UbDDI+Chapter+7+Block+2

Chapter Seven Analysis by Tyler Orentoc
The class quickly broke the chapter down into its key parts, many starting with the tactic of [|uncovering] material rather than covering it and the use of essential questions to contextualize the content. Covering and uncovering the content deals mainly with letting students generate their own understanding of the material rather than simply teaching it them because it results in a much deep level of learning and understanding where students can apply that understaning across multiple fields while covering the content teaches to the lower rungs of the facets of understanding and Bloom's Taxonomy. [|Essential questions]teach students why the content is important to learn and should simultaneously generate interest in learning and develop a deeper understanding by utilizing the higher order thinking of the facets of understanding.

The chapter in concluded with the WHERETOs which everyone seemed to go into detail about we are all now intimately familiar with is a structuring guide to create enduring lesson plans.

Johnny Buys
Chapter 7: Teaching for Understanding in Academically Diverse Classrooms Teaching for understanding can seem pointless with the focus on student’s self-discovery of learning, however, teachers can provide the necessary elements to scaffold student understanding. Tomlinson and McTighe list several effective mechanisms such as, “stimulate thought, show examples and counterexamples, ask probing questions, set up authentic applications, paly devil’s advocate, check for understanding, and require explanation and justification” (109). Again, Tomlinson and McTighe focus on uncovering understanding, rather than covering content through facilitating mechanisms such as, “problem-based learning, scientific experimentation, historical investigation, Socratic seminar, research projects, problem solving, concept attainment, simulations, debates and producing authentic products and performances” (110). All of these methods create varied lessons that encourage understanding to be generated by students. Again, Tomlinson and McTighe focus on using essential questions where, “teaching for understanding in skill- and process-oriented subjects such as the language arts and math cultivates a metacognitive awareness of how and why specific skills are beneficial and when they are best applied” (112). Teachers also need to reflect when creating essential questions that essential questions need to be “respectful of students’ differences in prior knowledge, skill levels, and preferred thinking styles” (114). Teachers who give attention to these different skills are beginning to utilize differentiated learning from the overall theme from the very beginning. The six facets (explain, interpret, apply, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge) are useful for “generating ideas for ‘hooking’ students around a topic, engaging them in high-order thinking, causing them to consider other points of view, and prompting self-assessment and reflection” (116). Teachers who can effectively generate engagement generate student’s desire for personal understanding across performance levels.

Kelsea Trefethen
At the beginning of this chapter I really agreed with the book when it said, “Understanding must be earned.” Understanding is not something that just happens. Knowledge should not be served on a silver platter. Yes, teachers should make learning enjoyable and comfortable for students, but the students still have to put in the work. This chapter was based on different ways to get students engaged and ready to learn. The book suggested getting students stimulated by posing essential questions to them. These essential questions should get them thinking about way the content they are learning is important. I am definitely going to use this in my classroom because I know it is hard for many students to see the value in Mathematics. The book talked about “covering” versus “uncovering” material. My teachers have always said, “cover.” After reading this chapter I see the importance in saying, “uncover.” It is all about the mindset. Teachers should give each topic importance. If educators cannot see the value in each lesson they cannot portray to material to the students in a constructive way. This chapter also talked about Bloom’s Taxonomy. I really believe in the idea behind this pyramid. Although, I had to laugh when I read that this theory was originally developed to assess college exams. I totally agreed with the book when it talked about ho important it is for students to apply their knowledge before they can fully understand the fundamental ideas. I definitely plan to get my students applying their knowledge in multiple ways.

Christina L Quach
Chapter 7 is based around teaching for understanding. Tomlinson and McTighe say, “Teaching for understanding calls for teachers to ‘uncover’ the content (110).” This chapter also discussed essential question and how they could be used to help uncover content. The essential questions that teachers pose are not to look at once and forget, they are questions to look back to develop a deeper understanding. The chapter then discusses the six facets that we learned about in class. These facets can be used to form activities and questions that pull students in. It also allows students to learn the content in a variety of ways which also diversifies and deepens learning. The “ladder” idea was also presented, but the chapter put it in a bad light saying that it was not a good way to base understanding around because it can get students stuck in a spot where they are not achieving the most that they can. The last big part of the chapter was WHERETO. “The WHERETO principles embody research-based principles and reflect best practices of the most effective teachers. It is intended to guide a series of lessons within a larger unit of study,” say Tomlinson and McTighe (126-127). The only place that I can relate this information to is Practicum. The essential questions are easiest for me to see because we have started them in class. I did not think of the facets as opportunities to diversify lesson plans, but when I am a teacher this will be helpful to make sure students are understanding the content. Also the “ladder” theory I thought was very important because they were right. I would have thought students would need to know all the little details, but when I look at it differently, it would only stall students learning.

