I am about to complete my Master's (in Reading) and I took 2 classes used UbD. I hated it the first go around, then in the second it dawned on me that I kinda already do it, I just don't have all the details worked out at the begining of the unit. I was hired by my district, along with about 40 others, to develop research curriculum and align everything to the 6-12 standards of our state. We used the UbD book and, well, it worked. It made sense and I felt like I just gave birth to a research baby by the time the week was over. It was HARD in the beginning, but once we all got the hang of it, it got easier. Next year is a trial period for our district. After that, each subject will be required to use Ubd to create lesson plans.
Ashli in Texas On 7/7/07, Caroline Mooney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > backwards design is so top secret, in that several people are making a > killing off the idea, which isn't really new if you ask me, that you can > hardly find any information on the web about it. > > i've been through the training, and, like you probably all realize, there > are very few original ideas, but the new vehichles keep coming. Man, I want > to design a new vehichle:) > > Seriously, and this makes perfect sense, backwards design turns the > teacher into an artist--design? you think about what you want students to > learn. in our case, this is the standards. then, you think about what they > need to understand in order to learn these standards. and, how will you > assess them. i guess you could say it takes the place of a pre-ordained > curriculum, where teachers start at the beginning and keep on going. > > UbD assumes that teachers are designing units, connecting learning, and > basing assessment on the overarching goals and student understandings of the > unit. it's interesting, and these consultants have made a TON of money, > because you can barely get any information on the process without making a > purchase, but it doesn't seem that revolutionary to me. it makes sense, and > i don't know how someone would teach any other way. > > instead of teaching something and then assessing it, you think about the > assessment and think about the way you would teach it. that's a very watered > down version of what wiggins and someone else (i can't think of his name) > has made a career out of, but that's essentially it. in theory, teachers > work together as a dept. and come up with a unit that everyone > teaches. Again, the work is closely guarded, and schools are paying huge > sums of money for the informaiton. > > caroline > _______________________________________________ > The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org > > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive > _______________________________________________ The Literacy Workshop ListServ http://www.literacyworkshop.org To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/lit_literacyworkshop.org. Search the LIT archives at http://snipurl.com/LITArchive
