Week+3

Assignment [|Schoology Course]

Discussion

The steps I would take in designing instruction have definitely changed through the years. I began teaching in 1986. My paradigm was definitely challenged, four years ago, when I read the first edition of our textbook, “Understanding By Design”. We read this book as district leaders and were struck by how seemingly practical the ideas presented were but how terribly difficult they were to implement. Over the past four years we have struggled with finding ways to bring these ideas to teachers and to provide them strategies that would enable them to effectively implement them into their classrooms. I felt we were doing a pretty good job and were well on our way and was excited to revisit this material. Now, after reading the first few chapters again I am wondering how we have really done and I am seeing this information at a new depth after working with it for the past few years. I am questioning whether or not we have really created assessments that are truly assessing our enduring understandings and whether or not we have really helped our students and our teachers understand understanding. We have given it a good effort and we have been successful in many areas but I can see that we still have further to go. We have begun to re-evaluate our efforts by reading another of McTighe’s books, “Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design.” He wrote this with Carol Ann Tomlinson. This book has helped us refocus and provide specific strategies to teachers. We also have read “Checking for Understanding” by Fisher and Frey. This book helped us put the Assessment for Learning pieces into place. Overall I feel the backward design process makes a lot of sense. If we don’t know where we are headed then how do we know when and if we have arrived? I used to plan my teaching and then assess what I felt I taught. Now I try to plan backward by trying to figure out what it is I want my students to come away with and then build my assessment that would let me know they got it and then create my lessons that would help me ensure my students get there. I find that in theory it also provides a more built in success factor for students. A poorly developed lesson leaves them guessing what they were supposed to learn a well developed lesson lets them know they have mastered the material and provides them the means to show that they have done so.

Fisher, D & Frey N. __Checking For Understanding__. ASCD, 2007. Tomlinson, C & McTighe J. __Integrating Differentiated Instruction & Understanding by Design__. ASCD, 2006. Wiggens, G and McTighe J. __Understanding by Design__. Prentice Hall, 2005.