Leanne Fasulo
Chapter Seven of //UBD/DI// first mentioned how important essential questions are to learning. The questions not only explain what the students should understand, but can also be used through out the entire unit. The essential questions first come up in stage one of the backwards design unit when putting together the main goals. Essential questions are part of every single discipline and contribute to planning units, lessons, and assessments. The best essential questions can be asked over and over again through out a student’s learning. It is also important to make these questions open ended to keep some students from being alienated. Most classrooms are vastly diverse so it is important to keep this in mind for a future teacher. As as teacher I would not want one student to be able to fully answer a question, and another to not understand what I am asking from them. The chapter then explains the importance of facets. The six facets are explain, interpret, application, empathy, perspective, and self-knowledge. These facets can be very helpful when planning lessons. The book gives an example from a health class where students are learning about nutrition. The book then differentiates lessons depending on what facet it is describing. For example under explanation students are asked to make a brochure for younger students about balanced diets. Under empathy students are asked to really think about how it would feel if they had to be restricted from eating something because of a condition. These types of lessons can be both meaningful and engaging to students.

Brittany Blackman
Chapter seven highlights how to get different students to understand your lessons. One important piece to doing this is to “hook” your students. Another important way to keep your students engaged is to ask them more interesting questions. Don’t ask “dry” one-answered questions about the content. Ask them open-ended questions that will get them thinking and considering things they wouldn’t have other wise. This way, your students are more engaged and they get more out of the content. One more thing to consider when asking these questions is to personalize it. Relate it to something they’ve done before, interests, something about the school, or you could make them discuss it with each other.

I think the example about how to get your students to know what is expected of them is very important, and I hope to do something similar in my classroom. This teacher made it imperative to make sure the students knew what she wanted them to get out of the lesson. She also has a bulletin board where she posts the rubric and examples of past students works so the students know exactly what is expected of them and can reference an array of work so they don’t get stuck on one way to do something.

Kalib Moore
Chapter 7 of UbD/DI begins with the explanation of teaching for understanding and the roles that both the students and teacher play. Tomlinson and McTighe explain that the students role is to "think, question, apply ideas to new situations, rethink, and reflect." (109) They also explain that the teachers role is to stimulate thought, show examples and counterexamples, ask probing questions, set up authentic applications, play devil's advocate, check for understanding, and require explanation and justification. (109) I was surprised at all the different roles the teacher will be playing throughout the course of a day, quarter, semester, and year. It is definitely overwhelming and stressful to think that I will eventually need to know all of the different roles and know when and where to use them. Lastly in the chapter, the authors discuss the acronym WHERETO and Tomlinson and McTighe explain WHERETO on page 120 saying, "These design elements provide the armature or blueprint for instructional planning in Stage 3 in support of our goal: teaching all students for understanding." (120) Each step of "WHERETO" is explained by Tomlinson and McTighe in detail. At the end, the authors point out that WHERETO is more of a guide to creating multiple lessons within a unit. Teachers are urged to make sure they are incorporating the different steps into each lesson. I'm glad that we got a chance to learn a lot of information about WHERETO before we begin our stage 3 process. It will give us a chance to prepare ourselves for stage 3.

Cyril Lunt
What... what? This chapter is unlike every chapter before it. It... it... it's actually... //interesting?// Oh God, call in the National Guard! Well, to be fair, it's only on one part of it, but it's definitely a change of pace!

...//I mean// Chapter seven is about essential questions, and why they're important in education. The two authors talk about how understanding is the reward, not the journey. That really struck with me, as I fully believe in that. Not that I have disagreed with UbD, but just the two authors write so blandly that it takes me a good half hour to get through a chapter, instead of the fifteen that it takes with MI. The book encourages teachers to explore student's understandings by asking them essential questions, and possibly even playing devil's advocate. Whatever it takes for students to fully understand a topic. Also brought up is Bloom's Taxonomy, which is essentially what this chapter is all about: bringing a student's understanding from the basic, simple rote memorization of facts, to analyzing, synthesizing, and finally creating from which they understand. Without asking students what they think, they get lost and feel like they need to conform. But once they apply their knowledge, they're understanding it beyond what a mere text book could teach them.

