Wiggins+Chapter+9

Chapter 9

==I would like to start with this statement, " **//Think less about the teachings and more about the learnings sought//**!" I think I always want to tell preservice teachers that it is not about you.... it is not about what you do but rather what your students do because of you... that is where that switch comes from.... do not focus on teaching.... focus on learning...that goes from emphasis on the teacher's actions to emphasis on the students. (Diane) I feel that with all the standards we are required to follow and the teaching towards the test this gets lost in translation. I think if we were able to follow this method more as teachers than our learning environment could be so much more fun! That's so funny because I had the exact same line in the next highlighted! I agree! How fun would it be if we weren't so constricted. I feel like great teachers know what they should be teaching by knowing their students. Great teachers, do not need standards. I feel like standards are a good place to start, or a guideline.. but should not be our only source of what to teach. I think common sense should always outweigh standards! (ALLY) I completely agree. Our focus is way too much on teaching and not on what our students are learning. (Jen). I guess today I was in a mood and I am not sure why, but today I do not completely agree. Why I am not sure. I guess I just feel at times the traditional way of teaching gets so much criticism and I learned this way and I loved school and was engaged and feel I learned just as well. (Karen):) I understand what you are saying Karen. I feel that I am somewhere between. I understand the point that we don't want to only focus on how we are teaching, but this is a crucial part. The medium is the message. If we are able to get our message out in a coherent way then learning will happen. It may not be the best way, but that is why teaching is like a practice. We can experiment and find out what works best for us and how it translate to students. (Chase S) This section talks about how a good plan must be **engaging** and **effective:** engaging -Engaging! (I just love this word when it comes to education) Ally One of the themes of the authors is also that engagement is not just enjoyment, so I like how you group "engagment" with "effective." Not that you don't want your kids to enjoy themselves, but thier brains have to be in gear as well. == learners find thought provoking, fascinating, and energizing; effective - learners become more competent and productive in their work. Again I feel that if we as teachers follow the very first statement then this all can be achieved! The rest of the chapter goes into the dissection of the WHERETO method. I do feel like this is a great guideline to follow when creating your lesson. The where and why bring up a good point that most older students (7-12th graders) would say, "why is this important, when will I use this information again?" Teachers need to be prepared every day for these questions and to be prepared with how to answer these questions. (While the littler ones may not ask this question, I think it's just as important to discuss it with them to allow for transfer to the wider world.) The hook and hold part is where every teacher struggles with finding creative ways to engage the students with every lesson, because honestly some lessons are just completely boring. If its hard for the teacher to get excited about a lesson then its going to be hard for the teacher to get the students excited for the lesson. With technology today and all the resources available to teachers it makes it easier to find a variety in creative ways to get lessons started. I'm glad the "T" talks about tailoring and personalizing the lesson for the class and individual students. I would work with some teachers who would complain constantly about having to make accommodating for specific students. I would try to talk to them and explain to them why these students need accommodations and how it actually benefits them in the learning process. It is so frustrating at times when others can't or refuse to differentiate their lessons. I love these teachers! They are a great part of why I became a teacher. I remember sitting in Ohio History class in seventh grade and the behavioral students getting all of the attention (I know now they may have had learning difficulties) while the rest of the class myself included sat in the corner bored out of our minds and frustrated. I contemplated several times acting out like them to get the attention and neurological stimulation I deserved. Why those teachers can't see how much better their classes would run with differentiated instruction has always been a mystery to me.(Gretchen) Overall I like the guidelines this chapter lays out and how it can help keep the teacher focused on the students and how they will learn.(Julie) I think it's an interesting conversation about the whole engagement piece. To reflect on a few of the questions Sylvia asked, I do think there are still teachers that teach by standing in front of the room and lecturing. I had a handful of teachers like that in high school, and every day we'd come in and take notes off the overhead projector and listen to them talk. Karen mentioned that she doesn't necessarily see a problem with the "old school" traditional way of teaching, and still felt that she learned and was engaged. I felt that in these classes I learned some, but not much that I can remember, and certainly didn't feel engaged. I had an experience similar to this in 7th grade math. The teacher was interactive and occasionally entertaining, but I'll have to admit that I was engaged mostly because I was terrified of him (and answering a problem incorrectly). I think that some teachers have been teaching that way for years, and dont' feel like changing their teaching methods. I also had an interesting interaction with a parent this year. I've had a parent that I've been dealing with since the second week of school, that nothing I'm doing in math is satisfying her. The first (nasty) email I got from her was the second week of school, and when I read it at lunch time and didn't immediately respond, she showed up at my door at 3:00 that afternoon. She brought all sorts of handouts and worksheets that she felt I needed to be doing for her son, told me what material I should be teaching in 6th grade, and how I should teach it! The interesting thing of the whole situation was, that the way this parent felt I should be teaching, sounded a lot like traditional teaching. I teach, they do worksheet, and drill and practice. It was interesting that this woman felt that the picture she had of "school" from when she grew up, was how she wanted to have her child taught. She was very unwilling to see benefit in how we teach today. Sylvia also asked about engagement. I think that I shoot for 100% engagement, 100% of the time, but I know I don't realistically get that. I think that this is a difficult thing to accomplish day to day, and also feel that some of it is dependent on the students in your room. We all have a variety of students from very unique backgrounds, and dependent on all of the factors that contribute to their day to day life, I can't say that all of my students come to class daily, ready to learn. Especially at middle school, I think that goes back to their emotional, social, physical needs constantly changing, and sometimes interfering with their learning, or their desire to learn each day.

