of the story

Knowledge vs. Understanding

An understanding is an unobvious and important inference, needing “uncoverage” in the unit; knowledge is a set of established “facts.”Understandings make sense of facts, skills, and ideas: they tell us what our knowledge means; they ‘connect the dots’

Just because the student “knows it” …

Evidence of understanding is a greater challenge than evidence that the student knows a correct

or valid answer

Essential Questions

What questions –are arguable - and important to argue about are at the heart of the subjectrecur - and should recur - in professional work, adult life, as well as in classroom inquiry?raise more questions – provoking and sustaining engaged inquiryoften raise important conceptual or philosophical issuescan provide organizing purpose for meaningful & connected learning

Whose “story” is it?

Who is an American? Who says?

Essential Questions in

History

Is “all fair” in war

(internment)?

WW II

Who should get

Green cards?

80’s 60’s

How much does race matter?

Sample Essential Questions:

Who are my true friends - and how do I know for sure?How “rational” is the market?Does a good read differ from a ‘great book’? Why are some books fads, and others classics? To what extent is geography destiny? Should an axiom be obvious?

How different is a scientific theory from a plausible belief?What is the government’s proper role?

SkillsDivided into what the students will KNOW

and be able to DO

Know – they can tell or explain

Do – they can show you

Two Kinds of Skills

Declarative

The student knows or understands:

The meaning of the musical terms piano, forte, crescendo, and diminuendo

The defining characteristics of a fairy tale

How regions change over time and the consequences of these changes

Procedural

The student is able to:

Use standard notation to record musical ideas

Write stories or essays that convey an intended purpose

Use map grid lines to plot absolute location

How do the four fit together? Why

bother?

Big Idea

Enduring Understandi

ng

Essential Questions

1. Identify desired results

3. Plan learning experiences

& instruction

3 Stages of (“Backward”)

Design

2. Determine acceptable evidence

Misconception Alert:the work is non-linear

It doesn’t matter where you start as long as the final design is coherent (all elements aligned)

Clarifying one element or Stage often forces changes to another element or StageThe template “blueprint” is logical but the process is non-linear (think: home improvement!)

!

Why is curriculum mapping not putting yourself out of a job?

Maps are unit level views.

You make the daily instructional choices.

We all benefit from your ability to differentiate and adjust to meet the needs of kids.

You bring the planned curriculum to life.

The reason the students are engaged in learning is the teacher, not solely the curriculum.

Please agree to

Considering novel ways to think about instruction and learning in your classroom.

Contributing to a healthy learning environment in this room.

Managing yourself so that maximum productivity is possible for all.

Complete credit is due to: