Understanding by Design

Rating:
Summary: ideology you can put to work
Review: "The student ...(believes).. that there is neat and clean knowledge out there and it is my job to learn (i.e., memorize) and use it as directed. A key challenge in teaching for understanding is to make the student's view of knowledge ... more sophisticated by revealing the problems, controversies, and assumptions that lie behind much given and seemingly unproblematic knowledge."

I found this book on the way to another book, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Professional educators often feel the dichotomy between meeting national, state, and local goals and standards, and the real teaching that seems to have nothing to do with district benchmarks or standardized tests.

These authors propose a "backwards design process" that begins with the standards or outcomes desired, but then using these as guidelines to developing essential questions & understandings that actually matter beyond the classroom, then structuring the curriculum around these posed questions. They discuss the difference between covering the material, and using questions to `uncover' the material. They using first hand examples of practice and texts to clearly exemplify what they mean. I found it exciting, inspiring, and extremely helpful.

Rating:
Summary: ideology you can put to work
Review: "The student ...(believes).. that there is neat and clean knowledge out there and it is my job to learn (i.e., memorize) and use it as directed. A key challenge in teaching for understanding is to make the student's view of knowledge ... more sophisticated by revealing the problems, controversies, and assumptions that lie behind much given and seemingly unproblematic knowledge."

I found this book on the way to another book, and I couldn't have been more delighted. Professional educators often feel the dichotomy between meeting national, state, and local goals and standards, and the real teaching that seems to have nothing to do with district benchmarks or standardized tests.

These authors propose a "backwards design process" that begins with the standards or outcomes desired, but then using these as guidelines to developing essential questions & understandings that actually matter beyond the classroom, then structuring the curriculum around these posed questions. They discuss the difference between covering the material, and using questions to 'uncover' the material. They using first hand examples of practice and texts to clearly exemplify what they mean. I found it exciting, inspiring, and extremely helpful.

Rating:
Summary: Completely changed the way I look at teaching
Review: I first learned of this excellent book at a professional development workshop that was offered by my school. I was immediately driven to buy it and learn all that I could about the backwards design process. One year later I find myself planning ALL of my units around enduring understandings and essential questions. It really makes sense that students can demonstrate understanding in various ways, and that it is our duty as teachers to allow them to do that with as many opportunities as possible. This year I finally feel that my students are really connecting with what I want them to learn, and they are seeing the "big picture." I will never design a unit the "traditional" way again!

Rating:
Summary: A good read
Review: McTighe and Williams successfully expound on a subject often mired in philosophical debate: how to assess understanding and evaluate true learning. It is an outstanding framework for developing curriculum intent on extending beyond traditional methods of teaching and preaching to students. The authors contend that true understanding can be assessed by measuring performance against six facets of understanding: explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. These facets are vital to developing curriculum and the authors do an outstanding job of presenting the material in charts, and exercises, making a difficult topic easier to understand. Comparing and contrasting covering material and uncovering knowledge serves to help teachers think like assessors, rather than activity planners. Helpful design tools are included throughout the book and teachers are instructed to evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching with thoughtful and probing questions.

Understanding by Design will serve as my guide for evaluating my own effectiveness as a teacher. I expect to rely on it to gauge my own competency in developing and executing lessons. Examples throughout the book illuminating the practical applications of each of the six facets are well organized and easy to follow. I found the use of keywords and charts especially helpful in furthering my own understanding of how to uncover knowledge. I am confident that if I remain faithful to the tenets of this book, I will be able to put into practice what I believe constitutes effective strategies for learning: student-centered activities which call upon students to question assumptions, draw upon past knowledge, and advance understanding through incremental learning

Rating:
Summary: Teaching so students will truly understand.
Review: This book is excellent reading for teachers, school administrators, and school district managers who are truly interested and concerned with student achievement. Under a discussion of facets of understanding, readers are 'taught' to think like an assessor. An excellent book to use for professional book discussions by school faculities and district administrators. A Must Read for anyone interested in improving student learning or working with change within a school system.