I love that whenever I read the postings, it seems that many of you are thinking the same thing as me, or you are coming away with some of the concepts that stood out to me. I especially liked the WHERETO example. It is a wonderful acronym that can be used by a teacher when "planning for learning." I even like that concept "planning for learning' where the designer of the lesson is moving away from what he/she wants to accomplish and thinks rather about the learner. It's true that the priority must be "learning-sought" versus "teaching." I also agreed with the characteristics of the best designs, where a lesson must be effective and engaging, must have clear performance goals, and there should be clear models and modeling. (Ugochi) I've thought a little more about the efffect of making a lasting impression on students using a traditional approach versus a more active and engaging approach. I'd have to say that education today, in general, uses more active and engaging instructional models than in generations past. However, then I think about the student that functions better under more structure which would be a good arguement for the traditional. Look at this wiki for example. This is an innovative, active, and engaging activity but without clear and concise boundaries. However, I don't even know if I'm doing it right. An e-mail was sent out that we need a little more vitual dialouge but I'm not even sure where to start or how to go about it. Am I supposed to reply all in the e-mail or do it here? Luckily, both ways are probably acceptable but I think one thing to remember for all of us educators is to make sure that when we try new strategies we still make sure that all our learners are given clarity with the directions and the approach. When trying something new with a group of students, to me the middle part of the WHERETO (RE) becomes the most important part. Not oly do you have to look at your students before and AFTER the "activity" but you have to reflect and self-assess for yourself. Doing so with the kids is a great opportunity for modeling and encourages them to Rethink & Evaluate on thier own.

**I think when Chapter 9 discusses planning for learning, it brings us back to thinking about the //why// and the //how// of what we’re teaching everyday in the classroom. Once we decide what seems to be important for us to teach, it’s equally important to decide how we will effectively teach it so that students are engaged and learning for understanding. I believe this statement is absolutely critical. Many educators do a good job of picking out the important stuff to teach, but sometimes neglect to give as much focus to how they will effectively teach that material. The actual "teaching" is where students are able to establish the connections we desire (Julie). ****I thought the Chinese proverb at the beginning of the chapter said it perfectly: “I hear, I forget. I see, I remember. I do, I understand.” It’s so important that we try to plan as many lessons as possible that have students actually “doing” and solving, as this is where the deepest understanding seems to come from.** **Some of the characteristics from page 195-196 that seemed to stand out to me were hands-on, variety, real-world/meaningful, authentic, clear goals, clear criteria, and self-assessment. I think that often times we forget that there are so many different elements that need to to into a good, effective lesson. I thought that most of these topics were covered in the WHERETO model that was covered throughout the chapter. I think that if I were to take the time to sit down and use the WHERETO model for each of my units, the units I teach would be more effective and meaningful to students. While I’ve always tried to think about these concepts while planning, but don’t always think as in depth as I should. One thing they discussed a bit as well was inquiry based learning, which is something I feel that I should implement more of in my teaching. This really allows students to engage in the “explore & experience” piece of this process. As long as we equip students with the proper knowledge, and continue to provide opportunities for them to reflect on their work, I think this can be a very successful method of teaching. I felt that the bulleted list on page 216 also provided some great examples of opportunities for students to reflect on their learning.**

