SED 407 Reading Assignment: Understanding by Design Ch 1, Modules A & F

(Figure credit: S thibeau, Creative Commons)  

        Chapter 1 of Understand by Design introduced the concept of Backward Design. Backward Design is an approach to developing curriculum that starts with the desired results of learning first, followed by choosing assessment criteria or “acceptable evidence” that learning has occurred, and ending with the planning of activities and instruction. This approach is considered “backwards” since many teachers start with a text, activity, or some other curriculum material and build their lessons from there. Module A: The Big Ideas of UbD went into more detail about the process of Backward Design, while Module F: Essential Questions and Understandings described how to distill the essence of big ideas into the “essential questions and understandings” that are an important component of Backward Design.

Overall I think the concept of Backward Design sounds great – it’s logical, focused, and useful for teachers and students. The nutrition unit example was particularly helpful, and I wish the text had launched into it sooner and had more examples of that nature. Of all of the readings, I felt like UbD Module F was the most useful, since the process of turning “big ideas” into “essential questions” seemed a little nebulous. After going through the various sections and activities that distinguished the essential questions from the non-essential and clarified the concept of enduring understandings, I felt like there was more nuance to the process of Backward Design than what I had assumed. I actually just completed an assignment on the Next Generation Science Standards in another class, and I recognized that the performance standards of the discipline core areas were based on what UbD would describe as essential questions. I’m not sure if I’ve seen Backward Design in action from our brief class visits, but I plan on looking for evidence of it and asking more informed questions about curriculum development when I have a chance to speak to teachers again.

Although I appreciated the concepts, I did have some criticisms of the readings. I found them repetitive and the ideas over-explained for what seemed like a rather straightforward concept. I was also expecting a clear progression and relationship between the figures in Chapter 1. For example, I was looking for some sort of overlay between Figure 1.1 Stages in the Backward Design Process, the filters described in the text, and Figure 1.2 Establishing Curricular Priorities. I found it confusing that the overlap wasn’t well defined until Figure 1.6. I was also left confused about what constitutes “authentic” work -- it sounds like an empty catch phrase.

I thought I’d leave everyone with a couple of general questions I thought of while I was reading:

·   Did you see any evidence of Backward Design in our class visits or in your own education?

·   Do you think the Understanding by Design authors used Backward Design when they were writing of the text? (This one is a little facetious, but I am curious to see if anyone was as annoyed by the organization of the text as I was)