Understanding By Design

Lisa BrackensquiresJune Jacko

LS XXXX Module 2.4

Background

Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe Backward Design Six facets of Understanding

Backward Design

Identify desired results. Determine acceptable

evidence. Plan learning experiences

and instruction.

Wiggins, Grant, and Jay McTighe. Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1998. Print. (177)

Identify Desired Results

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS): 5th Grade Curriculum Standards for Social Studies Objective 17.C: “The student is expected to recite

and explain the meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance to the United States Flag.”

From the Texas Education Agency: http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter113/ch113a.html

Determine Acceptable Evidence What evidence will show

that students understand the Pledge of Allegiance?

Identify performance tasks, projects, quizzes, written essays, oral defense.

Identify ways students will assess themselves (self-assessment).

Plan Learning Experiences What do students need to

know about the Pledge? What will students be able

to do to show that they understand the Pledge?

Which learning experiences will allow students to demonstrate these competences?

Six Facets of Understanding

Explanation Interpretation Application Perspective Empathy Self-Knowledge

Facet 1: Explanation

Defined: “sophisticated and apt explanation and theories, which provide knowledgeable and justified accounts of events, actions, and ideas” (45).1

Students develop a rebus for the Pledge of Allegiance and explain key phrases orally or in writing.

Example of Facet 1:Explanation

+ 2 the re for which it

This portion of the rebus =“…and to the republic for which it stands…”

Possible student explanation: This means that the flagsymbolizes, or stands for, our country.

Facet 2: Interpretation

Defined: “interpretations, narratives, and translations that provide meaning” (46).2

Students complete a narrative given this prompt: “Mrs. Barber accepted the young soldier’s offering of the neatly folded, triangular flag. It seemed impossible to believe…”

Example of Facet 2: Interpretation

Possible student narrative:…it seemed impossible to believe that this

World War II Veteran was gone. He had served his country when he was younger than this young soldier. The US Flag that he had so dearly loved and fought in Germany and Luxemburg to protect, was now given to his widow to honor his service.

Facet 3: Application

Defined: “ability to use knowledge effectively in new situations and diverse contexts” (51).3

Students analyze the meanings of American Sign Language gestures for the Pledge.

Example of Facet 3:Application

Students learn and understand how American Sign Language gestures map to the words in the Pledge.

Facet 4: Perspective

Defined: “critical and insightful points of view” (53).4

Students investigate various state and country pledges to flags.

Example of Facet 4:Perspective

What other state or country flags can we find?

How are other pledges like the US Pledge?

How are other pledges different?

Facet 5: Empathy

Defined: “the ability to get inside another person’s feelings and worldview” (55).5

Students memorize another state or country Pledge to experience how Kindergarteners (or English Language Learners) might feel when faced with this task.

Example of Facet 5:Empathy

Pledge to the Virginia State Flag: “I salute the flag of Virginia, with reverence and

patriotic devotion to the ‘Mother of States and Statesmen,” which it represents--the Old Dominion,’ where liberty and independence were born.”

From Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2007/02/21/more-state-flag-pledges-new-mexico-oklahoma-south-dakota-virginia/

Facet 6: Self-Knowledge

Defined: “the wisdom to know one’s ignorance and how one’s patterns of thought and action inform as well as prejudice understanding” (55).6

Students reflect upon their own learning and evaluate the extent to which they understand the Pledge of Allegiance.

Example of Facet 6:Self-Knowledge

Fifth graders self-identify their knowledge by placing an X on a continuum where FULLY UNDERSTAND is represented by the vernacular: Got it! and DON’T UNDERSTAND AT ALL equals Got nothing!

____X______________________________ Got it! Got nothing!