This chapter gave us another thing to consider in backward design: planning for learning using the WHERETO method. This method helps us make sure our teaching is both effective and engaging while also guiding our students to truly learn for understanding. One of the things that stood out to me from this chapter is on page 192 when the authors said our challenge is to think less about the teachings and more about the learnings sought. As teachers I think we get caught up in what we have to teach and kind of leave the learning up to our students. I know I’ve heard colleagues of mine say “I taught it, they just don’t want to learn it.” I agree! But to be honest I sometimes feel this way with some of my students...I feel like I can only do so much and at some point they need to be responsible for their learning (Jason). We have the same problem in the cross country world. If the athletes don't feel that they are running up to their ability they blame it on the coaches. We weren't trained right, we did the wrong workouts. The question that we need to ask, to follow up on Jason point is, Students why didn't this happen? Did you do all of the things that you could to help you? Did you do your homework? Did you read the chapter? Chase S) This chapter gave us a way to avoid making these kinds of excuses because learning is part of our design, not just teaching. There are certain parts of the WHERETO method that I struggle with and find difficult to use in my teaching, specifically hook and hold and reflect, rethink, revise, but there are obvious benefits to using these elements and I would like to start incorporating them into my lessons. I found the ideas given for each of these elements (on page 203 and 216) are a great guide in helping me get started with that. I also found the question exploration guide on page 212 helpful in using WHERETO and liked that both the teacher and students use the same organizer. (Jen)

**This chapter started with a great Chinese Proberb that someone said during class a couple weeks ago. It starts off letting us know that we have to do more than stand at the front of a classroom and talk at the students or to just write hte stuff on the board (Most of us already know this, but I still love the quote and reminder). I like that this chapter stressed the //learning activities// instead of the teaching. I guess**

