UbDDI+B1+Chapter+1

toc Dan Kiley Abstract: [|Understanding by Design] and Differentiated Instruction are compliments of each other, one relying on the other in order to create an optimum curriculum model. There are four essential elements that teachers must consider at all times: students, learning environment, content, and instruction. The reason these two models are vital for each other is because they enable teachers to provide a curriculum that caters to all students, regardless of learning style. The importance of combining these two models is evident. Understanding by Design offers the structured components of curriculum design, focusing on what we teach and how to assess it. Differentiated Instructions is more focused on whom we teach, where, and how we teach. With this combination, the best of both worlds collide to create an outstanding design. The value of being able to cater to a greater number of students is also shown. Being able to accommodate for a variety of students with different learning styles is important, because the more students you can teach efficiently and effectively, the better we become as educators. Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction offers the right tools to construct proper curriculums based on our known knowledge of learning and teaching. Many examples of Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction were provided within this chapter to give the reader a clear idea of how each individual model works on its own, and also how they cooperate together to create, review and revise curriculums as needed, as well as provide opportunities for students and teachers alike.

Synthesis: It is clearly evident that Understanding by Design and [|Differentiated Instruction]are very important to design a curriculum efficiently. Everyone can see the logic behind combining these two models together. Understanding by Design is more of a curriculum design model while Differentiated Instruction focuses more on students, representing an instructional design model. The importance of these two models is expressed thoroughly throughout the posts. We seem to understand that not all students learn the same way, whether they are highly advanced students, students with learning disabilities, English-learners, and so on. By integrating Differentiated Instructions and Understanding by Design into your own curriculum, you can accommodate for many students and give them the best opportunities to succeed. The scenarios and axioms provided in the end of the chapter helped most of us gain understanding of how Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction work in a classroom. It shows how the hypothetical teacher, Mr. Axelt, deepens his students’ understanding and applies their understanding through evaluation, and constantly reviewing and tweaking the curriculum repeated.

Caleb
Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction come across as Batman an Robin. One introduces a style of thought and tries to explore the variety of students, much like Robin would on a crime scene. He would jump around the area keeping an eye open for something out of the ordinary. Then the other style comes into to provide the variety needed to teach teachers how to interrupt the different styles a student will show and then model their teaching after it. So, Batman would come in after Robin has finished observing and deal with those areas that need fixing. They are a tag team of ideas that need to work together. When they work together they allow a student to learn to his specific design. A teacher has the ability to alter his or her lessons in order to accommodate accordingly to make sure that the students are learning appropriately. Thankfully due to these two styles of teaching a teacher will have the chance to allow the student to explore as well as pinpoint the areas that the student is lacking. From there a teacher can use this information to make his classroom environment better for learning. In my own classroom, I will have to watch students and understand how each one of them learns. From there I will construct lessons that offer variety. So, those students who lack in specifics intelligence can still be engaged since I was able to offer an alternative lesson plan. These lessons plans are not to be formulated since UbD and DI are not plans but they are to be created and incorporated into my work so my students learn to the best of their abilities.

Abby
I think that this chapter did a good job explaining why Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design work so well together. I thought that they were just broad ideas and to some extent they are but I was unaware that Understanding by Design was more of a curriculum prototype where as Differentiated Instruction deals more with the process and procedure used to teach everyone in the manner most effective for them. I found the essential questions of whom, where, what, and how to be extremely useful as well because I feel that often teachers get so caught up in what the curriculum mandates that they teach that they look only at how much content they can give to the students in the short amount of time they have them. I feel that true understanding and depth are often compromised in the need to achieve the content goals. I thought that breaking the ideas into seven axioms made it easier to understand especially with the scenarios at the end however I feel like many of them were very similar and stated the same things over again. For example, many of the scenarios dealt with adjusting the class dynamics to incorporate the different learning styles and speeds. I did like the ideas of looking at the desired product and working back from that because I feel like that does keep the teacher as well as the students on task and achieving the correct goals. I think that this chapter definitely gave me a better understanding of what these two ideas are however I still feel a little lost to be honest.

