DI+UbD+Chapter+6+Block+2

Synthesis UbD/DI C6 B2

|| Chapter 6 of DI/UbD looks at teaching in a classroom with variation. Instead of teaching a certain curriculum, teachers must look at who they are actually teaching. Students in a classroom are all academically different, and require different attention to different needs. Regardless of who the student is, he or she must be challenged by what is being taught. When a student is challenged to his or her potential, the most amount of learning takes place. Teachers must work to apply what is being taught to each student’s life. Students learn better and are more interested when what they are learning is in the context of their day to day life. Teachers must help guide their students. However, students must also learn how to guide themselves through their own learning. A teacher must look at how each individual student learns. If a teacher does not do this, then they miss many of the students who need to learn in different ways. A teacher must be ready to adjust to each student and guide each student in a different way. Teachers must always look to do new things in the classroom, constantly adjusting to what each student needs to learn. Reflection This chapter is very interesting, because it talks about the responsibility of the teacher to make sure that each student is being taught in their own way. Each student deserves to be taught in a way to help them reach their highest potential of learning. If a teacher does not want to be flexible and adjust, then this will not happen. A teacher has two responsibilities: to create a curriculum and to make sure that each student is able to learn the material to the best of his or her knowledge. If a teacher only focuses on the curriculum, then their job as a teacher is not being fulfilled to its potential. Curriculum can be created by many who are experts in a subject and can create a curriculum. However, a teacher is someone who can relate knowledge to each individual student.
 * **Names** || **Abstract** || **Reflection** ||
 * Barnes Mckell || Chapter six in UbD/DI poses the question of how do design a curriculum that benefit and work for our students? Essentially the book breaks down this concept of differentiated instruction in our classrooms and necessary points to differentiated instruction. It is necessary for all students to experience curriculum that is based on the big ideas that is meaningful information. Although we like to make our students critically think a lot, it is necessary to give our students the opportunity to learn the basics of the curriculum. There is also a balance between teacher guidance and student construction. It is also essential for students to know the learning goals of a specific unit or lesson that way they can work towards those goals. The book provides different figures that give you great ideas of how to incorporate differentiated instruction into your classroom. || I really like how this chapter broke down the essentials in differentiated instruction. I thought the efficiently explained each essential and provided information on why it is useful in the classroom. I also think the figures the book provided are very useful when coming up with ideas for differentiated instruction. As Dr. Grace was trying to do I’m sure, this chapter coincides nicely with chapter 6 of the multiple intelligence book. ||
 * Brennick Christopher || The sixth the understanding by design books talks about how we can use responsive teaching in a classroom filled with all different types of learners. The first section of this chapter sets up for the rest of our reading by asking us the important questions we need to answer when making instructional decision. The book then restates four core beliefs about curriculum when teaching diverse student populations. The four core beliefs are: all students should experience curricula rotted in the important content of subjects that requires them to think at a high level, students need opportunities to learn the basic and to apply them in a meaningful way, there is a need for balance between student construction of meaning and teacher guidance, and students need to know the learning goals and criteria for demonstrating proficiency in each unit. The next section of this chapter talks about planning instruction in a differentiated classroom. The books explain that a good teacher needs be like a jazz musician who uses many different strategies to get the same strong melody across. The next section of our book talks about how we as teachers can use the element of the classroom flexibly to maximize things like time, space, and student grouping. The next element our book dives into is the need to clue learners to make our planning more efficient. This section talks about how we need to look at patterns in our classroom that create clusters of students and then plan for those clusters so we can teach responsively, but also efficiently. The section that fellows that is talking about how we need to look at these clusters and then select teaching strategies that will respond to the needs of that cluster and again this is so we as teachers can be more efficient. The last section of this chapter goes into asking and answering questions about how we mange our classroom in a way that allows for flexibility. Some question might be what do I do when students finish work early? || I think this a really important chapter of our book because it talks a lot about what the best ways we can plan for our students. I think it’s very important to always have a roadmap of where you are going in front of you and this is what I view a lesson plan as. I really like the idea of clustering because gives me a base line for grouping and for planning this will make me much more efficient. I think we also all need to be flexible in the ways we use our classroom resources because they are so limited and the fact that students all have different needs with these resources.
