UbDDI+B2+Chapter+9

Abstract by Eric Cole
This chapter is mainly a review of all that we have learned in the previous chapters. It first starts off with a review of the essential parts of Backwards Design: Identify Goals, and Big Ideas of the Unit, determine acceptable evidence that students are learning, plan leaning experiences and instruction, keep in mind the multiple learning styles, address the needs of the learner, review and make clear the learning goals for the lesson over and over, use periodical assessment to monitor student learning, and to change the lesson as needed, gather evidence of learning in multiple ways. The chapter then went into a [|professional lesson plan] done using backwards design that we can use as a reference. It then reiterated that we have to keep in mind all learning styles, and design lessons that everyone can get something out of. Finally, this chapter went into a list of all the things that a UbD classroom should look like, and all the things that a UbD classroom should be.

Synthesis by Eric Cole
Based on everyone’s responses it seems that everyone in class pretty much agrees on three things. 1: We all agreed that this chapter was pretty much a summery of what we had already read before multiple times, and while it was helpful to read it again and gain even more of an understanding of what backwards design is, we didn’t really learn anything new. 2: We all pretty much agreed that it was helpful to have the professional lesson plan using backwards design in the book. It is a good resource to have and look back on as we create our own lessons. 3: Once again, we all pretty much agreed and stated that we will all use [|backwards design], and differentiated instruction in our classroom.

Jared Boghosian
I did not particularly learn anything remarkably new from this chapter. There were a few principals that teachers who differentiate and use backwards design. Unfortunately the first three principles are just stages 1, 2, and 3 of backwards design. I did find figure 9.1 was a useful resource for giving me an idea of what to expect from a differentiated lesson plan. It is good to know that when differentiating a lesson plan using the backwards design model the second and third stages should be switched so that there is more flexibility with the assessments based on the performance of students in the lesson work. Differentiated versions of an activity do not seem as hard as I thought they would be. You simply have to scale the expectations towards the students' levels of understanding. Mostly review in this chapter but I will keep the differentiation of the activities close to my mind.

Sarah McGinley
Understanding by Design Chapter 9: Bringing It All Together: Curriculum and Instruction through the Lens of UbD and DI 2/9/10

The essential goals of Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction can get a little complicated. This chapter is more of a review of how to use the backward design. This is something we have been working on all semester and this chapter sums up how it works. Backwards design is a great way to make sure you have covered everything that you need to in order to create a good lesson plan. Differentiated Instruction also needs a lot of attention because this is an important way to teach the students understanding of the content area. This is a great planning process and a great tool to use in the classroom. With the use of Differentiated Instruction my students are going to be more focused and engaged which makes my teaching more effective. By the end of this course I will be able to use both Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design in my classroom.

Jared Merrifield
Chapter 9: Bringing It All Together

This chapter acted primarily as a brief synopsis of the previous chapters, but it was different in that it went more in depth as to how UbD and DI should be applied in a classroom with regards to curriculum and instruction. It provides a brief example of each key component, and also an entire unit plan based around those components. The unit plan follows (almost) the exact same layout we have been using for our own lessons-in-progress, so it was quite easy to comprehend. In fact, it might help us formulate and improve upon our own lessons later, for we have a prime example sitting in front of us. What was most helpful about the unit plan was that it was of course several lessons collaborated into the unit; thus there was a variety of performance tasks. This could encourage and inspire us to be more original and creative with our own lesson planning. After the unit plan, the chapter gave examples of “exceptional” students to illustrate the necessity and effective of differentiated instruction. This reminded me of a program to which we were introduced in one of Dr. Theresa’s classes called SimSchool, which simulates a classroom giving each student different interests, learning styles, and levels of mastery. Most of the rest of the chapter seems to be more of the same, only it uses prime classroom examples and solutions to various hindrances in the classroom. It provides a very effective and in-depth summary of practically the whole book, reiterating the key points for a clearer understanding of its various concepts. This chapter also helped to alleviate my fear of teaching a class of students with varying mastery or competency levels, and I will surely refer back to it in the future, if I ever find myself in a tight situation.