I think what this book does so well is not just explain what it takes to be a successful teacher, but it explains the steps and processes needed to become successful. I ABSOLUTELY agree with you. I love that it is not a general book or theory based, but they give us actual applications of it with examples and the "Bob James character. (Ugochi) I think all of us knew prior to reading this chapter that in order for a lesson to be effective it typically needs to be engaging. When I read that in the chapter I was not shocked by any means. The question always was how do you go about making the lessons engaging. Not all topics are going to be the most interesting to your students so sometimes that can be difficult. This chapter explains some of those ways to help make your lesson more engaging such as the WHERETO method that everyone else has previously mentioned. I think the most important part of the WHERETO method may be the first step and that is the W, which is to--ensure that students understand WHERE the unit is headed, and WHY. I definitely agree with this - if we want students to be truly invested and engaged in the learning process, we must take the necessary steps to make them feel invested and engaged. Providing the road map at the beginning of a unit not only prepares students for the coming weeks in terms of specific content, it helps them take a mental picture of how we are going to get to where we are going and why the journey is important (Julie). Another great thing about the W (Where) is that it aids the teacher to not get off task and do something random because it's fun versus actually being tied to the curriculum/standards (Ugochi). I think it is important for teachers to make sure their students understand right away why the lesson is important and why it is relevant to them. I think teachers need to go into each unit with a gameplan of what they are trying to accomplish, how they are going to do it, and why it is important to accomplish it Once the teacher comes up with this plan then it is time to share it with the students. I think that teachers will often create these lesson plans and just start teaching them. I think teachers need to share their plans with their students. I don't ever remember having a teacher share their lesson plans with me when I was going through school. I also think that If students are asking you questions like "why do we have to know this? and why does this apply to me" then it is too late. Unless students know why we are teaching a topic and why it is important from the start then they are not as likely to really be engaged in the lesson, and it is pretty hard to take a student who is already out of the loop or disengaged in the middle of the unit or lesson and make them engaged and able to learn the material (Dan) Overall, I have generally agreed with most of what the book is saying and find its' ideas and suggestions to be helpful. However, this chapter gave me a few problems. I think the biggest issue for me is that I teach a much younger group of student s. I agree and I too, find it hard to apply some of the things to my grade level. (ALLY) I agree with Jen where she says that the hook is difficult. I think this is something we all struggle with from time to time. The reflection to me I feel like has to fall on me more than the students. I can ask them to think about what they have learned and tell me about what they know and what they still may want to know. (The KWL chart) I am open to reteaching and changing course in the middle of a unit if need be. However, I guess I get a litlle discouraged looking at mainly higher level classroom examples in the book. Don't get me wrong there were several refrences to special education classrooms, but wow even those kids still seemed to be pretty high studying MacBeth! I am all about Tailoring and personalizing the class work so that it is individualized for each student to do, learn, and understand their best. The problem I run into is with self assessment in litlle ones. They are still quite egocentric. They do have moments of concern or empathy for others but the overall is still all about them. As a classroom, we work on sharing and talk about our feelings and how our actions make others feel. But like we have discussed in class are they really ready to assess their own work? Don't get me wrong I try to begin to instill this concept on a much lower level. The children have individual checklists in the classroom to check off if they have done the jobs or activities they need to during the day. This takes a lot of one on one time and constant verbal reminders to get them to do just this on their own. The part that is not atypical to any classroom is that I still have one or two on certain days who just check items off to do it (whether they completed the item or not). I feel like this chapter really kind of pushes the envelope of the intrinsic motivation in students. While this is not a bad thing, not every child is intrinsically motivated. Some children are wondering where their next meal is going to come from or if they are ever going to get out of the shelter. As much as I would like to believe that education could change that for them, I am not so sure I even believe that now in this economy and the state of schools with high stakes testing. I guess what I am getting at is that I agree in most of what the book is teaching and think it is great practice and a good way to work on the standards. However, I feel like our jobs take on so many more roles than any Legislator is willing to aknowledge (i.e.;guardian, social worker, etc ) Parent, guidance, house keeper, nurse :) . Our curriculum must continue to pick up where everyone else dropped the ball. There is a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, but our village is collapsing and the schools are expected to pick up all the pieces. I think I will stop while I am ahead because I have gotten on my soap box and I apologize. (Gretchen) Gretchen I completely agree with you! Especially for those of us working with younger kids, there is so much more that goes into what we do than teaching and I feel like we're expected to take on so many different roles that eventually it's going to take its toll on us, if it hasn't already begun to. I'm lucky enough that my students aren't worried about going hungry or having a place to sleep, but I still deal with divorce and other issues that affect the students, and ultimately what I do in my classroom. (Jen)

Gretchen, I agree with you too! I love the village quote. Our communities and neighborhoods (in many places) not helping the schools and being part of the schools, more so than being part of the school community. As I said above, I feel like common sense always triumphs standards. Many times, I have students who are lower than what the standard is. So that is my job, to start low and scaffold up. However, it is hard to differentiate and still be responsible for teaching all of those standards. (ally)

