UbD Staff Development

Living Our VisionAugust 17+18, 2011How did Trinity prepare me for where I am today?

How did Trinity prepare me for where I am today?

How did Trinity prepare me for where I am today?

How does my day-to-day teaching transfer to abilities beyond the subject I teach?Living Our VisionOur Vision: The Trinity StudentAcademicIn their academic endeavors, Trinity students: have a responsible and aspiring work ethic, understanding and appreciating the role of effort in academic success and fulfillmentwork efficiently as individuals and as team members are critical thinkers and problem solvers communicate their ideas effectively and listen well to the ideas of others are empowered learners, well-equipped to meet the challenges of an ever more complex global societySocialIn their interactions with others, Trinity students: feel a strong sense of connection to the school communitypractice dutiful citizenship & thoughtful leadership in daily activities demonstrate pride in themselves and in the school show respect and caring for others in their communitydemonstrate global awareness and concernPersonalAs individuals, Trinity students exemplify:integrity courage confidenceresilienceempathy responsibility ethical awareness

Trinity StudentAcademicIn their academic endeavors, Trinity students: -have a responsible and aspiring work ethic, understanding and appreciating the role of effort in academic success and fulfillment-work efficiently as individuals and as team members -are critical thinkers and problem solvers -communicate their ideas effectively and listen well to the ideas of others -are empowered learners, well-equipped to meet the challenges of an ever more complex global society

1.Intrinsic vs. extrinsic qualities

Everything hinges on effort

Balances academic success, understanding, aspiration, fulfillment2.How do we define Efficient?Defining the roles and learning how to contribute to a teamDifferent learning styles makes groups strongerPersonal/prof relationships requires self-knowledge of skillsTeam work can be defined, taught, and learnedIndividual vs. community needs3.Critical thought is a life skillUsed to gain a deeper understanding of the worldStudents are energized by getting something after grappling w a problemLearn to take time to do things step-by-step4.As social beings, our ability to engage meaningfully w each other is critical to living a full existenceNecessary for: Leadership, critical thinking, thoughtful understanding of others, teamwork, discovery

5.BC the world is changing fast, we dont necessarily know what the future will look like. Encourage students to find knowledge confidently on their own.Flexibility and adaptability Authentically motivated and curious. Value of needing to grow and learn more.Our world is more connected, calling for greater comm ability What daily moves do I make that lead to this vision of Trinity students?

How were you educated?

Think about itDo our students experience the same thing when they only superficially understand something?How do we know our students have more than superficial understanding of what we are teaching?In relation to our Trinity Student Vision, how do our teaching methods, activities, and assessments really gauge these abilities? Take some time to think about this question in relation to your own teaching and share with your neighbor when you are finished.

teaching vidhttp://testornado.ning.com/group/mathk8

26:30-What did the teacher do that led to more than a cursory understanding?A deeper understanding is necessary for developing the abilities of the Trinity student.

And now, team break!

I TAUGHT STRIPE HOW TO WHISTLE.

I DONT HEAR HIM WHISTLING

I SAID I TAUGHT HIM. I DIDNT SAY HE LEARNED IT.From Checking for Understanding, King Features Syndicate.What were ultimately looking for is competent understanding What does it mean to have learned something?The point of school is competent understanding not prompted recall of content & complianceCompetency=independent & effective understanding, in context Understanding=using content for transfer and meaningCompetent People

"Sully" SullenbergerDerek JeterLady GagaSteve JobsDr. MLK Jr.Highly Competent Everyday People

Pick an area of human performance you are interested in and very knowledgeable about (teaching, carpentry, cooking, golf):

Who is a highly competent performer you know?

What makes you say that he or she is highly competent?T&TProvided that you want competent understanding in your discipline, would you complete this sentence?

By the end of the year, learners should be (better) able, on their own, to strategically use all the content learned this year, to...How would you complete this sentence?

By the end of their formal schooling, learners should be able, on their own, to use all the content learned, to...Content is a tool

Toward what end?

Trinity StudentAcademicIn their academic endeavors, Trinity students: -have a responsible and aspiring work ethic, understanding and appreciating the role of effort in academic success and fulfillment-work efficiently as individuals and as team members -are critical thinkers and problem solvers -communicate their ideas effectively and listen well to the ideas of others -are empowered learners, well-equipped to meet the challenges of an ever more complex global society

Competent UnderstandingOur aim, arguably, is to produce confident and competent students who have understanding and can use it productively.Real understanding is different from merely being learned; book knowledge is not enough for us to say that someone really understands.

-Grant Wiggins

What is real understanding? How does it differ from knows a lot?When you really When you know aunderstand, youlot, but you dont canreally understand, you can onlyWrite down thoughts in note packet, post its, t&t, then share w/group 15 min.TPS35If you really understand, you canFigure outConnectNot just plug inUseSay wayApplySupportTeachCreate Interpret The more you do oneIf you understand you can:

Apply Figure outFormal languageIf you understand you can:

Make Meaning via active inferencesTransfer your learning in contextNot a new idea: Bloom

Application is different from simple comprehension: the student is not prompted to give specific knowledge, nor is the problem old-hat. The tests must involve situations new to the studentIdeally we are seeking a problem which will test the extent to which the individual has learned to apply an abstraction in a practical way.In short, if you have competent understanding, you are able to - Retrieve and adapt the most appropriate content, in context, to make sense of things and perform optimallyHW: look at your guided notesThank you!!!Living Our Vision

The more you do oneIf you understand you can:

Apply Figure outFormal languageIf you understand you can:

Make Meaning via active inferencesTransfer your learning in contextCompetent UnderstandingOur aim, arguably, is to produce confident and competent students who have understanding and can use it productively.Real understanding is different from merely being learned; book knowledge is not enough for us to say that someone really understands.

