1. Essential Questions and Understandings Elizabeth Namba and Stacy Stephens Sept. 7th, 2009

2. Today’s Agenda UbD Review - 15 mins Essential Questions - 25 Break - 10 Understandings - 25 Design - 20 Reflection - 10

3. Activity One Making meaning of UbD

4. UbD in a NutShell Based on principal of backward design You start with your goals in mind Design assessments that meet your goals Key is transfer of skills Primary goal is student understanding and meaning making of big ideas Regular review of curriculum against design standards for quality and effectiveness

5. Goals Standards and benchmarks Also any additional aims you have for the class Can be school-wide Department based

6. Essential Questions Does a “good read” differ from a “great book”? What’s the pattern? How can I best represent it? By what criteria should I judge this performance? What does this audience demand of me as a writer, speaker? What is the author’s point? When is proper English absolutely essential and when would it be too stuffy and inappropriate in context? What is a valid interpretation of those historical events? What do I need to understand about the culture to understand the language and vice versa? What is the most helpful feedback I can give here? Why do people eat so poorly if we know so much about nutrition?

7. So, what is an Essential Question? What is your “theory” given these examples? Essential Questions are: Is open ended; has no simple right answer Is meant to be investigated, argued, looked at from different points of view Encourages active “meaning making” Raises other important questions

8. Self Test on Essential Questions What is estivation? To what extent is geography destiny? What is a linear equation? How real and pressing is global warming? What is a “true” friend? What is the point of a semi-colons?

9. Understanding: Activity Two What is understanding and how does it differ from knowing?

10. Understandings No pain, no gain Price is a function of supply and demand Friendships can be deepened or undone by hard times. History is the story told by the winners. F = ma – so weight is not mass Math models simplify physical relations – and even sometimes distort relations – to deepen our understanding of them. The best writing paints a pictures in the readers mind. A good storyteller rarely tells the meaning of the story.

11. So, what is an “Understanding”? What’s your theory given these examples? Understandings are: Meaningful big ideas…the moral of the story Cannot be transmitted, must be “earned” Connects the dots Is transferable to other contexts Is usually not obvious

12. Self-Test for Understanding The cause and effects of the Civil War. The price of an item is a function of supply and demand. Collaborate is spelled with two L’s. No pain, no gain. The associative property means that (a + b) + c = a + (b + c)

13. Activity Three Indicators of Understanding What does understanding look like.... In your groups, take one question and brainstorm your answers.

14. Design Drivers Ed 101

17. Reflect Pg. 286 Review your handout

18. Next Steps What we can do for you? Consider, what you want from us. Determine your goals for the year. e.g. Evaluate all Essential Questions and Understanding e.g. Participate in a peer review session of a unit What can you accomplish today? PE with Elizabeth at 2:15 Science with Stacy at 2:15 Math with Elizabeth at 3pm Humanities 6 with Stacy at 3pm

19. Citations All images via Microsoft ClipArt Authentic Education UbD 101 Summer Institute Workbook, 2009 McTighe and Wiggins, Understanding by Design. Professional Workbook, ASCD 2004