Prior to this class, I had engaged in unpacking standards to align assessments and lessons. It was refreshing to know that other teachers are engaging with standards in the same manner, as I have felt this is the best way to ensure meaningful and intentional instruction. At my school, we have used a similar protocol to the one presented by the Imperial County Office of Education’s (n.d.) video. The protocol adapted from Public Schools of North Carolina (2012) calls for one to identify nouns, verbs, and big ideas.
In the beginning of my career, I found standards to be overwhelming and cumbersome. As I learned how to unpack standards, they became manageable and eventually enjoyable. Unpacking standards takes time and a lot of foresight. It is something that needs to be done long before you begin teaching a unit. Although cumbersome, the payoff is great because you see students’ work truly transform into work I never think I produced when I was their age. The reason why I believe I never produced as high quality work as my students, is the difference in intentionality that has taken place over the years in teacher planning. In Grant Wiggin’s (2005) overview of Understanding by Design, we see teachers used to plan lessons and assessments based on the activities. This did not lead to broader understandings of how the content or skill taught was significant to learning. Now, we start planning from the standard. The standard describes the skills we need our students to develop and apply. Then, we plan how to assess these skills. From there, we plan the activities and lessons that will guide students towards mastery of the standard. One aspect of Understanding by Design that I appreciate is the identification of “big ideas”. The “big ideas” helps teachers guide the work being produced and helps students make sense of the world around them outside of the day to day activities. Providing students tools and skills to make sense of our world is precisely why we are teaching. The reason why I will continue to unpack standards and backwards plan is to ensure that I provide my students opportunities to develop tools and skills that will help them question what they see and seek answers to problems that observe. References: Imperial County Office of Education. (n.d.). How to Unpack a Standard. Retrieved from https://www.mydigitalchalkboard.org/portal/default/Content/Viewer/Content?action=2&scId=100028&sciId=829 Public Schools of North Carolina. (2012). Unpacking the Common Core. Retrived from http://www.tangischools.net/ciweb/unpackingpowerpoint.pdf Wiggins, G. (2005). Understanding by Design: Overview of UBD and the Design Template. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYfzjQoASL_M3A1Ykd1M2t6cUk/view
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AuthorDon't judge me for these blog entries. I find these topics important, but teaching and going to school is hard. Archives
February 2018
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