The Big Picture: UbD as Curriculum Framework

In my opinion, this chapter expands the concept of UbD planning to the broader sphere of entire curricula and programs. As the authors point out, the logical order in which one might lay out a summary of the knowledge in a given field is not usually the best order in which to present that material to a beginner. 

I found this chapter to be a lot harder to get through than most of the previous chapters. The authors have already made their central points in the earlier portions of the book.  They devote their attention to  "scope and sequence" curriculum planning without ever defining it; and most of the ideas presented in the chapter have clearly been addressed earlier in the book.

After reading the assigned chapters, I am not sure if this kind of design would be suitable for my context.

Planning for Learning

Regardless of our teaching strengths, preferred style, or habits. Backward design requires that we put to the test any learning activity, against the particulars of Stages 1 and 2 (p.192). We often skip all the way to Stage 3 i.e. planning activities and assessments. The authors argue instead that any type of instruction, like any other aspect of the learning experience, needs to lead to desired understandings.

With respect to the authors’ acronym WHERETO, I  think this aid would work better if the elements were abridged and began with the letter they represent. It would be clearer if rephrased. “W — WHERE are you heading and WHY?” Most students do not know where a lesson or unit is headed in terms of the learning outcomes. It will be advisable to tell students what the desired goals are so they have them in mind.

A review of the literature reveals that the advent of technology has made possible to emerging students' interests and needs, in a “just in time” way. Students can go to a Web site when key information is needed, so that class time can be better spent on a teacher-facilitated inquiry and coaching of performance.

Crafting Understandings

Chapter 6 outlines the ways in which understandings can be distinguished.  Some features are:  important inference and durable learning beyond a specific topic.   The authors claim that understanding requires that students have to propose, test, question, criticize and verify. By doing these students can draw the inference accurately.

It is said that many skills are successfully mastered when they become part of a fluent and flexible repertoire (p.129).  The cornerstone of this notion is the ability to judge which skill can be used to be able to understand the meaning that is between the lines. Here is where UbD can be considered a tool to focus our attention to develop a skill through the so called desired understandings i.e. the student should understand the underlying concepts of a particular skill.

To conclude, when planning the desired results we have to frame understanding not only to restate the topic but also to transfer it to other situations.    

Essential Questions: Doorways to Understanding

The first thing that needs to be said is that questions serve as doorways through which learners explore the key concepts so as to deepen their understanding (p.106).   It is a quite common practice to just ask questions where students must provide an answer that is only focused on the contents dealt in a particular class.  This practice lacks what we have been posting so far - understanding - , most of the time students answer without really thinking what new or prior knowledge is being transferred.  Here is where teachers must take some time and seek for the so called ‘good questions’.  These ones have to trigger meaningful connections with what students are learning or have already learnt.

Even though every single teacher seeks that his/her students relate the contents learnt, it is also true that many of us face a type of student who has not been trained to inquire in the English subject.  Most of them were exposed what the authors have been called – ‘the leading questions’ which cannot be the foundation of a design for understanding because they fixate on facts and demand only recall (p 114).

As a conclusion, we must re-think about how English is being taught in Chile and start making changes within our classrooms.

Gaining Clarity on Our Goals

By way of introduction, our goals are not as clear as we think and this might be due to different kinds of objectives which altogether take place in the classroom. One way to solve this ‘chaotic’ situation is by clearly state our desired results. On one hand, we must identify the learning outcomes and how these understandings will be transfer. On the other hand, enabling knowledge and skills needed to perform a particular task.

Wiggins and McTighe (2005) claim that understandings are the attempts students undergo to make sense of the contents by using inquiry, performance and reflection.  In other words, understanding must be comprehended. This chapter outlines the ways in which we can promote this complex task.  One of these is called ‘enabling skills’ i.e. the abilities the students need to succeed in transferring what they have learnt.

Another issue described in this chapter is the amount of contents which exceeds the time needed to learn them. The authors suggest the concept of ‘unpacking contents’, "by clustering the specifics under two broader conceptual umbrellas containing the big ideas and core tasks" (p.53). The function of big ideas is to establish the learning priorities, they help the facts and skills stick together, and therefore they will remain in the learner’s mind. Moreover, we must seek that each learner grasps the idea and use it to hold together related contents. Core tasks can be understood as the opportunities for learning that are aimed at helping teachers use subject matter knowledge to figure out what their students know, to make questions, to evaluate and modify their textbooks.

Backward Design

The chapter pays particular attention to the fact that most teachers start curriculum planning using textbooks instead of identifying what the learning goals will be. Backward design proposes a change in the starting point, i.e. Teachers should start with the learning outcomes and then plan the curriculum by choosing activities and materials that help students to achieve the learning goals.

Although most of us know that is -a must- to have a clear idea of what our students have to accomplish, it’s also true that time constraints prevent us from dedicating the required time to what has been presented in this chapter as Backward Design. This leads to the question of whether educational institutions are willing to give us the necessary time to plan following the suggested three- stage design, as well as teaming up with our colleagues.

In the suggested model, my concerns are: the fact that it seems quite rigid and the effectiveness of assessment evidence. The former relies upon my teaching, where I have learned that flexibility is a key component to succeed in fostering the desired results. The latter reveals some weaknesses, especially the needed time you have to devote to create the material and the assessment of students’ achievement. This is quite relevant at undergraduate level where each term only lasts 4 months.

All in all, this chapter has aroused my interest of the importance in changing our content-focus design to a more results- focus one.