DI+UbD+Chapter+7+Block+1

[|Synthesis UbD/DI C7 B1]

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 * **Names** || **Abstract** || **Reflection** ||
 * Archambault Michael || Chapter 7 of ID/UbD deals with the principles of assessment. Assessing a student’s mastery of a subject cannot be done in a single test or example. A teacher must use a variety of samples to get a complete grasp of the student’s knowledge. It is important to avoid the political stresses that happen with testing, so that an efficient, fair, and measurable example of each student’s learning is gathered. Use open-ended problems and questions to allow the student to present what they know, as oppose to what they don’t. Assessing before teaching lets a teacher foster a student’s success by scaffolding for their individual weaknesses and strengths. || I got a lot out of chapter seven. ID/Ubd seems to reiterate a lot of the content that we have already gone over. Pre-testing is very important. I always hated in school when a teacher would teach extremely below the level that our class was at. In college, I have a class that I think is taught at a level that is too high for the students in it. If the instructor had a basic knowledge of where each student was in their mastery, it would be more obvious when learning took place. ||
 * Audy Melissa || This chapter discussed ways in which teachers can assure that they are reaching their students. The authors explained, first of all, that teachers should realize that they are rather uncovering information than “covering” it. Teachers need to go in depth with the knowledge they are providing, rather than simply presenting it to have it done. The chapter speaks of the importance of essential questions and how the implementation of such questions can help teachers plan their lessons accordingly to help students succeed. However, the questions should be left somewhat open-ended—by having too straightforward of a question, the teacher restricts the way students must think greatly. By having open ended questions, students are forced to really learn and analyze the information they are taught. The chapter goes on to give many examples of open-ended, essential questions for a variety of subjects. The chapter ends by speaking of the WHERETO formula. This acronym helps teachers remember what they should consider before entering a classroom. Each letter stands for a question, explained in-depth in the book. The authors explain that this method should be considered when thinking about a large unit, rather than individual lessons. || I loved the lists and lists of essential questions. The explanations and examples gave me a clearer idea of what constitutes a good essential question, and which ones are not so successful. I found the WHERETO method pretty neat and useful as well. I am excited to start writing mine for my //Weetzie Bat// unit. The model really covers so many things that are essential to successful teaching. As a future teacher of writing, I found the 'R' to be most important—revision! I am glad to see the authors reinforcing the importance of having students practice revision. ||
 * Boulter Elizabeth || Worksheets and lectures may have a place in the classroom. But they certainly have only a small one. For the most part, important, big ideas are not thoroughly understand and absorbed by just regurgitating on a worksheet. For students to fully understand large concepts, they need to make it relative to their life so it has meaning. Meaningful learning does not mean you skim the surface or teach something really fast so that you can move on to the next topic. Meaningful learning is uncovering content, it’s asking questions, it’s connecting content to something outside of the classroom walls. In this chapter they use the 6 facets and the WHERETO model in order to engage students. By asking the WHERETO questions, a teacher can better assess the current classroom and better it for each student. Using this method, teachers can be the most effective teachers when it comes to bringing understanding to their students. || I fear that I will get overwhelmed with the content I need to teach. I want teach student to feel connected to the material but worry that I will teach too much in fear of not touching it all. This helped bring the focus to the content understanding and the absorption of the content…not so much what content. It was refreshing to know this is a common mistake but easily fixable! It gave great techniques to keep me on track like the WHERETO model. ||
 * Brown Ryanne || In Chapter 7 of Integrating Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction, the author speaks to the importance of the student understanding. This chapter creates a clear difference between teaching for understanding, and simply teaching to cover the content of a subject area. For understanding, teachers are encouraged to use tools such as essential questions, WHERETO, and the six facets of understanding. When teachers follow these types of strategies, students are more likely to be led to a deep understanding, rather than a memorization of the material or a brief understanding. Encouraging student thinking is a really large part of the deep understanding, which is what this chapter promotes. || This chapter gave a good outline of how to develop more understanding for the students in the classroom. In previous chapters, the author has gone into more depth about the six facets of understanding which gave me a good sense of how to implement that in my classroom. This chapter built on that knowledge by allowing me to see how it could be applied, and the importance of doing that correctly. I also enjoyed the concept of WHERETO which would serve as a good guidance tool for classroom teaching ||
 * DePue Margaux || Chapter seven deals mainly with helping students more effectively understand what is being taught. It emphasizes the importance of “uncovering” the content rather than trying to cover as much as possible, meaning that the teaching of basic ideas and skills is essential in uncovering the big ideas and the details necessary for understanding. Using essential questions, such as the ones from stage one of the backwards design, can help students to understand a topic more thoroughly. It also states the ways in which the six facets of understanding (explain, interpret, apply, perspective, empathy and self-knowledge) can help with responsive teaching. The WHERETO model is also looked at in detail to show how it can be used as a tool to strengthen curriculum goals and teaching and to aid student understanding. || Every educator should read this chapter. I think that it is so disappointing when teachers rush through a lesson to try to “cover” all of the necessary material and students do not get a rich understanding of a topic. There are so many approaches that teachers could take to ensure that students understand an idea or concept, and this chapter really hits the nail on the head with a hammer! I really enjoyed the “Iceberg” metaphor used when discussing uncovering the content of the big ideas and information being hidden just underneath the surface. I am very glad that we got a closer look at the WHERETO model as well. ||
