Understanding by Design Template
Using the Understanding by Design Template adapted from Understanding by Design by Wiggins and McTighee made the design process for the first unit with our new TEKS very methodical and took out a lot of the overwhelm I was feeling as my team and I prepare for next year's new TEKS. We have built our lessons over the years based on student feedback, teacher observations, and student performance data to create lessons that were engaging and helpful in clearing up misconceptions before they really took root in a learners mind. With the new TEKS we have felt anxiety about having to build those lessons with the same depth and rigor we had in our old units of study. While nothing can replace refining units of study over time to be better suited to learners and their interests, completing this design template focused our efforts and learning activities to give a strong foundation to the learning that can be refined throughout the learning process.
3-Column Table
vs.
UbD Template
My thoughts on each learning opportunity planner and its uses.
In order to create this 8th grade chemistry unit design template, I started with a 3-Column table based on Fink's 3-column table. This table is very simple and straightforward, making it a great choice for keeping learners and educators on the same page with learning outcomes and expectations. This 3-column table allowed for unit and lesson goals to be clearly identified with the learning activities and assessments clearly outlined. This table functions almost as a checklist and keeps central ideas and goals very central to the learning. Using this model learning is broken up into small easily achievable chunks that can serve to motivate students as they move the process of learning because they can easily see their gains in knowledge and skills. They will have a clear road map of all they have overcome and will be able to build up their academic grit through encouragement and growth mindset principles.
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While the Fink's 3-column table is simple, the UbD template is more complex and detailed. I don't think this to be suitable to share with learners as it does break the lessons into explicit details that could be very overwhelming for younger learners like my students. This template is incredibly important to lesson design though. The "WHERE TO" acronym to include each lesson component while keeping the main goals and essential questions central is a game changer for my lesson design process now, especially while navigating new Science TEKS. I can't rely on past knowledge, experience, and student feedback so thinking through the lesson from the essential question all the way down to how I will scaffold and support struggling learners and differentiate and personalize learning is very helpful. I think of the UbD template as a freshly sharpened spear that is used by educators to cut right to the heart of the essential question and learning goals in order to improve understanding of not only the content, but the process of learning the learner is involved in to build effective student driven learning and self-efficacy.
As I designed this lesson using both Fink's 3-column table and the UbD template I can clearly see the benefit of each one. Each method of planning has its merits and will be used as an integral part of my unit design process from now on. I think the 3-column table is best suited for laying out the goals, learning activities and assessments, and to create the essential question(s) for the unit easily. It is also going to be extremely helpful in guiding learners to take ownership of their learning and see the big picture they are working towards with all their work. By using this 3-column table learners will no longer feel that their learning is disjointed and "busy work", which allows for a more open mindset when faced with difficulties in their learning journey.
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While the 3-column table is best for whole unit composition and design, I think utilizing the UbD template is the best way to design lessons within each unit of study. As I described the benefits of UbD above, it is clearly useful in creating effective lessons and units, but I think the amount of detail that is required to complete this template to its fullest potential takes too much time to be feasible to create all at once. Personally speaking, I would get so bogged down in creating lesson outlines in this template that I would never be able to finish it within the time constraints I have in my daily teaching. However, breaking down lessons into these detailed pieces would not be as time consuming and overwhelming so I see this being a very important lesson design tool. I noticed that this template made it much easier to focus my thinking on the essential question as I created a unit outline and my ADHD lead me off track much less often. I think during this whole process I may have been off-task one time instead of my typical ten or more times when designing units and finding/creating learning activities and assessments.
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Both design templates keep the learning goals central to the design and learning process, which creates more effective learning environments in which both educators and students are able to focus efforts on understanding the most important concepts without getting bogged down in the extra stuff or skills that are not necessarily important to the overall understanding of the knowledge and skills that are needed. While both can be useful to the design process, the user should be careful to use them in ways that are most effective to their way of thinking and teaching style. These templates should guide your thinking and create less stress and overwhelm and should be used only as long as it is helpful. I personally think the 3-column table will best suit me for laying out units of study in a cohesive way that can then be shared with students to document their own progress within the unit. I will use the UbD template when planning lessons, in which I will need to dive into the what, how, and why (or applications) of the learning because I see how useful this is to keeping a lesson on track with the essential question or big ideas. When I completed this template for an entire unit I noticed that I was able to detail an entire unit and feel empowered and completely prepared to teach the lessons as soon as I needed to, but found that this process would be too time consuming to attempt mid year in teaching due to time constraints. The principles shared with you here should be adapted to fit your needs because both of these tools are important organizers in keeping the big idea central to everything you do.
Resources:
Wiggins, G. & McTighee, J. (2005). Introduction, Chapter 1, & Chapter 3. In N. Modrak & J. Houtz (Eds.), Understanding by
design (2nd ed., pp 1-13). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
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Fink, L. D. (2003). A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Creating Significant Learning Experiences:
An Integrated Approach to Designing College Courses. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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Resource:
Wiggins, G. & McTighee, J. (2005). Chapter 1, & Chapter 3. In N. Modrak & J. Houtz (Eds.), Understanding by design (2nd ed., pp 1-
13). Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.