UBD means Understanding by Design, an educational framework whose main objective is to promote quality teaching and learning and whose main goal is to develop enduring understandings that are transferable to life. UBD has, indeed, taken the country by storm. Everybody seems to be in the know. Teachers have attended UBD seminars conducted by educational entities, both public and private, but have remained in the dark simply because of the various interpretations given by resource persons and lecturers. Dep-Ed has advocated the UBD framework as the basis for the 2010 Secondary Curriculum. As spelled out in its implementing guidelines, UBD will be in full force at the First Year Level this June 2010. But how prepared are the teachers for this new framework? Not much or not at all. After attending a four-day seminar with Jay McTighe in Melbourne, Australia, one of the two proponents of UBD, I’ve learned that there is one major way to kill UBD in any educational context – know a little about it and start big. Understanding by Design consists of three stages:
Stage 1- Identifying Desired Results.
Stage 2- Determining Acceptable Assessment Evidence.
Stage 3 – Making the Learning Plan. As opposed to the traditional way of designing lessons, the UBD process is backward, i.e., a teacher has to think of the goal for every lesson and then plan backward. For example, in the teaching of adjectives or adverbs in English, traditionally we would teach learners what adjectives/adverbs are, their types, their functions without looking at the bigger picture. With UBD, we teach modifiers to learners so that in the long run they will be able to add color, flavor, taste, and spice to life as they describe people, places, and things. We teach what matter is in science so that in the future they can discriminate between toxic and non-toxic elements, thereby saving lives. We teach the big idea nutrition so that in the long run the learners will become healthy, efficient, and productive citizens of society. These are the enduring understandings we want them to transfer to others. Another feature of the UBD framework is the impetus it gives to assessment processes.
The Essay on How does the TWS benefit the teacher?
The Teacher Work Sample (TWS) employs almost the same processes that teachers follow in lesson planning and classroom instruction except that TWS is more than mere planning and performance. It also includes developing a Contextual description of the class and as its final step, a Reflection and Self-Evaluation of the instruction. The TWS is, therefore, a blueprint of a complete and ideal teaching ...
Even before a teacher starts to think about writing a lesson plan, s/he will have thought of performance tasks, which learners have to get involved in, meaningfully. These authentic performance tasks which go side by side with a set of rubrics or criteria are evidence of well-thought out assessment decisions. Hence, the assessment, evaluation, and testing processes become transparent to learners. If properly understood and implemented, the new framework will certainly go a long way because it is aimed at developing independent, autonomous decision makers and deep critical thinkers among our learners. As Jay McTighe has said, “Think big, start small, and settle for small wins.” We have to learn from his words. At this stage of implementation, I don’t think the schools are ready for across-the-country implementation of UBD. Even if the curriculum documents (both Curriculum Guide and Teaching Guide) are available, I’m afraid the program is bound to fail because of the inadequate training of principals, supervisors, subject specialists, teacher trainers, and teacher users about Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the design. I don’t think they have a full grasp or understanding of the framework. Without this basic knowledge about UBD, everything will be for naught. But let’s not despair, we should not throw in the towel and kill the project. There’s hope for recovery. Here’s my proposal:
* Go easy with its implementation. Start small. Pilot test in schools (public or private) which are ready for UBD. Don’t force the entire cohort of first year teachers to ‘ubidize’ their lessons starting this June. (Some of them were complaining over nationwide television about the lack of training.) * Retrain the teachers, supervisors, subject consultants, principals, trainers, department heads on the UBD framework. They have to fully understand Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the design before they can even think of preparing Learning Plans. They have to be taught how to formulate enduring understandings, essential questions, and transfer goals. Enduring Understandings (EUs) are full-sentence statements that specify what we want students to come to understand about big ideas and topics. Essential Questions (EQs) are open-ended provocative questions which are designed to guide student inquiry and focus instruction for “uncovering” or “unpacking” the big ideas or topics.
The Essay on Understanding How Learners Learn
There are many books and Internet websites written about the VARK Theory. It is the trainingfairy’s opinion that as adult trainers we are not always interested in the in-depth theory, you need to have an understanding and run with it. This page will hopefully provide you with this understanding and refer you to books and websites to explore this subject further if you wish to. “I hear ...
* Make the teachers see how the six facets of understanding (students’ ability to explain, interpret, apply, see points of view, empathize, and reflect) relate to the EUs and the EQs of Stage 1 and the assessment processes of Stage 2. They should be taken through the three stages in a three-day workshop (one stage per day) with input and output cum critiquing sessions. Otherwise, the transfer of knowledge from them to the teachers will cascade wrongly. * Go easy with the process of “ubidizing” instructional materials. Remember, UBD is an instructional design which can be implemented with any available textbook. Textbooks continue to be sources of content for learners to acquire knowledge and skills from. What is more important is to teach teacher-users how to use the textbook the UBD way and this can be illustrated in the Teacher’s Guide or Manual.
For example, the teacher-users may be guided on how to incorporate the enduring understandings, essential questions, transfer goals, performance tasks, and the six facets of understanding in teaching their lessons , the content of which is derived from textbooks. * Be ready with the Established Goals and Content Standards across subjects and across the remaining three levels the soonest time possible. Let’s not wait for 2011 for the second year set of content standards to come out. This will enable subject specialists and consultants to go over documents, validate and edit them early enough thereby giving space for fine tuning and polishing. I am very much for UBD and I am all for giving it a try.
The Term Paper on The Ideal Teacher
What characteristics should a teacher possess? What Makes a Good Teacher? Introduction What does being a teacher mean? • Having a vocation for the teaching profession. • Being dedicated. • Being surrounded by a large number of diverse students, each with their own baggage and unique character. Knowledge 1st Characteristic of an effective teacher • Should be transmitted in a unique and fun manner. ...
It could be a solution to unemployment problems because it will narrow the gap between the curriculum and the workplace. By the time the learners graduate in 2014, they will have established goals for themselves, they will have become better decision-makers and more productive citizens of the country. Nevertheless, all these cannot be realized if the foundation of teaching and learning UBD is weak. Let’s all be willing to be retrained on UBD. Let’s take the challenge!