 * Dunne Kaisha || Curriculum doesn’t always insure that everything is covered and that the students get it. This chapter looks into the six facets, how to deal with the diversity in your classroom and the essential questions you should be asking so that you unit covers the interests of the students. It goes into each major study and gives 2 examples of questions that can help to make sure that you cover everything and are doorways to understanding. The chapter also goes into practical tips for teaching, giving great examples like “less is more” and “post the essential questions somewhere in the room” (pgs. 114 &115). They also introduce a new method in this chapter called ‘WHERETO’ which breaks down the process of developing a plan for learning and to make sure that you hit everything based on the questions presented with each letter. This ‘WHERETO’ process makes teachers consider the prospective of the students in their classroom. || I liked the WHERETO part of this chapter because I found it to be something that I think could actually help when reflection on your unit. WEHERETO covers everything from a hook to evaluation and even gets in some revision. I think that when I sit down to edit my stages I will look at these questions and make sure that I have hit them all. I also liked the" six practical tips for using essential questions" because they are actually useful tips. ||
 * Hudson Kimberly || This chapter discusses how a teacher should adapt to all the different learners in the classroom. Very often teachers, just uncover the content and do not really do anything with it. A teacher in a differentiated classroom should use teaching methods that go into depth and try to engage students. There are several ways to do this including: problem-based learning, scientific experimentation, debates and performances. One way to go deeper into learning is to frame content to the answers to problems; this allows students to glance at the origin and meaning of the content that is being presented. Essential questions should be asked often and should be used to frame larger ideas. There are six tips to help use essential questions in teacher. First, is less is more. One question can go a long way. The second is to be sure that students understand key vocabulary needed to explore the question. Next, using “kid language” is a good way to engage them and makes the question more accessible. Also help students personalize the questions. Next, post the essential questions in the classroom. Lastly, use follow up strategies to engage the students even more. There is also the WHERETO method that asks questions to make sure that all students can understand. || It is interesting that the essential questions can just be used by themselves in the classroom. I got the impression that they were buried underneath the lesson. I did not think that they could be brought out so openly. It is a great idea to keep them posted in the classroom so students can think about them when they see them. Also, using the students’ own language is a great tip. Most of the time, when a teacher asks a question it is complicated and hard to understand. If the question is in a language that is easily understood, then there is a greater probability that the students will be able to answer it in a thoughtful way. ||
 * Korn Shauna || This chapter had to do with a lot of what chapter 6 did in concerning the diversity in classroom learning, but went much more into depth. The chapter explained how teachers feel the pressure of all the content they are supposed to teach and then freak out because they look at how much time they have in order to do so. This chapter helped this concern by showing teachers ways that they can break down the content and combine it where needed instead of just throwing all the information out there. In order to get there teachers need to use essential questions for their students, by doing this everything gets broken down and is easier for the students to understand. After connecting students with these essential questions there are little backup activities or things that a teacher can do in order to keep learning established and continuous. || I personally like the essential question part of this chapter, because it allowed me to look at the subjects that my students will be taking according to my subject concentration and see what are the questions that I should be asking them that they would understand and eventually help them see the big picture. I feel that looking at the history part when asking, “Who’s story is it?” (113) was an amazing essential question, because in history you are always telling someone’s story, even if you don’t realize you’re doing it. This helps to connect the students to the lesson, because you can always follow up with “putting yourself in their position” questions. ||
 * LaRose Rebecca || This chapter definitely seemed to be an advocate for the "inch wide, mile deep" theory. Teachers know that there is a lot of material, but should be only concerned with what they can realistically teach WELL during the time they have. By combining different aspects of curriculum, it helps solidify the content into a more manageable time period. Teachers should use essential questions in order to reach students by pointing out that they should know certain key things and why it is important to learn this in school. || I liked this chapter because it showed how to teach students why they need to learn things in school. I know that when I was taking geometry in high school, I knew that I was probably less likely to use this in the real life than say, reading, writing, and public speaking. Although certain kids will want to learn things, bringing lessons into perspective is important. ||
