summary of backward instructional planning through Understanding bu Design.

1. INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN
Understanding by Design: 3 steps to effective instructional design

2. UNDERSTANDING BY DESIGN-
BACKWARD PLANNING
Three-stage design process- all three stages must clearly align not only to standards,
but also to one another
Desired
Results
Evidence Learning Plan

3. STAGE 1: DESIRED RESULTS- STARTING
POINT FOR EFFECTIVE PLANNING
• What should students know( knowledge acquisition), understand (meaning making),
and be able to do (transfer)?
• What enduring understandings are desired? What essential questions will be
explored in-depth and provide focus to all learning?
• consider goals, examine established content standards, and review curriculum
expectations.
• Clarity of purpose is key
• Stage 1 focuses on “transfer of learning.

4. ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
• statements summarizing important ideas and core processes that are central to a
discipline and have lasting value beyond the classroom.
• frame the big ideas that give meaning and lasting importance, can transfer to other
fields
• “unpack” areas of the curriculum where learners may struggle to gain understanding
or demonstrate misunderstandings and misconceptions
• provide a conceptual foundation for studying the content area
• are deliberately framed as declarative sentences that present major curriculum
generalizations and recurrent ideas.

5. ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
Traits of . . .
• Open-ended; typically will not have a single, final, and correct answer
• Thought-provoking and intellectually engaging, often sparking discussion and debate
• Call for higher-order thinking, such as analysis, inference, evaluation, prediction
• Point towards important, transferable ideas within and sometimes across disciplines.
• Raises additional questions and sparks further inquiry.
• Requires support and justification, not just an answer.
• Recurs over time; that is, the question can and should be revisited again and again.

6. EXAMPLE E.U. AND E.Q.
• Enduring Understanding: The Geography, climate and natural resources of a region
influence the economy and lifestyle of the people living there.
• Essential Questions:
• How does where you live influence how you live?
• How do people impact the region in which they live?

7. INTERRELATED LEARNING GOALS
1. Knowledge (transfer)- the teacher’s primary role is to inform the learners through
explicit instruction in targeted knowledge and skills; differentiating as needed.
Means to an end (i.e. making meaning & acquisition)
2. Making Meaning- engage the learners in actively processing information, guide
inquiry into complex problems, texts, projects, cases, or simulations; differentiate
as needed.
3. Acquisition- create on-going opportunities to perform (independent practice) in
increasingly complex situations, provide models and give ongoing feedback.
Provide direct instruction when needed.

8. STAGE 2: EVIDENCE
• How will we know if students have achieved the desired results?
• assessment evidence reflects the desired results identified in Stage 1
• What will we accept as evidence of student understanding and their ability to use (transfer)
their learning in new situations? How will we evaluate student performance?
• six facets of understanding for assessment purposes
• Performance tasks based on one or more facets are not intended for use in daily lessons.
Rather, these tasks should be seen as culminating performances for a unit of study
Explain Interpret
Apply Demonstrate Perspective
Display Empathy Have self-knowledge

9. ASSESSMENT-SIX FACETS OF
UNDERSTANDING
Six Facets of Understanding for Assessment
Explain Teach concepts, principles & processes, or put into own words
Interpret make sense of data, text & experience through images, analogies, stories,
and models.
Apply use and adapt knowledge into new and complex contexts.
Demonstrate Perspective see the big picture, recognize different points of view
Display Empathy perceive sensitively, walk in someone else’s shoes
Have self-knowledge show meta-cognitive awareness, use productive habits of mind, reflect on
the meaning of the learning and experience.

10. STAGE 3: LEARNING PLAN-SUPPORTING
LEARNER UNDERSTANDING
• What enabling knowledge and skills will students need to perform effectively and
achieve desired results? What activities, sequence, and resources are best suited to
accomplish our goals?
• plan the most appropriate lessons and learning activities to address the three different
types of goals identified in Stage 1: transfer, meaning making, and acquisition
• How will we prepare them to autonomously transfer their learning?
• learners given numerous opportunities to draw inferences and make generalizations for
themselves (with teacher support).
• learner has to actively construct meaning
• learners given opportunities to apply their learning to new situations and receive timely
feedback

11. REFERENCES
• http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_WhitePaper0312.pdf
• http://www6.grafton.k12.wi.us/district/eclipse/essentialquestions/enduring.html
• http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/109004/chapters/What-Makes-a-
Question-Essential%A2.aspx