Chapter 8: Grading and Reporting Achievement

Chapter 8 of Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction dealt with grading and reporting achievement. It is perfectly reasonable for parents to want to know how their children are doing, as much as it is important for students to receive informative and helpful feedback on their work. The chapter emphasizes that it’s important, however, not to let the grade get ahead of the assessment. The purpose of assessment is to measure a student’s achievement. While reporting and recording this has value both when examining a particular individual’s development and looking at statistics about achievement, the main value of assessment (to teachers, anyway) is to know what needs to be done better. Of course, grading is the part of assessment that teachers face the most pressure about – it is grades, after all, that determine if a student goes to college. That is why the principles of grading are so important. Grading with valid evidence on established criteria is important so students can understand the fairness of grading, rather than succumbing to suspicions of favoritism or arbitrary randomness. The warning to stay away from raw averages is also valid. The emphasis on reporting systems that support standards and differentiation is good for students because they get assessment of their achievement that suits them, rather than judging a dog by horse standards, for example.

Chapter 9: Curriculum and Instruction Through the Lens of UbD and DI

Chapter 9 of Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction was intended as a wrap-up of the Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction models. For me, the most helpful parts of the chapter were the ones that described the health unit according to the models. The chapter definitely made it clear that using these models is not an easy process – it takes systematic planning and dedication, but it is absolutely worth it to help the students succeed. The chapter warns against letting us cower in our comfort zones and make steps to keep learning new things. I personally am ruing the fact that it’s irresponsible of me to learn Spanish, but I recognize that it’s probably going to be important for me to make that step someday. I think I need to work more on curriculum planning, as that’s where I feel I’m having the most trouble.

Chapter 7: Teaching for Understanding

The highlight of Chapter Seven of UbD/DI was the explanation of WHERETO. The WHERETO framework has seven sections with a few questions to consider for each one. The first focuses on what is being taught, why it’s worth knowing, and what evidence will show the learning. The second focuses on hooking and holding the learners’ attention. The third aims at equipping students to master standards and making learning experiences to help develop and deepen understanding. The fourth encourages learners to rethink, revise, and refine their ideas throughout their lives. The fifth point urges student self-evaluation. The sixth focuses on tailoring activities and instruction to differentiated learners. The last aspect of WHERETO is organization, or the order in which teachers address parts of instruction. The other part of the chapter that really struck me well was the rejection of the “ladder” metaphor for education.

Chapter Six: Responsive Teaching with UbD

Chapter Six of UbD/DI was mostly a series of tables offering instructional and management strategies. Mortimer Adler’s division of the teacher’s three key instructional roles (direct instructor, facilitator, and coach) makes a lot of sense, and the table that offers the students counterroles to each of the teacher’s roles. Since we’re doing all of this Stage 1 and Stage 2 stuff, I thought it was a really interesting idea to share the information on our sheets with the students – after all, making education a series of surprises for students doesn’t seem to make that much sense now that I think about it. The idea of flexibly using classroom elements as a way to address student needs was interesting too, especially on the topic of space. I was really struck with the efficiency of clustering learning needs together and addressing them as groups. It looks like a lot of work, but using these elements in my classroom will be really helpful.

Chapter 5: Considering Evidence of Learning in Diverse Classrooms

This chapter was packed with great things to keep in mind. The one that really popped out at me was GRASPS, mostly because I’ve heard the term before but never had it explained to me. All of these mnemonic devices in our books are going to be very helpful. Also very helpful to me were all the tables, like the one comparing authentic and inauthentic work. The 3 assessment principles will be used in my classroom – they make sense, but I hadn’t exactly thought of them or put them into words yet.

Chapter 4: What Really Matters in Planning for Student Success?

Chapter 4 was a handy laundry list of teaching attitudes and skills that teachers should strive to be. I was somewhat surprised by how much importance was attributed to including students in classroom decisions around their own learning. I still have the mental paradigm that students are trying to get out of work, but I imagine that the other elements of DI and UbD would soften the relation between students and teachers. The advice that seemed most helpful to me was building awareness of what works for each student. I really like the idea of having a fact base for each student that helps me remember how they learn best.

Chapter 3: What Really Matters in Learning? (Content)

This chapter plainly explained the scope of our essential standards by giving two examples that were too big and too small, and making them correct. The clear description of the 3 Stages plan was very helpful, especially as I was making my key understandings and essential questions. I’m glad they pointed out the “twin sins” of classroom planning and teaching – that’s good to know. I can imagine it might be easy to accidentally slip into those habits, and it doesn’t seem like it would be easy to get back on track. The planning template is something that would be very helpful to use in a classroom.

Chapter 2: What Really Matters in Teaching? (The Students)

This chapter definitely forces the focus towards the students, where it should be. The examples the chapter gave of students who have barriers that need accommodation were striking. The example of Noah, who couldn’t sit still at his desk because he was a physical learner, really stood out to me as a fidgeter myself. I remember putting a lot of effort into suppressing that motion instead of putting the effort into learning, and I’m glad people are starting to pay attention to what really matters in a classroom. The chart in the chapter shows how much variation there is in any given classroom.

Chapter 1: UbD and DI: An Essential Partnership

The seven axioms and their corollaries presented in Chapter 1 definitely do explain that Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction go hand in hand with one another. It seems like Understanding by Design could probably merit some explanation, as I don’t know if I completely understand what it is just yet. I agree with all of the axioms presented. I really agree with Axiom 3 – work and activities that seem pointless and don’t apply to one’s life are really bad for learning. I definitely see that the benefit of a good classroom comes only with a lot of concentration and deliberate planning.