UbD DI Chapter 8

This whole chapter is about the most effective way to grade in a differentiated classroom. Tomlinson and McTighe talk about how there is no absolutely perfect way to grade in a differentiated setting because it is difficult to grade on knowledge. According to this chapter grades should be solely based on a student’s knowledge of the material and not on the extra factors. I can agree and disagree with this statement. Students should be graded on what they know and not how well they can complete a project. On the other hand, how does one grade what a student knows without some sort of evaluation? I do not understand how to grade my students the best for everyone.

UbD DI Chapter 9

I feel as though I have already read this chapter before, just with a different choice of words. Chapter nine ties directly into the Multiple Intelligences book because it deals with teachers changing their typical teaching technique so they can accommodate more students’ needs. Using groups and different intelligences for teaching a lesson will help students learn and is the whole point in differentiation. The one aspect that this chapter mentioned that hasn’t been brought up in the other books as much is pre-assessment. Pre-assessments have been discussed, but I never could grasp the importance of them. After reading this chapter, I see all the valuable information that can be gained from something so simple as a pre-assessment. Pre-assessments would enable me to see which students do not meet the skill requirements that might be necessary for my lesson, even though I might have thought they already knew it.

UbD DI Chapter 7

Chapter seven was mostly devoted to ways to get students to understand the “big ideas.” “A certain portion is visible about the surface of the water, but we cannot fully comprehend the iceberg without going below” (pg 110 Tomlinson and McTighe). Teaching is all about getting students to acquire a complete understanding of the topic that one is teaching. One of the most beneficial ways to accomplish this is to ask essential questions. With these inquiries, students themselves can try to discover the answer and learn more in the process. It also enables the learner to ask his or her own questions without feeling like he or she doesn’t understand. The issue I have with this technique is what questions to use for my class in order to capture their attention so that they want to learn and ask their own questions.

UbD DI Chapter 6

This chapter seemed a little bit hypocritical when it was talking about being prepared and then saying we, as teachers, need to also be flexible. I feel I will have a hard time teaching on the fly and coming up with something that will work for all of my students. Some of the planning strategies that were mentioned, however, seem very relevant to the classroom. The analogy to the sports was accurate. “It should never be the case that some students are consigned to sideline drills while others consistently play the game” (pg 85 Tomlinson and McTighe). Even though I was personally one of the students immediately put into the “game,” I wished that my teachers gave me some more “sideline drills” so that I succeed with a better understanding. I also see that as a teacher, I cannot simply focus on the drills if I want my students to be interested. I know I would not want to do layups all the time for basketball and never get to use that skill in a game.

UbD DI Chapter 5

Test, quizzes, self-assessments, writing projects, and oral responses are some of the many ways I can assess my students’ knowledge about the content being taught. Which one should I use during a specific lesson? I do not want to give my students so many assessments that they feel over whelmed, however, a photo album style of assessing is the most effective in a classroom. Giving multiple ways to view a student’s understanding of a subject is a wonderful idea, I just not sure I can do numerous evaluations for each content area of my class. I believe it would be more beneficial for the students to simply vary the assessments used each time one is needed. The six facets seem like the best way to determine if a student grasps the idea of the lesson. The type of assessment used to determine this information can vary as long as the student displays his or her knowledge.

UbD DI Chapter 4

I am overwhelmed to think about everything that I will have to do in my classroom to make sure every student learns to his or her capacity. The nine skills (mentioned on page 40) did not seem terribly difficult. However, all the individual steps for all nine of them are daunting. I do not think that I can incorporate pre-assessments of students, as well as provide different homework tasks for different ability levels, along with teaching the students the material. All this seems impossible to do with one class of students, let alone four or five classes. I did like that the resources at the end of the chapter are available because trying to incorporate all these elements into one classroom is going to need some assistance.

UbD DI Chapter 3

I would have never guessed that working backwards was the best way to organize a unit plan. I am a logical thinker in that way because I always assumed that to plan something one should go chronologically and not backwards. After reading the chapter it seems that the backwards design makes more sense. I will know exactly what I am striving for so my students will also know what they are working towards. The template that the book provides seems really easy to follow so practicing this design will be simple to accomplish. I was surprised to read that the design allows for differentiated instruction to be planned along with the unit. It makes it more effortless to plan everything at the same time and not have to worry about the differentiated instruction later. It can all be done at once.

Ubd DI Chapter 2: What Really Matters in Teaching? (The Students)

In this chapter I learned many different ways to be a responsive teacher. Many of the ideas were techniques that I have heard of or witnessed in a class personally, but a couple of them were unique ideas. The “exit cards” were one of those ideas. Giving my future students a couple of questions to answer before class ends will enable me to see how much information they understand from that day’s lesson. I can then use the cards to address concerns that have arisen. I would have never guessed that an informal assessment could be more beneficial to a student than a graded test.

Chapter 1: UbD and DI- An Essential Partnership

Understanding by design and differentiated instruction are newer terms in my vocabulary. I am still not clear about what understanding by design is. I comprehend that it is dealing with the curriculum. Teachers, like myself, can use this technique to analyze the lesson to see what our students are focusing on for the duration of time. Differentiated instruction is how to apply the lesson to every different learner in the classroom. The scenarios provided show great ways to combine the two techniques so that all of the students can achieve the deeper thinking sought after by the educator.