Understanding By Design

Understanding By Design

By: Grant P. Wiggins   Jay McTighe  

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Average Customer Rating: 4.0 out of 5

Authors Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe answer these and many other questions in this second edition of Understanding by Design. Drawing on feedback from thousands of educators around the world who have used the UbD framework since its introduction in 1998, the authors have greatly revised and expanded their original work to guide educators across the K-16 spectrum in the design of curriculum, assessment, and instruction. With an improved UbD Template at its core, the book explains the rationale of backward design and explores in greater depth the meaning of such key ideas as essential questions and transfer tasks. Readers will learn why the familiar coverage- and activity-based approaches to curriculum design fall short, and how a focus on the six facets of understanding can enrich student learning. With an expanded array of practical strategies, tools, and examples from all subject areas, the book demonstrates how the research-based principles of Understanding by Design apply to district frameworks as well as to individual units of curriculum.

Combining provocative ideas, thoughtful analysis, and tested approaches, Understanding by Design, 2nd edition, offers teacher-designers a clear path to the creation of curriculum that ensures better learning and a more stimulating experience for students and teachers alike.

Publisher: Assn. for Supervision & Curriculum Development

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Directly applicable tools - As a Career and Technical Education instructor (Vocational Ed in some states), I haven't had to go through the traditional education school path. I feel very fortunate that this book was my formal introduction to deliberate curriculum design. The authors provide a lot of ready-to-use tools for instructional unit design and present a streamlined approach to getting the most out of contact hours with students. Backward design has informed my practice in my first year of teaching and I feel students have benefitted. Highly recommended for instructors who don't have existing curriculum support and who want to take the time to craft meaningful learning experiences for their students.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Great Book! - I purchased this book for a graduate class. This is by far the most well written and enlightening book I've ever read on the subject of teaching. The Six Facets of Understanding, in my opinion, are a better approach than Bloom's Taxonomy. The writers have a talent for deeply explaining information and making sure the reader understands what is being said. Buy this book and you will not be disappointed.

Customer Review: 4 out of 5
Good Textbook - Be prepared to shift your lesson planning schema!
This book takes an entirely new approach to planning lessons and units.
It focuses on the big picture with what they call "enduring understandings."
I highly recommend this for someone who may feel like they are in a teaching rut.
I know that this book is commonly being used in schools across the midwest.

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Arrived Quickly! - I am very pleased with the quick shipment of this book. It came to me looking like it might have been opened a few times. I am happy I purchased it from Amazon!

Customer Review: 5 out of 5
Lesson Planning Essential - Understanding by Design is a common sense approach to planning balanced lessons. Starting with a standards-based assessment as the foundation for a unit helps define learning goals and improves instruction. This is a teacher's reference desk "must have."

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