( KAREN) This chapter talked about the different aspects of evaluation when using the UbD method. I hate to be negative right off the bat, but a couple of times in the chapter the authors incinuate that the old-fashioned or traditional way of teaching is wrong and BAD! One example is, " Schoolwrok is often needlessly dul, especially when composed of mind-numbing skill worksheets or excessive passive listening-all of it divorced from interesting problems and from realistic and worthy performance challenges. I know that education is made up of individuals with thoughts and opinions and I respect that! But as stated in the book and even in class, there are times where what the authors call numbing and worthless actually Teach students a valuable skill. (but the use of the word teaching has changed to learning activity). I am not trying to sound too contrary, but I leanred my muliplication by doing worthless and numbing worksheets and I can transfer this to many of my everyday activities (grocery shopping). I guess I am in a mood today and I get tired sometimes of all the bashing of traditional education. Today many of the students do not know their multiplication facts and only when using a calculator. How had this come about? Is it because some say worksheets are bad and boring. My deep seeded feeling right now is that with this boring and worhtless teaching that has happened in the past worked and we the people...created the most powerful and wealthy nation that the world has ever seen (It isn't perfect, I know) so we have done something right so why the need to fix something that was not COMPLETELY broken?:):) I agree. I feel like when we were in school we still learned because our teachers had the freedom to do what they wanted and didn't have to worry about standards. Now with everything the way it is sometimes the only thing I can fit in is a worksheet and I feel like that's better than nothing. (Jen) I like the use of the acroym WHERETO-I like the idea of informing the students of what the entire unit is about and what they will be responsible for. I think it gets them more focused and in tune to what they need to be thinking, feeling acting etc. I really like having purposeful work and I think the example of the Cathcher in the Rye is great (p.199). I like the idea at the end that there will be a case review and committee. It makes them have to thing, feel, act, write and also gives both a chance to work alone and in group. **I agree with you when students are doing these things, they are involved in their education. They are engaged and motivated to learn more and more. Also, I believe that it is very important for students to have the experience to work in groups or alone. So, they can feel which environment is the best for them (Silvia).** I think it taps into a lot of differnt learnining styles and activities. I also like using the idea of a mystery to get the students thinking and predicing!!!!!!!! No I hate to become miss grumpy again...but...on page 206 the authors state that hooks need to be intrinsic and extinsic and I agree for the most part, and it goes on to say that teachers must stop saying schooling isn't inherently fun. Well...not all students are going to be hooked into and onto everyything NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE SAYS OR DOES. I hate math and there was nothing any of my teachers could do about it. What I learned from this is that there are times in life that I am going to stuggle and not everything is going to be fun and excitng and sometimes I have to compromise and do things I do not want to do and in my opinion that is one of the most important lessons a student or anyone NEEDS TO LEARN. any...**I agree again with you, I don't like history and I had to deal with it. There are so many things that we need to deal as human beings...this is life!!! (Silvia)** I really liked this chapter. As the phrase in page 198 says "Although students don't necessarily need to know much about what the 'teaching' will be, it is essential that they understand what the 'learning' requires them to eventually do." It is all about understanding; students need to understand what they are learning and what is the purpose of it. Teaching is the path for a learning process and a good understanding. WHERETO is what every teacher does in a daily basis. We always try to plan wonderful lessons so our students are engaged and motivated in our classroom (Silvia). Silvia and Karen, you two make me laugh! :-p I think it's great that you defend the traditional style of teaching and I agree with you. I think there's a time and a place for the traditional style as well as the "new and improved" styles that we've been learning about. I think worksheets, for example, are good for helping to guide students when a concept is first introduced. Whether you approach the topic with an essential question or as a big idea, it is still helpful to students to have some solid examples and guiding practice that worksheets often provide. After that, students may feel more confident about applying what they've just practiced on the worksheet. Of course that's not the only approach to take nor is it always the best but it's still an approach and it's still effective in many cases. I also agree with the life-lesson that "traditional lessons provide". It's funny that you two say that you remember being bored and not interested in the subject in school (I'm guessing elementary or high school?) because, if we're supposed to be preparing these students for college, they'll most likely run into that problem! But getting back to the point, I agree with everyone who said this was a great chapter - very useful, full of great ideas and how to implement them. It is good to have some tools to use for great "learning activity" planning, especially for when you feel like you've completely run out of ideas...

I think that the main idea of this chapter is that we should be more focused on the students than ourselves. To me, focusing on the "learning activities" rather than the "teaching" is a subtle difference, but what it really does is takes the attention away from us and toward the students. Our goal should be for students to learn, not for us to teach. There may be days where teachers don't necessarily go in front of the room and "teach" the students about something. Rather, they may investigate among themselves and really get involved with their own learning. Of course, there are times where our teaching is necessary for there to be learning. We need to provide them with background knowledge so they will have a chance to discover other things on their own. The important thing is that we should be much happier when students learn, even if we do very little "teaching" than we are if we do a great job teaching and the students don't learn as much or think as deeply about the topic. (Chase)