Jason Malbon
In this chapter, we get to see how to bring UbD and DI methods together. Now that we’ve read most of the UbD book, it is difficult to separate the two models. We have lived Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction for weeks. The backwards model is clearly the current and future wave of education as is differentiated instruction. I see the value of the backward model from a standards viewpoint. If you start with the standards in designing curriculum, you can hardly be accused of not following them. The author summarizes the principles, referring to such ideas as; “Determine acceptable evidence of student learning” and “Regard learner differences as inevitable, important, and valuable in teaching and learning.” (p.142) Above all, I want to bring a deep sense of inclusion and foster a safe environment. If I can use any of these theories to create a nurturing, supportive classroom, I will. We get a glimpse of some lesson plans which showcase several accommodations for MI learners. Keeping lessons short and simple are clearly the most successful and easy to follow course.

Sarah Robinson
This chapter 9 makes some very good points on how to use backward design and differentiation in the classroom. Something that really jumped out to me in this chapter is the statement that teachers should be able to understand what students know, and be able to work with this information to make the unit better. This chapter also states that teachers need to make sure that each student has full access to essential knowledge, understanding, and skill in each segment of study. This is very important to ensure a students success of the content being taught. When gathering evidence of what a student has learned a teacher must give a student options to how they want to express their learning. This chapter has taught me that, and it is something I know I will use in my future classroom. This chapter listed three major goals that a teacher must use when using the backward design process. These three major goals are first “what is essential for the student to know, understand, and be able to do at the end of the unit, and number two is, what will constitute evidence that students know, understand, and can do those things, and lastly the steps necessary to guide students to the desired outcomes” (153). By keeping these three goals in mind a teacher will be able to make a lesson plan that can teach every student of different learning styles fairly easily. This chapter has also impacted my future classroom because I know I will want to make sure that all my students understand the assessment they must complete, and the big ideas of the unit. As a teacher this chapter has taught that it is important to gather information on what the interests are of the students so the teacher can build a lesson plan that is more appealing to the students interest. This chapter also touches on how it is important as a teacher to gives students the chance to express other ways of accomplishing the goals. As the example given in the book about a class learning about nutrition it is important to make sure that students know the basic before going to far into an assignment where they could get lost and not want to work anymore.

Susanna Cooper
I really liked this chapter. It pulled all the puzzle pieces together and it all makes sense. It was also nice that we have not only learned, but also started doing this stuff in class. So I am not just reading about it, but can relate to what the book was saying. The hook that was used for the weight watchers, health unit presented in the book was so cool. Teens are very self conscious about how they look, so to start off a unit on whether the foods you eat affect your zits would be an awesome intro that would suck the students right in. I totally agree with the statement that the chapter made about differentiation in the class room. This chapter made it clear that it is better to let differentiation evolve throughout a unit, instead of splitting groups up or assuming students will need to be in a lower group from the start, due to past work. I think that sometimes the units we teach affect students differently, and so even if they are usually behind everyone else, give them the benefit of the doubt and have everyone start on an equal page. This gives the students a fresh start to see where they are at, and the pre-assessment will tell you whether the students really need differentiation for this unit. I also liked the point about how the health lesson description in the chapter all flowed together in a “teaching fashion” instead of a “planning fashion” right now I don’t feel like my lessons flow together the way this example did. I liked being able to see an example of a finished UbD lesson unit, so that I can get a feel of how mine will resemble when all my parts are done and ready to present.

Mike Lawson
Chapter 9: UbD/DI As stated in the book understanding by design and differentiated instruction are hard concepts to learn about. So reading about these two “multifaceted” building blocks of teaching would also be difficult, and it is. This is why it is nice to get a chapter that sums it all up. This chapter gives the reader a good overview of what a teacher using both UbD and DI well should do. Tomlinson and McTighe provide almost three full pages of examples of basically the perfect teacher (according to UbD /DI standards). The three pages serve perfectly as almost a check list for teachers. We should be memorizing all of these little details so we can implement them as teachers. Our goal should be to correctly and efficiently use differentiated instruction to reach all learners and create a higher-learning environment. However the next best thing to remembering all the details of UbD/DI is remembering the big ideas that should always be seen in the classroom. The example of a lesson plan is really useful. Being able to look at a lesson plan that is set to the standards of UbD/DI is great. The list at the end of the lesson is very detailed. I knew that lesson plans were detailed, but this thing is planned out to the very last second of class. As a teacher I will create detailed lesson plans as well incorporating all the elements from our reading. Using all of these theories and tactics will help me focus on each individual learner to make sure they are learning effectively.