 * Columbia Laura || Chapter six of //Integrating// by Tomlinson and McTighe introduces the idea that it is important to think of Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design as a "duet of thinking" (83). It is important to incorporate both of the of the different styles into teaching. It is also important to think who the students we are teaching as well as what they are learning, the curriculum. It is important to help students think at higher levels. It is also important for students to learn the basics and then have the opportunity to apply them in real world situations. As well as the idea that students must make meaning of the curriculum for themselves, we cannot force it upon them. It is vital that students understanding the goals for learning. Next the different stages are discussed. Stage one discusses the standards, stage two states to present to the students assessments that will show learning has taken place, and lastly stage three talks about how students need to regularly reflect on their learning. Also discussed is the idea of clustering for students, which incorporates differentiated instruction. In conclusion it is important for us to remember that we were once students and we have to change our expectations and be flexible. It is important for us to break old teaching habits, and learn to be flexible. || One of the most important things is that teachers need to recognize the vibe, concerning curriculum, in the classroom. But, it is important to change the vibe for each student. Another area is clustered learning. Though it is important for teachers to differentiate for each student, yet it does not enforce teachers to be specialists in numerous areas. It is important to remember that our goal should be to encourage students to have knowledge, understanding and skills that will help them succeed. The environment is another key area. By establishing structure it encourages a learning environment, but there also needs flexibility. I also really like the last part of the chapter that discussed bad habits we have picked up as students and as teachers. I really want to break any bad habits I have as students and bring all of my good habits into my teaching career. ||
 * Coombs Kayla || Chapter six, entitled “Responsive Teaching with UbD in Academically Diverse Classrooms” focuses on how instructional decision making within the classroom is made on the principles of the backward design model and differentiation. The chapter discusses core beliefs about curriculum and diverse student populations. Four of the main beliefs are as follows: pretty much all students should consistently experience curricula that arise from the important ideas of a discipline that requires the students to create meaning of information and do higher-level thinking; balance is needed between student construction of meaning and teacher guidance; students need to know the learning goals of a unit or lesson and the criteria for successfully demonstrating proficiency with those goals; students need opportunities to learn the fundamental ideas and skills, and opportunities to apply them in meaningful ways. The next topic discussed in this chapter is about planning instruction for understanding within a differentiated classroom. The teacher needs to consider individual variance when planning instruction so that they can be well planned-out and have room for flexibility and improvisations. There are many elements in the classroom that are flexible and can be manipulated by the teacher to ensure effective instruction. These include: time, space, resources, student groupings, instructional or learning strategies, presentation or teaching strategies, and partnerships. A good idea for teachers in differentiated classrooms is to cluster learner needs to make instructional planning more efficient. This is looking at key patterns in how one’s students learn as part of the classroom routines. Another key aspect of instructional planning that the chapter discussed was about the selection of instructional strategies that are dedicated to addressing student readiness, interest and learning profile. The suggested way of looking at this is to categorize students’ needs and the instructional strategies that address them, which will make the planning in response to learner needs more easy to manage than would be planning for each individual learner. A goal of differentiated instruction is to provide opportunity and support for the success of a much larger amount of students that it would be possible to do in a “one-size-fits-all” approach to teaching and learning. || I liked that this chapter is enforcing the idea of having teachers be aware of the patterns of learner needs, interests, etc. so as to plan instruction in the way that will reach most learners, or the overall majority of learner variances. I feel like this is one of the key ways to have a differentiated classroom, and I feel like I have not had a lot of past experiences where the learning patterns of my classmates were noted by the teacher and the planning was flexible so as to accommodate our learner variances. I especially noted the section that was on the manipulative elements in the classroom, because most of these would be easy to be flexible with without straying to far away from the planned instruction that I have created. I would be willing to be flexible with these elements, like time, groupings, and teaching and learning strategies, so as to ensure effective instruction, which would be one of my highly regarded goals in my differentiated classroom. ||
 * Cummons Michael ||  ||



This chapter seemed very important to me because it was very detailed and gave a lot of information of how to integrate multiple intelligence into the classroom. This chapter was very effective in both conveying the importance of MI theory, and showing several ways of how this tool can be implemented into the classroom. This chapter was different from the others because it did not have any major philosophical questions or memorable quotes, but it was very full of factual information and give deeply descriptive examples of ways educators can and should implement the practice of MI theory in order to accommodate all learners. I really felt that this chapter expressed some important issues. One of the best idea addressed in this chapter, at least I felt, was that teachers should look for categories and patterns of differentiation in their classroom so that catering to all of their students needs is not the daunting task that looking at everyone as an individual may be. Secondly I really enjoyed how this chapter, and everything we’ve read so far, stresses that low performance from students is not an signal for us teachers to develop low expectations. This chapter also touched upon the idea of RAFT(S) which I enjoyed because as an English/Language arts concentration I find RAFT(S) to be amazing. To end my reflection I would just like to point out that the most important thing this chapter had to say was that all students deserve the chance to experience a meaningful curriculum and efficient learning environment.