Jenn
After reading the first chapter in //Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design//, I feel like I have a better understanding of, not only the separate models, but also how and why they work together. It becomes obvious in the first few paragraphs how much work and thought has been put into combining these two models to help benefit educators and students. There is a thorough understanding of the difficulties that many educators face when trying to teach required curriculum and work with the individual and varied needs of each student. This chapter really seems to indicate that no matter how elaborate the lesson plan, it isn’t as helpful as teaching the big ideas in a variety of ways. I found this surprising and relatable at the same time. Looking back on school I feel like most of my lessons were pretty generic, and I still managed to excel. But when I continue to reflect, I realize that in subjects I was less interested in, a variety of techniques that focused on the same big ideas really did improve my understanding because I was then able to understand them in more than one way. Keeping in mind the mentioned four elements of effective teaching and the various examples used, I now have a better understanding of how easy it can be to use the two models together to create an ideal classroom. I also understand how this fits in with the understanding of each students learning styles or individual intelligences, and how using these models can help expand my own intelligences to help support my students.

Roger
In the first chapter of UbD/DI, the authors go about explaining why the two methods should be integrated. They primarily use a logical method to make their point, citing key differences and improvements on the current methods of curriculum delivery. The authors also go about stating that these are more methods than an actual curriculum, more of a way to reach more students with the curriculum already in use. One major point the authors make is that, even the most fascinating and informative curriculums can be wasted by not reaching the right people. They advertise the integration of UbD and DI as something that is very capable of reaching most students. They make this point by outlining the flexibility of both programs. Both these programs together provides a workable structure that can accommodate and adapt to any body of students.

In the seven axioms given by the authors, each part has a scenario that shows an example of how UbD/DI can be successfully integrated. The hypothetical teacher, Mr. Axelt, provides his students with the materials and knowledge at the level that they need. He does this, in one scenario, by allowing students to choose between “straight ahead,” uphill,” and “mountainous.” This allows each student to choose the level that they know they are comfortable with, which gives them the best path to learn from without a battery of exams. Mr. Axelt also exemplifies the integration of UbD/DI by putting students into groups where they will work well, both with a good subject and their like-minded peers.

Dan
Before reading this chapter, I had little understanding of what Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design were. Now I grasp the core concept of the two, and see how vital they are for a teacher to master and utilize. I now understand that both of these concepts are not standard programs that must be followed verbatim, but rather a guide and resource to better understand the content of the teacher’s concentration, and better understand my students and accommodate for their different needs. I also understand the difference between the two models, like how UbD is mainly a design plan for your curriculum, while the DI is more of an instructional model. In order to be a successful teacher, there must be a balance of the two, for they are essential for each other, the teacher, and the students. Once I am a teacher, I will need to be comfortable and knowledgeable of each design plan, and make great usage of them to provide stability and fairness to the classroom, while challenging my students to expand their understanding and deepen their own thoughts on the subjects at hand. On a side note, I appreciated the scenario for axiom four. Having a teacher divide up class time efficiently, then meet with small groups of students to help on a more personal level with their specific needs is something I wish a lot of my teachers did back in high school. I hope I can be that type of teacher in the future

Jasmine
Chapter 1 focused on the reasoning about why DI and UbD are important. The author discusses why it is not only important to teach in a way that models the standards but it is also important to “demonstrate how meaning and understanding can both emanate from and frame content standards so that young people develop powers of mind as well as accumulate an information base” (Tomlinson, McTighe 1) This is an important point to make because it is not enough to know and understand the standards of teaching. It is just as important to apply them properly and make sure that it is conveyed to students in a manner that makes sense to them.

Another point in chapter 1 was the importance of realizing how diverse classes are. There is no avoiding the fact that culture, language, religion, race and advanced abilities are all diversifying the classroom. As a teacher this will be very important because diversity is growing immensely. It would be much more satisfying as a teacher to know that I am reaching multiple varieties of learners.

Understanding by Design was a new concept for me. I didn’t know much about it but now I understand that it is used for curriculum design typically, where as differential instruction is primarily an instruction design model. This is where it clicked for me why they go together so importantly. It would not make sense to have either one on its own. They go hand in hand. A teacher who understands the need to coincide both DI and UbD will be on a path for success because they will have a much easier time reaching more students.