Alicia Kenison
In this chapter, Tomlinson and McTighe described how the backwards planning and differentiation works together. As teachers we must identify, determine, plan, regard, address, view, use, employ, and gather. We have the tools, but we must learn how to employ them to the needs of all our students. Big ideas are important. They lead to the big picture, but if we don’t apply them properly so we assure that all our students learn. Tomlinson provided a performance task rubric so we have an example to go by. A performance task is something to keep track of throughout the whole unit. We must always start with a pre-assessment to diagnose what we need to cover in the lesson. I always like how my teachers came up with fun, interactive games to test us on what we know and what we need to learn. They pre-assessed us without having us know that we were even being tested. This way all the anxiety was lifted. From the pre-assessment we discover how we need to carry out a plan and with differentiation we realize how to help each individual. Tomlinson warned us about the two primary purposes, (1) ensuring maximum growth and (2) providing adequate flexibility. In these purposes we must think about the indicators of environment, curriculum, teacher, and learners. If all these indicators work together success will happen and we, as teachers will try to strive for success.

Amanda Fitzpatrick
This chapter went into more depth on the meaning of the backwards design model. It clarified a lot of questions that I have had along the way of designing our three stages, and served as a good closer for what we are in the process of doing. The "newest" portion of the chapter was the list of things that classrooms should have in order to be considered differentiated. This list encompassed the learning environment, teacher, student, and the curriculum. These lists made it more real for me, as I could see myself in a classroom trying to make sure each of the points were prevalent in my classroom, as I understand that because these points will benefit my students. I also enjoyed how this chapter reiterated what we are doing in class, but in a different way with different vocabulary. The chapter did not just come out and tell the reader that they were learning about stage one or stage two, it said that a certain section was, for example, thinking of the questions we want our students to answer and what they want to understand (which is obviously Stage one) and gave deeper understanding of that section before moving on to making assessments that will assure that your students will understand what you want to teach them. This chapter did a great job at diving deeper into the backwards design model and other ways to incorporate differentiated instruction into your classroom. This will definitely be a chapter that I will visit again.

Scott Bowden
All about different ways for students to express their interest in the 8 intelligences, this chapter brings up activity centers. Activity centers are ways for students to express their abilities in each intelligence as they so please. This idea is good in nature, but I would find it rather difficult to implement a "learning center" in my classroom. For elementary school, this is perfect because teachers have students all day and have less structure. Since I only have my students for a max of 120 minutes at a time, doing this takes up time that I need to teach and having my students learning a topic. I like the idea, but I doubt I could effectively implement it in my classroom for the lack of time and space I would have. The only possibility would be the temporary learning area for topic-specific activities. I could pick the places and let students have one or two days out of the unit to express it in a way of their choosing, but it wouldn't be a permanent fixture in my classroom. But I would be willing to return it for each topic if my students are interested in it too.

Diana Quinlan
While I was reading this chapter I realized that I was not learning anything new really. All the information that was being presented I have already read in this book as well as in //Multiple Intelligences// and //Fair Isn’t Always Equal.// Basically Chapter nine is reiterating the importance and effectiveness of the backwards design model. This particular model is great for making sure you cover all your bases as a teacher and making sure students know exactly what is expected of them. This chapter also shows how the backwards design model and differentiate instruction go hand in hand. Tomlinson and McTighe stress the importance of planning pre, and formative assessments in the lesson plans so that teachers can accurately differentiate for students who need it. After reading this chapter I am not so afraid to use differentiation in my classroom. I do not think it will be as difficult as I originally though it would be.

Eric Cole
This entire chapter is just a rehash of things that we have read before in the book all put together into one pot. This chapter reiterates the different phases of Backwards Design, which we are currently practicing. It restates that lesson plans need to have a wide range of assessments, and be catered towards all learning styles. The only interesting part was the lesson plan that it provided using Backwards Design. I think this will be extremely useful to us as we put our lesson plans together. Yes, we do have the lesson plans of prior students as a reference as well, but to have a professional lesson plan made out to look at is a huge help. Other than this, I really didn’t get a lot out of the chapter because I have read it all, and reflected on it all before.