Understanding By Design
Years ago, at the onset of my teaching career, I was told to “teach to the test". Regrettably, I interpreted this guidance too literally. I focused solely on aligning my lessons with the content of the impending test, neglecting to ensure that my students engaged with the material beyond mere memorization. Over the years, my teaching methods have evolved, yet it was not until this particular assignment that I grasped the essence of "teaching from the test." Frankly, I believe many educators I've encountered may also share the challenge in fully comprehending this concept.
The Understanding by Design (UBD) template has afforded me the opportunity to delve deeply into identifying the authentic learning needs of my students. This framework has empowered me to take a step back and meticulously plan the instructional process, in order to reward students with a more effective and beneficial learning experience ( Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).
Adapted from Wiggins, G.P. & McTighe, J (2008)
When designing a course, we collect information and decide on the teaching approach to ensure an engaging and impactful learning experience for students. Following a systematic course design process, ensures we touch base on each step needed to create a significant learning environment (Fink, 2003). Fink’s design process ensures that we recognize, not only learning goals, activities, and assessments, but also situational factors and how they may affect the teaching/learning process. While completing my 3-column chart I found it allowed me to focus more on a specific lesson. It allowed me to work backwards from goal to activities to ensure that all portions of a lesson are connected with the end goal.
Understanding by design is similar to Fink’s design process in creating a backwards journey through the planning process. This design sent me through 3 steps. Each step feeding off of the previous. Similar to Fink’s design, step 1 requires us to obtain a clear picture of our goals. Different from Fink’s design, step 2 of understanding by design had me focus on what would prove the goals were met. The authors state that having a firm hold on these steps gives way to the planning of appropriate instructional activities (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). The understanding by design template allowed me to focus on what my entire unit could look like verses 1 lesson.
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My innovation plan revolves around accommodating the diverse learning styles and abilities of students. By incorporating Fink’s design process and the Understanding by Design framework, I aim to meticulously tailor my lesson planning to cater to these variations in student learning. Particularly, Fink’s emphasis on situational factors will enable me to intricately analyze the composition of my classroom and address the individual learning requirements of each student. This approach can be effectively integrated into both the 3-column chart and the UBD template.
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I appreciate the veracity of both designs and I believe they could be used in conjunction to create a solid foundation within the curriculum. Considering the past few years of planning with grade level teams and curriculum leads, I don’t think we’ve ever gotten as detailed with our lesson planning. The backward design process allows us to truly reflect on the end goal of our teaching and ensure that all activities and assessments align with that goal. By starting at the endpoint and working our way back, we can guarantee that every step we take in the classroom leads our students towards mastery of the desired learning outcomes. Acknowledging all aspects mentioned in both designs will help ensure that we are teaching with intent and purpose, ultimately creating a more enriching experience for our students.
References
Fink, L.D. (2003). A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. In M. G. Moore (ED.), Handbook of distance
education
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Wiggins, G.P., & McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design, Expanded 2nd Edition.Pearson.