Chapter 9 moves into the planning phase of backwards design based upon the types of learners we have and what those learners will need to in order to achieve success in our lessons and units. Wiggins and McTighe talk about the plan for learning and that it must be both engaging and effective. There are thousands of lesson plans and activities that can be considered engaging and the students are motivated to participate in those activities, but that doesn’t mean they are effective. Students may enjoy the activities that a teacher creates but if at the end of the lesson or activity the students cannot make connections to why they did the activity or know the purpose of the lesson then it’s considered ineffective. “How will students master complex ideas and task if they encounter them only once?” I found this question to be intriguing based on the fact that in a lot of classrooms a concept is only taught once and the teacher moves on, failing to ever revisit that concept. Not a lot of teachers revisit and make the necessary connections between past concepts and new ideas they are teaching now. I think it is important in science to try and make connections to what was learned in the past with any new concept being taught. By doing this I am showing the students the importance of what we learn and how they are all connected in the real world. (Jason) I think this is where data driven decision making comes in... we need to work to ensure that each student understands the concepts and have a way to track that and then remediate. This is not easy..

I thought it was interesting that this chapter is talking about students as the "end users" of design and our teaching design should be "user-friendly". I think I always understood that was the point, but I imagine much of it gets lost in the day-to-day for active teachers. I remember a mission statement I saw somewhere along my path that plain and simply stated "**Student Learning is the Goal**." Well, duh! :) **That’s one thing we always remind ourselves in Grandview- it’s not about the points, it’s about the learning. (Nicole)** In reality though, the goal is always distracted by your students' parents, your administration, or the next big thing in PD your school is going to try, AND let's not forget the non-academic needs of your students. ** That seems to be a stress weighing heavily on us now... not only are all of those distractions, but now the big thing is giving ‘data’ to support everything we’re doing. Things are becoming so focused on growth and the value added measure. I don’t think there are enough hours in a day for me to plan lessons like this everyday, and provide data for every student I teach. (** Even though I work in educational publishing; we can't create what good teachers do and print "it" in a product. Good teachers execute the skills included in Stage 3 of Backward Design (see p.194). I was entertained as we got all the way back to Bob James at the end of the chapter. Everything always wraps up with this infamous nutrition unit. I think this a great example, but I am not convinced that this approach would work for every single standard teachers have to teach. **Exactly!** Like anything else that is good for us, there has to be balance. I think this is really good, solid, teaching and learning; but I would try to balance it with the conventional or traditional (see Karen and Silvia's comments). I always tend to advocate for foundational skill-based learning in balance with the exciting creative stuff. -Colleen

This chapter starts off with, "We are moving from thinking about what we want to accomplish as a designer to thinking about who the learners- the end-user of our design - are and what they will need, individually and collectively, to achieve the desired result.." I think this is an excellent way to start off the chapter. Working with several different curricula designs, we come to the WHERETO method. This instructional planning helps us create and implement an effect/ engaging plan. I really enjoy things like this. It's quick and simple, yet it can engage and challenge the teacher in making sure that they are focused on what they are trying to get a crossed to the students. I enjoyed the section on 'R' I think this may be the most crucial part to the students learning. They can revise and think about what they have learned and apply new concepts and revise their work to understand these recently new concepts. Chase S.

I just wanted to respond to some of Silvia's questions. She asked about engagement and if 100% of students are engaged. One of the "non-negotiables" in my school is a tool we use called "SLANT." I encourage teachers to constantly check to make sure that the students are in SLANT. This is an acronym that means: Sit Up, Listen, Ask and Answer Questions, Nod for Understanding, Track the Speaker. One thing that I've noticed is that when students are tracking the speakers and teachers are using "cold call"- frequently calling on various students randomly to answer questions/give opinions or understanding of the topic, the students are usually engaged. But once again, this also goes to the lesson being taught and the effective manner in the way that the teacher has planned for learning. I have absolutely seen classes where 100% of the students are engaged because of the tools that the teacher is using, so I know that this is not impossible. As for the lecturing piece, there are still teachers who stand at the front and lecture. I can remember back to my days in undergrad where the teacher would be in the front of a class of about 300 and just do a lecture, tell the assignments, and end the class. I'm not sure that I remember much from those classes because I may or may not have been awake, due to the mundane task of listening to someone lecture for over an hour non-stop. (Ugochi)