Rating:
Summary: Good instructional design text
Review: This is a pretty good instructional design text. The model is not that revolutionary in instructional design, but for education used to older models of curriculum design, I imagine the ideas might be very revolutionary. It's a practical, usable book.

Rating:
Summary: A very insightful book
Review: Understanding by Design introduces teachers to the three-stage "Backward Design Process," which advocates starting with the end - the desired results (goals or standards) - and then deriving the curriculum from the evidence of learning (performance) called for by the standard and finally, the teaching needed to equip students to perform.

The authors spend a good portion of the book attempting to define the concept of understanding. They present a "multifaceted view of what makes up mature understanding" which consists of six facets. They emphasize that the important point is to realize that "understanding is a family of related abilities." The six facets they use are: Explanation, Interpretation, Application, Perspective, Empathy, and Self-Knowledge. They go on to give examples of the range of understanding, from naive to mature, and how rubrics can assess for these different levels. They also emphasize that understanding is an iterative process, and that the same questions can be asked to students of all ages, with different expectations based on stages of maturity.

These facets play an important role in curricular design, and are woven into all stages of the design process.

I don't feel I'm capable of doing the book justice in this review - there is so much valuable information presented. The points and concepts are all illustrated with concrete examples. The book presents a comprehensive, cohesive plan and template for curricular design, based on solid theory. I am sure I will revisit this book often. It is well-written and easy to follow.

Rating:
Summary: Should have quit while they were ahead
Review: Wiggins and McTighe initial idea about preparing final assessments first and then working from there to structure activities and lessons isn't an all bad idea. There is something to be said for teaching to the material that is going to be tested. Unfortunately for this book, they didn't stop at that point. By trying to take the process one step further and discuss what it means to understand material, the authors have created a fundamental contradiction in the text that is never truly resolved.

The "backwards design" idea is a good idea, overall. Of course there is some danger in this idea too, given that it lends credence to those who think that education should be nothing more than teaching to a test, but overall, the authors have a valid point in that before teachers design activities, they ought to consider exactly what the end goal of those activities is going to be. Why teach everything about something, when there are only a couple of critical ideas that need to be addressed. By using this idea, the authors have addressed that depth in content coverage doesn't necessarily mean spending an entire semester on one idea, but rather by focusing on a couple of key points you can work to insure that a realistic understanding of the material is developed by the students.

This is where the authors should have stopped. Instead, the authors continue on to address a basic point in educational theory, that people learn and develop understanding when the material is something they are truly interested in. In many respects, the authors are bringing up the same point that Gardner addresses in his theory of Multiple Intelligences. Herein lies the basic problem of the text, by allowing students to gain an understanding of something they are interested in, there cannot be an end goal set by the teacher. If the teacher is setting an end goal, if there is a critical point that must be understand and all activities are pointed toward developing an understanding of that end goal, the student is no longer pursuing an end goal that is their own. They are instead pursuing the teacher's end goal.

Because of this inherent contradiction within the text, allow students to find the end goal that interests them the most, as long as that end goal is the same as the end goal set by the teacher, I cannot recommend this book as a means of modeling curriculum design. With the exception of identifying key objectives and understandings and working from there, the book largely creates a problem that is, at this point insurmountable.

Rating:
Summary: Wiggins and McTighe have written a great book!
Review: Wiggins and McTighe provide an outstanding framework for curriculum design and assessment in this book. As they explain, understanding is so much greater than simply knowing. Their six "facets" of understanding will enable students to really understand as the curriculum is "uncovered," rather than being "covered." Advocating that you "begin with the end in mind," the authors explain a design process that is backward to what most people do. You begin with the desired end result, followed by the development of assessment activities, asking "What would count as evidence of successful teaching?" Only after you do this do you begin to consider the design of units, activities, and actual plans. Helpful design tools that can be used throughout the process are also included. One of my favorites is the chart that contrasts the questions that would be asked if you were "thinking like an assessor" to those that would be asked if you were "thinking like an activity designer." I believe this book should be read by any educator concerned about students' understanding and interest in what is taught in school today.