Some years ago, after reading Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, I started a wiki for teachers to learn and share UbD units and ideas. Despite having over 500 members, the wiki doesn’t see a lot of new content. At this stage, I think only two members regularly contribute new content, and one of … Continue reading UbD Educators Wiki
I recently posed a question for discussion on the UbD Educators wiki. At this point, the wiki has over 100 members, and one would think it would be more active, but to get down to brass tacks, I’m the most active member of the wiki. The wiki is not closed to lurkers, so if all … Continue reading UbD Educators Wiki
Miguel Guhlin has joined the UbD Educators wiki and wants your help. He is posting UbD chapter summaries and wants input from other wiki members. I want to ask wiki members a question: Miguel suggested that we unlock those summary pages to allow nonmembers to participate. What do you think? My idea was that allowing … Continue reading UbD Wiki: Summaries
I have mentioned before that the UbD Educators wiki has grown quiet. I think there may be two reasons for this: We’re all busy educators who have difficulty finding the time to create, post, and/or comment on others’ posted UbD units. We’re not getting what we need out of the wiki. It’s not in my … Continue reading UbD Educators: Suggestions?
Some months down the road after its creation, the UbD Educators wiki has fallen silent. I logged in today to find that neither changes nor discussions had taken place in the last 30 days. Yikes! I take part of the blame upon myself. Having five preps leaves me, ironically, with not much time to plan, … Continue reading UbD Educators Wiki
I created a UbD unit for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which my seniors read for summer reading. Please check it and tell me what you think. The webquest for the unit can be accessed here. Also, I created the webquest for my UbD unit on Brave New World. [tags]ubd, brave new world, one … Continue reading Webquests and UbD Units
One startlingly clear lesson I have learned from UbD is that my trusty grammar text has the grammar unit all out of order in terms of how they should best be organized. It makes sense to me that students should learn mechanics first — spelling tricks, punctuation, capitalization. Yet they are at the end of … Continue reading Grammar and UbD
After finishing Understanding by Design, I created two units: Apostrophes (9th grade Grammar, Comp., and Lit.) Beowulf (11th grade British Lit. and Comp.) If you are familiar with UbD (or even if you aren’t), I’d appreciate feedback. You can contribute to discussions at UbD Educators wiki without joining the wiki. I can’t remember if I … Continue reading UbD Unit Plans
In “The Big Picture: UbD as Curriculum Framework,” Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe elevate the discussion of backward design to its application for designing K-16 curricula. OK, I see the benefits, and I’m ready to start, but I don’t see how everyone who factors in designing the curricula for K-16 students would get on board … Continue reading Understanding by Design: The Big Picture: UbD as Curriculum Framework
Clay Burell of Beyond School, who is reading Understanding by Design as part of UbD Educators, mentions a “hole” in the authors’ presentation: I look forward to more time with UbD in the coming weeks. But I’m reading it with an eye toward a blind spot in their book (so far, anyway — and maybe … Continue reading UbD and Digital Literacies: A Challenge