 * Murphy Amber || This chapter explains how it is important to ask essential questions. Well thought out essential questions can push the students to explore and think outside of the lesson. When thinking of essential questions it may be helpful to think of ways to personalize the questions. When students can personally relate to the question they see the importance to real life and are more likely to think about the questions. Teachers can use the six facets of understanding to create diverse ways for students to explore the material. The WHWETRO model helps teachers to formulate lesson plans and gives them important tips to keep in mind when creating a lesson. This model has very important ideas and helps teachers to maintain what the lesson should be about. This model is dissected in this chapter and can provide great insight to teachers when they are struggling with lesson plans. || I really enjoyed the WHWETRO model. I believe that the W is very important because I think it is essential for students to understand why the information is worth learning. When students know the important and can relate it to real life they are more willing to learn. What evidence is also important because if students know how to properly prepare for the test or assessments then it eliminates the surprises when it comes time for assessment. Essential questions are important and can add life to a lesson or a unit. It is important to have well thought out essential questions to get the students thinking and relating the lesson to their real life. ||
 * Nieuwkerk Hannah || It is difficult to get the whole, very diverse, classroom to understand a big idea. Facts can be memorized, but to actually understand a concept has to be earned. Teachers play a large role in earning this knowledge. They can do it by asking the students essential questions making them think and realize what is going on around them. A couple tips: keep it simple and personalize the questions to what is going on in their lives, and before you really start to teach the lesson, get the ‘hook’ in, to catch and keep their attention. And finally, while forming a lesson plan, the WHERETO model is very useful. It is the overarching plans and ideas for several lessons and helps both the teacher and the student organize themselves for better teaching and learning. || It is very true that actual understanding has to be earned. I, myself, can memorize almost anything, but it really takes time and thinking to understand that concept. It is worth the effort, though, because I remember the ideas that I actually understood, while the memorized facts are long gone. And in class, I remember those ‘essential questions’ and I liked them because it made me think and after the discussion, I knew what I was going to learn and I was ready for it. I can tell already that the WHERETO model is going to be very helpful because it spells out exactly what I have to done to have successful lesson plans (hopefully, if all goes well!). ||
 * Scheffler Erich || This chapter introduced the WHERETO Frame, and discussed how to make sure all students are understanding the material that is being taught. The chapter harkened back to earlier in the book, and talked about using essential questions, and the answering them. It then gave examples of essential questions for many different subject areas. It also talked about using the six facets of understanding, which are explain, interpret, apply, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. IT then introduced the WHERETO frame, which stands for What Why What, Hook, Equip Experience, Rethink Revision Refinement, Evaluate, Tailor, and Organize. || I thought this chapter was pretty good. I liked how it used the earlier practices and then added the new WHERETO and tied them together, so they worked well with each other. I thought the WHERETO model was pretty interesting to read about, because it expanded on prior ideas. ||
 * Simoneau Andrea || This chapter talks about the importance of connecting meaning, and "big ideas" to facts and skills that are basic. Essential questions are necessary, open ended questions are ideal, because they're designed to get the students thinking about those big ideas. The six facets of understanding can be used as agents of instruction, and a list of vocabulary words for the teacher to use to maximize stimulation of thought is provided. It also shoots down the idea that students need to have mastered basic skills before they can be applied in more complex ways. It also introduces the WHERETO framework, which helps for planning lessons that meet the needs of everyone. || The vocabulary used in this chapter is immediately applicable to the work we're doing in planning a unit. This chapter helped me to see the relevance of what we're doing in class with the unit planning to actual teacher practices. Up to this point I found it rather overkill, but now I understand that that meticulous, methodical way of thinking is necessary for planning. That said, I think the WHERETO framework has far too many letters. I thought it was an interesting point that students do not need to have mastered basic skills to apply them to complex ideas. Indeed, for some students, perhaps an undrestanding of the complex ideas will help them to see the relevance of basic skills, andn those skills will improve. I also thought it was kind of cool that Bloom's Taxonomy was never intended as a learning model, and yet its one of the most exalted models in the education field. ||
 * Stevens Newcomb || This chapter illustrated the WHERETO concept of education. In short, this is a model for how a classroom lesson can be built to help students to learn in depth. This model emphasizes asking “why learn?” instead of demanding memorization of useless knowledge. This kind of template utilizes the six facets of learning in order to develop specific lessons that deal with each facet or any lesson desired. WHERETO also allows the teacher to develop each class in depth in order to make each class clear and deep. WHERETO is an ideal model for teaching to multiple intelligences and makes for a strong curriculum. || This chapter shows some great ideas dealing with lesson plans: I was wondering how this part really works. This clears up some questions I have and I am a little excited to implement the WHERETO model because I know this can work. I think that any model that emphasizes why is perfect for education because it is my job as a teacher to encourage students to ask why. If students do not ask why, then there really is no point to education. WHERETO is perhaps one of the models that makes the most sense to me.