 * Damboise Kelley || When beginning teachers first start out the idea of using differentiated instruction is overwhelming and can be quite frustrating. Chapter six explores the possibility of stepping back and looking at the whole picture from a different angle, an angle that may help beginning teachers relax when it comes to delivery instructions to students. When teachers begin to view each and every student as a different learner they sometime forget that for the most part certain students can learn by a wide variety of instruction. Although, it may not be the best way a particular students learns they still can manage to learn through different instructional ideas. That is why it is important for teachers to cluster to learners needs; what this means is a teacher need to recognize the patterns that his or her students respond to. Remember differentiated instruction is not individual instruction. Teachers are just providing different way to present material so that students who learn in all sorts of ways and can understand the topic being presented. Clustering learning means that a teacher will predict the kind of learners her or she has, based upon previous occurring patterns of learning styles, to create his or her lesson planes. || I love the metaphor that the book uses, about the jazz musician, to describe how some lessons can be planned and some lesson are better off unplanned if the teacher can just improvise to adjust to his or her students needs. The importance of being able to realize that something just isn’t working with a particular lesson, and being able to change the way a teacher relays the information, is a great quality to possess. ||
 * Kelley Kathleen || Chapter six of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design addressed many different ideas focused around responsive teaching and how to utilize it in diverse classrooms while still incorporating the concept of UbD. Teachers should educate themselves on the basic beliefs that shape our curriculum. Students need to be continuously subjected to a curriculum that requires them to think deeply. Doing so will drive the students to want to learn more making them more successful. The basics also play an important role in the DI classroom because mastering the basic information allows the student to build knowledge. How to be an effective instructor in a differentiated classroom was also discussed. This is challenging because you soon realize that everyone is on different playing fields, so the teacher needs to be able to improvise to assist all learners. The flexibility of a classroom plays a large role in this. Sometimes placing students in tables or small groups may help each student to learn and meet goals. Flexible learning also encourages the teacher to become more efficient which, in time, will allow you to address your students needs. Universal design, or anticipatory planning, was also discussed as a means to address the differences and challenges with learning. Teachers think about the issues that may arise in the future, and then plan around them. Incorporating learning styles and readiness into the classroom through different strategies like word walls, graphic organizers, and interest groups also supports responsive teaching by targeting multiple learners and levels at one time. || All in all, this chapter was fairly interesting but there were a lot of repetitive ideas. Many of the thoughts presented are things that we have already discussed in class, read in other books, or thought of on our own. Learning about anticipatory learning, however, was neat because that was one think that I had never really thought about before. I know many of my teachers just use the same plans over and over and don’t alter them to patterns they see within the past. ||
 * Knowles Christina || Chapter six talks about important things teachers should think about when they are teaching a lesson. The chapter says that students need to understand the information to the point to where they are thinking on a higher level. It also says, “students whom we often think of as ‘low performing’ fare better with rich, significant curriculum.” (84) We also learn that students need to be applying basic things to the real world. Students also need to know the guidelines from which they are being graded. We will also learn to anticipate having different learners in the classroom. We will have to adjust and try to maximize the learning of our students. || I thought a lot of the tips given in this chapter were very helpful. I also felt that it was interesting that there are so many different types of learners in a classroom. I did not feel that there were as wide a variety of learners in my classes in high school. I can understand how overwhelming it would be to have to teach so many different kind of learners. ||
 * Mourkas Margaret || Chapter six talks about what teachers need to consider about their students when teaching the information. Teaching to a differentiated classroom can be difficult at times but if the teacher clusters the students they can teach to the clusters instead of the individual. Clustering the students provides a group for all the students to be in and it helps the students to have peers learn in their same learning style or something very similar. A way of beating the challenge of teaching to differentiated classroom is “anticipatory” planning. Teachers start to see patterns in types of students and can learn what to do based on previous students. Flexibility is a major key of success in a classroom. If you are not willing to be flexible you as the teacher are going to have a tough time reaching your students. || This chapter seemed to just talk about all the ideas we have learned already. This chapter really said though that yes, sometimes it is going to be really difficult to reach a student. It did teach us about clustering and anticipatory planning. This involves creating a “databank” of students that you can draw from in future situation to help solve a problem. Reaching our students is our main goal and one of the keys to doing that is flexibility. If you aren’t flexible as a teacher, your students are going to be uninterested in learning. ||