Jake
This chapter primarily discussed the relationship between DI and UbD. It describes UbD as the curriculum, or more simply, what you want the students to learn. It then discusses how DI is focused on the diverse needs of students in a classroom. The text discusses how both aspects are entirely necessary within a classroom and neither aspect can be ignored. If I’m to be completely honest, I must admit that I am still unsure what the text is getting at as a whole. The majority of what it has pointed out thus far seems to be pretty obvious. Obviously each individual student needs to be taken into account when creating the lesson plan and it needs to be done in such a way that cultivates learning to achieve the aimed understanding. However, the text did make achieving such tasks appear significantly more realistic than it initially appeared in my mind. Meeting everyone’s individual needs seems very daunting when your only one person and your curriculum needs to fit into a particular schedule. The example of Mr. Axelt made the apprehension of such an idea a bit simpler. The creativity portrayed through his character was quite impressive, and if this chapter was to have any impact on my classroom in the future I would say it has revealed to me the importance of creativity when planning a lesson. I must admit that the way pre-assessment was utilized also challenged my thinking. I’ve always thought of pre-assessment as sort of a means of establishing where you should start with the group, opposed to determining how you should approach the individuals. The text certainly made it clear that focusing on the individual students needs was indeed the best way to approach the lesson plan as a whole.

Alex
Chapter 1: The reflection that I have for chapter one is that I very much enjoyed they way the laid out the chapter organizing it by axioms and the corollaries the coincide with said axioms allow great understanding of what they want to see in a classroom and how the model is designed. The big thing that I took away from this chapter was the four questions that were addressed at the beginning of the chapter. These four questions were things that you cannot lose sight of in your classroom and things that you must always have in mind. By hearing and reading these questions I know now that you cannot lose sight of this information in the classroom. Another big thing that I took from this chapter was Axiom five. What I learned from this Axiom was that all kids in the classroom can learn and think in a high manner and even the ones that are supposed learning disabled can still think and process the material at a high level. I also learned that through this method you can continually challenged kids to process the capacity as thinkers. The last thing I really took form this reading was Axiom three and the ability to give all children specific feed back to their needs in the classroom and give them needed feedback on they did well and what they need to work on. Through these methods I see that I will be able manage my classroom by challenging all kids and giving them feedback in the desired areas to constantly allow for growth as thinkers.

Ally
Chapter One- When reading the chapter, I realized how in depth the different intelligences were. I always thought they were very strict where if your math oriented you have to meet a certain requirement and when reading I realized I had some of the different aspects that made up the different intelligences. I agree with the statement that “each of us could be all the eight intelligences” (15) because we all kind find a part of ourselves in the description of each single intelligence. As I read the individual intelligences I realized there was a lot more to them then just know math or being able to write which I think if others knew they would have more confidence in themselves. I think knowing about the multiple intelligences of our students is important in our classroom because we can work with students’ strengths so they can succeed but we can also challenge them by having them use an intelligence that they aren’t necessarily comfortable with. When I am a teacher I want to us multiple intelligence to make my students be successful but I want to also help them to master some of the intelligences they don’t necessary use or feel comfortable with like math or literacy. I think enforcing the multiple intelligence theory in the classroom will provide a comfortable environment; most teachers who strictly use their own comfortable intelligences in the classroom aren’t helping the students. If a student is visual oriented then assigning them papers are just going to make them shut down and not care. When we don’t recognize that, that is when we lose potential successful students. As a teacher I want to make sure each student is able to shine in the classroom because that promotes growth, learning, and more of a success rate.

Tyler W
UbD/DI Chapter 1 Review

Chapter one goes over what Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction is and why it is logical to combine the two when teaching students. To be effective, teachers attend to the following elements: whom they teach, where they teach, what they teach, and how they teach. Losing perspective any any of these undermines the quality of the education. This is where UbD and DI come in. UbD is mostly the content and instruction section of teaching and is predominantly a curriculum design model. The goal of DI is to maintain a teachers focus on the process and the procedures that ensure student learn in various ways. DI is considered an instructional design model. Together, UbD and DI provide structures, tools, and guidance for developing curriculum.

