1. Introduction to UbD Stages 1
February 23, 2015

2. What UbD is NOT!
Philosophy of teaching
Approach to teaching

3. What is UbD?
Key Concepts that drive the planning framework
We are more likely to be goal focused and effective when we plan by design.
Long term goals are more likely reached through assessment and planned instruction.
There is more to assessment than just grading.
Focus of design should be on curricular units rather than on individual lesson plans.
We ask ourselves:
What is the point of our course?
What needs to happen to support our long term instructional goals?
How do we establish desired outcomes and plan backward?
Transforms Standards into learning targets based on big ideas and transfer tasks.
It establishes a continuous improvement model.
“Chance favors the prepared mind”

4. Primary Goals of UbD Student understanding
Making sense of the big ideas and the ability to transfer their learning
Goal is for students to be able to use the stuff, not just learn the stuff, we teach
Evidence of student understanding (stage 2 more later)
Transferring learning through authentic learning and performance (six facets of understanding)

5. Six Facets of Understanding Handout 1 and discussion
Explain
Interpret
Apply
Shift perspective
Empathize
Self assess

6. Key Research Findings to Support UbD
The shift from ‘drill and kill’ to students’ understanding and application
List of facts and formulas to big ideas
Rote memory to understanding underlying principles
Narrow context in which material is initially learned to when it can be used-conditions of application
Summative assessments to regular formative assessments
Assessments for factual knowledge to assessments that check understanding or when, where and why to use that knowledge

7. Introduction to Backward Design handout 3
Identify Desired Results (stage 1)
What should students know, understand and be able to do?
Big idea(s) and guiding questions
Essential questions
Determine Acceptable Evidence (stage 2)
How will we know if students really understand the big idea(s)?
Planning for learning experiences and instruction (stage 3) - General Eisenhower said, “In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.”
What and how in light of performance goals
Sequence of activities
How will we make learning engaging and effective, given goals and needed evidence of understanding?

8. Stage 1 Identifying Desired Results-Designing for Understanding
The goal is to make understanding (transference) more likely by design.
Design for the end (backward design):
What is the big idea?
What is the essential question based on that big idea?
What are the desired outcomes or learning standards/goals?
Keep template out-Document 1

9. Identifying Desired Results Cont. Handout 4
What will students:
Know? (Factual knowledge and Skills)
Understand?
Be able to do?

11. Big Ideas
Big ideas provide the basis for transfer and relevance for the student.
“education with inert ideas is not only useless it is above all things harmful…let the main ideas which are introduced be few and important…” Whitehead 1929
Ex. Newton’s Laws of Motion and Gravitation
Big ideas are abstract and must be discovered by the student, constructed and inferred, all which lead to higher order thinking.

12. Big Ideas Continued Handout 5
The focus is on learning not teaching
Big ideas are enduring understandings, not finished in a lesson, connect lessons throughout the year or years.
Big ideas lead to essential questions

13. Essential Questions
The goal of an essential question is to pursue the question, not necessarily answer it.
The answers students find should only lead to more questions…that’s true learning
Wiggins and McTighe

14. Characteristics of Essential Questions
Open-ended provocative questions designed to guide inquiry and focus instruction for uncovering the important ideas of the content
No simple right answer, meant to be argued and discussed
Lead to more questions
Ongoing rethinking of big ideas
Naturally recurring when learning

15. A Question is Essential When It: Handout 6, 7, 8-activity
Causes genuine and relevant inquiry into the big ideas and core content
Provokes deep thought, lively discussion, sustained inquiry, and new understanding as well as more questions
Requires students to consider alternatives, weigh evidence, support their ideas, and justify their answers
Sparks meaningful connections with prior learning and personal experiences
Naturally recurs, creating opportunities for transfer to other situations and subjects

16. Big Idea vs. Essential Question
Just as a big idea will unpack into multiple essential questions (usually), so an essential question will itself unpack into multiple smaller questions. The smaller questions are not unimportant, but it is crucial to understand how the smaller questions relate to the Big Idea. For instance:
Essential Question: What traits and characteristics are collectively used to determine a classification?
Not an Essential Question: How many legs does a spider have?

17. Take Ten Minutes to Look at Stage 1 on Document 1
Consider questions surrounding
Established Goal(s)
Understanding(s)
Essential Question(s)
What students will know and be able to do
Look at the examples of Stage 1 before and after backward design
Comments?

18. Stage 2 Assessment Evidence
Before we plan the lesson and activities the assessment must be created
Refer back to the Six Facets of Understanding handout

22. Refer to Handouts 9-11
Discuss in your groups

23. Stage 3 Planning the Learning Experience