-Grant Wiggins

Day 2HW: A. What implications does teaching for deeper understanding have for the role of the teacher?

HW. B. Think back to your many prior experiences with learning, both in and out of school. What was the most effective class you have ever taken? What features of the instructional design -- not the teachers unique style and expertise -- made the learning so engaging and effective for participants?HWC. What 1 2 common teacher practices or habits unwittingly undercut the aim of competent understanding and/or make students think the aim is just lots of knowledge?Pursuing quantity, not quality, activity/content driven rather than skills or transfer driven planning or instruction, inauthentic assessments, 49Trinity StudentAcademicIn their academic endeavors, Trinity students: -have a responsible and aspiring work ethic, understanding and appreciating the role of effort in academic success and fulfillment-work efficiently as individuals and as team members -are critical thinkers and problem solvers -communicate their ideas effectively and listen well to the ideas of others -are empowered learners, well-equipped to meet the challenges of an ever more complex global society

In sharing your recollections with your colleagues, build a list on the back of yesterdays notes of useful generalizations that follow from the various stories. What does all well-designed and effective learning seem to have in common? Explicit goals and performance requirements up front, models and modeling, the bigger picture the why is made clear, working back and forth from the whole or part, work culminates in a real or realistic application, trial and error, constant feedback opportunities 51In other words, what must be built by design into any learning experience if it is to most likely be effective and engaging for learners?

In general, the best-designed learning involves/providesAn example of unit design: Math

What is fair? How can math help (or not)?When we say something is fair or unfair what do we mean? How mathematical should our evidence be?Students generate and categorize examples of Thats fair. and Thats not fair!

What is Fair? Can math help?

Problem: Four 7th grade classes had a race of all the students.IN GROUPS: Devise at least 2 different ways to determine a fair ranking of the classes, given the results.Agree on the most fair way, and be prepared to defend your answers

Next: Further discussionsJigsaw on fairness

What do we mean when we say that the rules of a game of chance are not fair? What role does math play in our judgment of fairness?Why is it fair to have one person cut the cake and the other person to choose the piece?When is straight majority voting fair and when is it not fair?When is it fair to consider an average in ranking performance (e.g. salaries, home prices, batting average) and when is it unfair?

The content is learned - just in timeGuys, mathematicians have a few tools that might help usLessons on measures of central tendency:-Mean-Median-ModeQuizzes to check for skill

Final Assessment Tasks:

Propose and defend a fair grading system for use in this class.How should everyones grade be calculated? Why is your system more fair than the current system (or: why is the current system most fair?)A final reflection on the question: What is fair and what isnt fair?When should you and shouldnt you use mean, median, and mode?

Question: How does this unit differ from typical units?

AcquireMake Meaning TransfermCompetent Understanding Acquisition goals

-Learn, with accurate andtimely recall, important factsand discrete skills-Aim: automaticity of recallwhen needed in performanceAcquiremMeaning GoalsMake connections & generalizations, using the facts and skills e.g. interpret, gist, main idea, thesis,Empathize, critique, etc.AIM: independent and defensible student inferencesabout situations, texts Make MeaningmTransfer GoalsAdapt your knowledge, skill, and understanding to specific and realistic situations and contexts

AIM: efficient, effective solutions for real-world challenges, audiences, purposes, settingsTransfermTMA in Spanish

T: Solve a communication problem, on the spot, inwhich an American cannot make himself understood to a Spaniard because the American relies on too many false cognate words (sound like ours, different meanings) and is getting tenses wrongM: Correctly interpret the scene and translate themeanings accuratelyA: Acquire skills of accurate conjugation andvocabulary (related to the misleading words)TMA in Global StudiesT: Make a map of your school; see ifpeople can read your map and use it to getsomewhereM: Make sense of the spatial relations, soas to interpret three dimensions into two;make sense of other peoples mapsA: Acquire skills of making and readingmapsTMA in Science-T: Maximize the distance travelled by aCO2 car, roller coaster or catapultedobject, using the laws of physics-M: Correctly interpret the acting forces inthe situation-A: Acquire skills of analysis of motion andknowledgeTMA in MathT: Solve a non-routine and unfamiliar problemin context in which there may or may not be alinear relationship.M: Correctly interpret the meaning of datapatterns or line of best fit of data pointsA: Acquire skills of plotting point pairs,accurately drawing the graph of a line from alinear equation, etc.Trinity StudentAcademicIn their academic endeavors, Trinity students: -have a responsible and aspiring work ethic, understanding and appreciating the role of effort in academic success and fulfillment-work efficiently as individuals and as team members -are critical thinkers and problem solvers -communicate their ideas effectively and listen well to the ideas of others -are empowered learners, well-equipped to meet the challenges of an ever more complex global society

VisionRealityTake stock and action to close the gapProblem statements

*#s 1 kids shut down, feel frustrated3 cant (wont) solve their own problems4+10 students and parents are numbers-driven6 - the product must be completely purpose-driven 12. Fixed mindset about ones ability to learn x.

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Review: What makes for an engaging class that promotes understanding?What classes are usually students favorite/most interesting classes?

How does teaching for understanding lead to better student engagement?

Ken Burns Civil War clipDiscuss implications of TMA.What did he do from a design perspective?How do you deliberately plan for student understanding and engagement?