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About This Book
Curriculum design experts Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins have reviewed thousands of curriculum documents and unit plans across a range of subjects and grades.
In this book, they identify and describe the 25 most common problems in unit design and recommend how to fix them—and avoid them when planning new units.
McTighe and Wiggins, creators of the Understanding by Design® framework, help you use the process of backward design to troubleshoot your units and achieve tighter alignment and focus on learning priorities.
Whether you're working with local or national standards or with other learning goals, you can rely on their practical and proven solutions to promote deeper and better learning for your students.
Topics : Planning
Table Of Content
Introduction
Problems with Unit Goals (Stage 1)
Problem #1. The unit is overly activity oriented
Problem #2. The unit is coverage oriented
Problem #3. The unit is test-prep oriented
Problem #4. The unit targets too many standards
Problem #5. The unit lacks understandingbased goals
Problem #6. The unit goals are not clearly related
Problem #7. Essential questions—aren’t
Problem #8. Unit goals fail to distinguish means versus ends
Problem #9. Failing to distinguish between knowledge and skill objectives
Problems with Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)
Problem #10. The proposed assessments do not provide appropriate evidence for all unit goals
Problem #11. There is insufficient evidence of learning to ensure reliable assessment
Problem #12. Performance tasks are contrived and inauthentic
Problem #13. Performance assessment tasks are not worth the effort
Problem #14. Performance tasks or projects may not yield valid assessment evidence for individual students
Problem #15. The evaluative criteria or rubric(s) are invalid
Problems with the Learning Plan (Stage 3)
Problem #16. The proposed learning plan does not address the targeted understandings and essential questions
Problem #17. Unit does not include pre-assessments
Problem #18. Unit plan fails to anticipate and check for possible or predictable misconceptions
Problem #19. Unit lacks ongoing formative assessments
Problem #20. Unit plan does not include time for needed adjustments
Problem #21. The learning sequence is too linear and likely to bore or confuse learners
Problem #22. The learning plan does not adequately prepare students to transfer their learning
Problem #23. The learning plan is not differentiated
Problem #24. There is no plan for increasing student autonomy and transfer of learning
Problem #25. The learning plan is not aligned with the goals and/or assessments
References
Related Resources
About the Authors
About the Authors
Jay McTighe:
Jay McTighe brings a wealth of experience developed during a rich and varied career in education. He served as director of the Maryland Assessment Consortium, a state collaboration of school districts working together to develop and share formative performance assessments. Prior to this position, Jay was involved with school improvement projects at the Maryland State Department of Education where he directed the development of the Instructional Framework, a multimedia database on teaching.
Jay is well known for his work with thinking skills, having coordinated statewide efforts to develop instructional strategies, curriculum models, and assessment procedures for improving the quality of student thinking. In addition to his work at the state level, Jay has experience at the district level in Prince George’s County, Maryland, as a classroom teacher, resource specialist, and program coordinator. He also directed a state residential enrichment program for gifted and talented students. Jay is an accomplished author, having coauthored 10 books, including the best-selling Understanding by Design series with Grant Wiggins. He has written more than 30 articles and book chapters, and has published in leading journals, including Educational Leadership (ASCD) and The Developer (National Staff Development
Council).
Jay has an extensive background in professional development and is a regular speaker at national, state, and district conferences and workshops. He has made presentations in 47 states within the United States, in 7 Canadian provinces, and 18 other countries on 5 continents.
Jay received his undergraduate degree from the College of William and Mary, earned his master’s degree from the University of Maryland, and completed postgraduate studies at the Johns Hopkins University. He was selected to participate in the Educational Policy Fellowship Program through the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, D.C., and served as a member of the National Assessment Forum, a coalition of education and civil rights organizations advocating reforms in national, state, and local assessment policies and practices. Contact information: Jay McTighe, 6581 River Run, Columbia, MD 21044-6066 USA. E-mail: [email protected].
Grant Wiggins:
Grant Wiggins is president of Authentic Education in Hopewell, New Jersey. He earned his EdD from Harvard University and his BA from St. John’s College in Annapolis. Grant and his colleagues consult with schools, districts, and state and national education departments on a variety of reform matters. He and his colleagues also organize conferences and workshops, and develop print and web resources on key school reform issues.
Grant is perhaps best known for being coauthor, with Jay McTighe, of Understanding by Design, the award-winning and highly successful program and set of materials on curriculum design used all over the world, and of Schooling by Design. He is also a coauthor for Pearson Publishing on more than a dozen textbook programs in which UbD is infused. His work has been supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.
For 25 years, Grant has worked on infl uential reform initiatives around the world, including Ted Sizer’s Coalition of Essential Schools; the International Baccalaureate Program; the Advanced Placement Program; state reform initiatives in New Jersey, New York, and Delaware; and national reforms in China, the Philippines, and Thailand.
Grant is widely known for his work in assessment reform. He is the author of Educative Assessment and Assessing Student Performance, both published by Jossey- Bass. He was a lead consultant on many state assessment reform initiatives, such
as the portfolio project in Vermont and performance assessment consortia in New Jersey and North Carolina.
Several journals have published Grant’s articles, including Educational Leadership and Phi Delta Kappan. His work is grounded in 14 years of secondary school teaching and coaching. Grant taught English and electives in philosophy, coached varsity soccer and cross country, as well as junior varsity baseball and track and fi eld. He also plays in the Hazbins, a rock band. Grant may be contacted at grant@ authentic education.org.
ISBN: 9786038147368
Author: McTighe, Jay and Grant Wiggins
Publisher: Educational Book House
Publish Year: 2016
Size: 17*24cm
Pages number: 60