Tyler Oren
Chapter seven of Integrating Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction focuses on teaching for understanding in a diverse classroom setting. The authors Tomlinson and McTighe quickly address a common tactic among teachers, the “teaching to content” style which they try to warn teachers away from to their best ability. They admit the style may result in more content going through the student’s minds, but it results in a much lower level of understanding, and understanding they assert is far more important and powerful as a strong understanding will allow students to apply their knowledge across multiple areas in their careers as students. Tomlinson and McTigue connect this chapter back to previous chapters of their backwards design in planning for units and their framing of “big ideas” and suggest teaching to these big ideas rather than quickly trying to cover as much content as possible, which as they claim does not result in real learning or understanding. Tomlinson and McTigue also leave the readers with six tips for creating lessons which I found to be one of the most helpful sections of the chapters, they suggest that teacher frame their essential questions so that “less is more” and so that they flow into each other naturally. Be sure that students understand key vocabulary before advancing in the lesson and use kid friendly language, and encourage them to take part and personalize their essential questions. Tomlinson and McTighe conclude the chapter with their coverage of the WHERETO strategy of teaching which essential boils down into //W//hat they are learning, the learning //H//ook, //E//quipping student with essential understandings, //R//evision, //E//valuation, //T//ailoring activities to students, and finally //O//rganization for effective learning.

Kyle Kuvaja
Chapter seven of UbD/DI involves student guidance towards the major goal of understanding the big picture described throughout the book. It is important to realize that understanding takes more than memorization by the student. A student needs to be given information and then led to connection of the big ideas. Tomlinson and McTighe believe that using “essential questions, the six facets of understanding, and the WHERETO framework” are three important methods to help students “uncover” the curriculum (110). First, educators can use essential questions to help students gain understanding of material. Rather than teach the facts, educators ask questions that involve the facts, but are much broader and is high order thinking. The next thing the chapter discusses is the six facets that we have discussed in Practicum. One example of the facets improving student understanding is bringing together groups of students who focus on different facets of learning. By bringing together a diverse group of learners, students are open to personal growth. The last method discussed in the chapter is the WHERETO framework. The WHERETO framework is intended to help teachers consider what their student may be thinking through a series of lessons within a unit (127). Planning is important in helping students gain their own understanding. While we have discussed essential questions and facets in class, the WHERETO framework poses important questions to consider while teaching students. I can remember all the students in school who would say, “I don’t get it.” Rather than adapt their lessons, the teacher would send them to get special help, which usually involved the same information at a slower pace. I feel that a UbD/DI classroom needs to consider the WHERETO framework.

Evgeni Bouzakine
Chapter seven talked about the difficulty that teachers are having making all the students understand. Teachers need to make sure all of their students understand. Teachers need to move from anticipatory planning to effective and engaging lesson execution, the book suggests a variety of ways to have an understanding of the material. One way is to look at the essential questions and try to uncover them to make the student develop a deeper understanding for that subject. Another way is to use the six facets of understanding to help come up with ideas for assignments. The last advice the book gave was to follow the “Whereto” model. It is a good model. The W stands for what and why students learn. The H stands for the teacher “hook”. E stands for how the teacher will equip the student to understand the standards. R stands for how to rethink what they have learned. E stands for promoting student evaluations. T stands for how to connect with a student’s interest. The last letter O stands for how the learning will be organized. I will try my hardest to incorporate the last method the most. It turned out to be the most unique and favorite one from the chapter. Although all three can be used to be effective, the last one seems to be the best for what I am trying to accomplish.

Richie Johnson
Mainly, chapter seven of Tomlinson and Mctighe’s //Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design// underlines what it is to “teach for understanding.” It begins with the notion of “uncovering” content, rather than “covering” it. An example of the differences between the two is given. The reader is asked to mull over an abstract idea, which is “correlation does not ensure causality” (108). Oddly enough, I have had a course in the past where this statement was said to be the focal point of everything we were to learn. Anyway, the statement is mostly meaningless on its own, and as so the learner is likely not to retain it. Consequently, the importance of clarification as well as the need for “active intellectual work,, guided by the teacher” (108) is stressed. By simply stating the idea, the teacher is “covering” it, but in pushing students to dig deeper and by promoting full understanding, the teacher “uncovers” the statements meaning. I am a firm believer that it is much better to thoroughly “uncover” a few topics than to “cover” many topics. This way, students will leave the course with a few, fully comprehended ideas that will be applicable to many other matters, as opposed to many half-formed ideas.