 * O'Neil Christopher || Chapter six discusses the many different ways teachers must teach to their students. Because there is such a diverse student population, teachers need to be able to teach to the wide variety of students. Before teachers go off and teach to the variety of students, they need to make sure that the students are aware of what they are being taught. If the teacher used the backward design model, they can share the goals of the unit with the students. They can also share a select amount of information from each of the three stages. Once the teacher starts teaching, it may be helpful to cluster the students by their levels of learning. By doing this, the teachers can assure that they are reaching all the students. This also may help it be easier to tier the students in each cluster. || This chapter made some sense to me. I liked the idea of clustering because it could become very helpful when you have a classroom with a vast variety of different learning styles as well as learning levels. In my high school, the students were separated into different level classes. There were honor, advanced placement (AP), A, B, and C level classes. A student would be placed in a certain level depending on a student’s grades and the recommendations of teachers. This made it easier for the teachers to teach because they had a classroom full of students that were at a similar learning level. To me, this seems like a large example of clustering. Instead of clustering the classroom, my high school clustered the entire student body. ||
 * Richardson Cassandra || : The focus of chapter six is the students and the overall level of diversity the classroom is made up of. Different learning levels and styles should be taken into account when planning a unit and curriculum; they should essentially mold around the needs of the student rather than the other way around in order to achieve effective teaching. One of the most important factors is the idea that students need to be challenged in order to gain, build and work with knowledge. Having a flexible curriculum and classroom setup will allow that to occur on all levels, as opposed to only a few levels. || I found it incredibly intimidating to read this chapter; many of the people in my classes in high school learned similarly and variation was very rare. I believe I’m beginning to understand through the activities in our own class that variation is required in order to operate effectively and on a level that encourages learning in all students. I especially liked the concept of ‘sideline drills,’ where school was related to a football game and the activities performed in the classroom were drills for the overall outcome, or the game, and the purpose of the drill would explain itself. ||
 * Trundy Monique || In chapter six Tomlinson and McTighe discuss the core role of a teacher as a “direct instructor, facilitator, and coach,” (pg. 86). Next, Tomlinson and McTighe discuss three steps you can take as a teacher to make sure that students have the best understanding of what is expected of them as possible. The first stage discusses the importance of sharing the content standards, essential questions and skills that will be learned with students before starting. The second stage suggests sharing the types of assessment you will be using with students. The third stage stresses the importance of connecting what students are learning to what you explained to them in the first stage. Without this connection it is possible thatstudent will loose interest in what they are learning. Tomlinson and McTighe also explore different teaching methods such as clustering, tiering, and RAFT. Classroom management is also discussed in this chapter. Tomlinson an McTighe believe that teachers who have orderly and structured classrooms are more successful at teaching for understanding. || Something I greatly admire in this book is the use of analogies. The authors are constantly explaining their theories through sports or music analogies, making some things much easier for me to understand. I point this out because it is an example of a form of teaching that I would like to adopt. By creating such analogies, I am able to relate what I’m reading to my real life experiences and thusly learn easier. Another thing that peaked my interest was the discussion about an orderly classroom. When I read this I immediately thought of a writer’s workshop, where the point is to have no real structure. If done correctly, these kinds of environments tend to flourish. ||
 * Webb Christopher || This chapter of UbD/DI talks about how to deliver the curriculum to students effectively. It outlines four overarching questions to address in the beginning as well as four beliefs about curriculum and diverse student populations. Those four questions which are outlined are; who are the students I will teach? What matters most for students to learn here? How must I teach to ensure that each student grows systematically toward attainment of the goal and moves beyond it when indicated? How will I know who is successful and not with particular goals? The four beliefs are that all students should experience a curriculum that is rooted in the important ideas of the discipline and requires them to think at high levels. Next students need opportunities to experience the basics and apply them in meaningful ways. Thirdly needs to be a balance between teacher guidance and students constructing their own meanings. Finally students need to understand the learning goals of the lesson and the criteria for performing efficiently in it. || This chapter was good because it gave a lot of good analogies that students can relate to. One instance is of a teacher being like a coach and instead of constantly having students do “sideline drills” they all need opportunities to play the game. I particularly liked the section about students constructing meaning for them because I thought that was a very key point. It emphasized that we can’t talk at students when we teach them. We need to present them with the information and guide them but also foster their own understandings because that is how they will truly grasp the material. ||
 * West Simon ||  ||