There are seven axiom for UbD and seven corollaries for DI. These axioms and corollaries provide guidelines for effective teaching in the classroom. According to the seven axioms, UbD provides a primary goal of quality curriculum design, revealed student understanding when applying knowledge to other topic, an effective curriculum based on backward design, regular reviews of these designs based on standards, opportunities for students to explore, interpret, apply, and assess their understanding, use technology, and promote better student understanding. DI provides curriculum that develops and deepens their understanding, opportunities to take advantage of variance in students, benefit from instruction that reflects clarity of purpose and priorities of content, result-based adjustments if the the curriculum is flawed, provide support to continually developing students, varied use of technology, and guide educators in thinking effectively about their teachings.

Katie Stubbs
This chapter discusses the ideas of combining Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction when making a lesson plan and utilizing it in a classroom setting. With the use of axioms and corollaries, it is easier to see how both UbD and DI can both work together in order to create a working and well developed lesson plan. The axioms and corollaries are listed and bellow each is a scenario in which they are explained in more detail. It is apparent that using the idea of axioms and corollaries will be useful when I go to write my own lesson plans as UbD and DI are the two aspects that need to be looked at when formulating a well crafted lesson plan. In each scenario, the teacher uses lessons that involve multiple intelligences so as to make the classes more interesting as well create a better learning environment for students no matter what intelligence they are. Each axiom involves the students understanding of the subject that is being taught in the lesson plan. Mr. Axelt uses techniques for students depending on their level of learning and tries to create a lesson that leaves no students feeling bored or overwhelmed. Depending on what they struggle with, Mr. Axelt creates a lesson that involves worksheets to help students who are weak in certain areas of learning such as students who need help with vocabulary and then receive a vocabulary list. After designing the curriculum for the class, it is important to meet with other colleagues to discuss and suggest improvements that can be made to the lessons.

Lizz
In chapter 1, the book talks about differentiated instruction and understanding by design in which they both complement each other. In effective classrooms, teachers attend to four elements, which are who they teach, where they teach, what they teach, and how they teach. Understanding by design focuses on what they teach and what assessment evidence needs to be collected. In simple terms, differentiated instruction is when you teach differently to different students so that everyone can learn what is being taught. Understanding by design has fundamental principles called axioms and differentiated instruction has corollaries, which ensures that students will have access to and support for success. One corollary that I agree with this chapter is when it states that all students benefit from and are entitled to curriculum that develops and deepens their understanding. I agree with this because as a student there were times when teachers would teach in a way that I couldn’t follow so I wouldn’t be able to understand the material they wanted me to learn. Another corollary that I agreed with is that teachers should be prepared to provide opportunity and support to continually develop students’ understandings and capacity as thinkers. Both of these corollaries will influence my classroom because I want to be the kind of teacher that makes an impact and helps my students become better learners no matter the subject. I want to challenge my students but only to where they want to be challenged when it comes to understanding and capacity as thinkers.

Brittany
Ch 1: This first chapter was interesting because it further explained what Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction are and how the work together to make it easier for students to learn. I liked that this chapter gave examples for each axiom and the corollaries that go along with them. I think the logic behind joining the two models made more sense once I read that they help teachers “consistently attend to at least four elements: whom they teach, where they teach, what they teach, and how they teach.” I find each one of these elements very important to a students experience in the classroom. I found it interesting to read more about differentiated instruction because I have learned about it before but this reading gave more in depth information. It was also intriguing to read about each axiom and corollary because they brought up points I hadn’t thought about before. For instance, the fact that showing your students that you understand their different learning needs and that you are trying to approach each person individually had never really crossed my mind. The fact that the process of sharing that information with the student also helps them to develop knowledge, understanding and skills also came as a surprise to me because I hadn’t thought that revealing that you know they have needs would encourage learning that much. I think the chapter really nailed a topic that teachers need to focus more on when it stated “Professionals in any field are distinguished by two characteristics: (1) They act on the most current knowledge that defines the field, and (2) they are client centered and adapt to meet the needs of individuals.” This was an important statement because there are teachers who prefer to stay locked in their own mindset.