UbDDI+B2+Chapter+6

tocKirsten
This chapter talks about the idea of "uncovering" content rather than just skimming through and feeling the pressure to finish a textbook. The goal is to basically get your students to think more deeply about the content they're dealing with, rather than memorizing it for a test and then figuratively tossing it out. The book gives examples of essetial questions you can use to get students thinking about their work. I thought it was great the book said the "ladder" is a flawed metaphore. If teachers alwasy abide by this, so many students, even those who are considered to be good ones, will remain stagnant and never move beyond the basics and lose all enthusiasm for learning. I also liked the idea of the WHERETO format, but I felt like there was sooo much information to digest. I think I'll have to work with it in order to understand it more throughly.

Jordan
Flexibility, teaching strategies, and clustering needs are the three main components to create a responsive teaching method that works towards meeting various needs of students. Tomlinson and McTighe suggest that in order to foster an effective learning environment for students, the teacher needs to work at bettering classroom dynamics. Allowing all students “to be part of the game” and not just the practice (to use their analogy) helps students develop a greater understanding of the material because they find a purpose for what they are learning. To do this, teachers us the backwards design model to address each of the three key components that are involved in responsive teaching. From reading the chapter, I found that the biggest hurdle for teachers was how to provide flexibility in the classroom while still meeting standards. Tomlinson and McTighe suggest that the teacher examines each element of the classroom and then consider how he or she can manipulate that element to fit the needs of his or her students. Flexibility and change is something that needs to be slowly introduced into the classroom for the teacher and not an abrupt change in routine. I find that this problem did not really affect me as a student because I was content with only doing what the teacher expected of me. This affects my future classroom because I am going to try and address responsive teaching to create an environment that applies differentiated instruction to challenge my students to use their minds and work towards learning, not just getting their homework done.

Leah
Sometimes the reading in these books seems a bit daunting so I construct my own shorter metaphors for what the author is speaking about. For chapter six of UbD there were a lot of building metaphors rolling around in my head. It was mentioned that students need an opportunity to learn the basics and then apply them, like building a foundation of a building for later construction. There is also a large emphasis on showing students the goals and the assessments of a unit. In my mind I correlate that to how an architect must clearly communicate to the construction crew the design of a building. the metaphor continues in my mind when talking about flexibility in the classroom and resources on a construction site, but I will end the metaphor here to save time. I think the questions grids that were given in this chapter are another helpful tool to keep the goals of the unit and time management in mind.

Jennie
There was a really good metaphor, comparing teaching to a jazz musician. A jazz musician plans and practices but they also know how to improvise in case something goes wrong or something unexpected happens. "The jazz musician never loses the melody but expresses it in many ways" (89). This chapter is all about teachers being flexible when it comes to their lessons. They need to be able to change a lesson for different students. But we can't just teach some kids somethings and others more advanced things. We have to maker sure that they are all on equal footing when it comes to our lessons. Sometimes, changing things makes it better for everyone, not just the original student.

Mykayla
This chapter seemed a little bit hypocritical when it was talking about being prepared and then saying we, as teachers, need to also be flexible. I feel I will have a hard time teaching on the fly and coming up with something that will work for all of my students. Some of the planning strategies that were mentioned, however, seem very relevant to the classroom. The analogy to the sports was accurate. “It should never be the case that some students are consigned to sideline drills while others consistently play the game” (pg 85 Tomlinson and McTighe). Even though I was personally one of the students immediately put into the “game,” I wished that my teachers gave me some more “sideline drills” so that I succeed with a better understanding. I also see that as a teacher, I cannot simply focus on the drills if I want my students to be interested. I know I would not want to do layups all the time for basketball and never get to use that skill in a game.

Sarah
Chapter 6 of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design explored different methods of accommodating teaching for students. I particularly found this chapter to be of great interest. As I have been reading these books for Practicum, I have marveled at the brilliance of the many ideas presented but I have consistently found myself wondering how I will know when and how to differentiate. This chapter really opened my eyes to the many approaches and for that I am extremely grateful. Also, as I was reading I realized what the most valuable lesson I could take away from this book is. BE FLEXIBLE. I believe as long as I keep an open mind about learning and teaching, I feel as though I may get by as a decent teacher.

Ryan Snowman
This chapter discusses teaching responsively with the UbD model in classrooms that are academically diverse. To do this, there are some core beliefs that teachers must follow. I think the most important belief is that students should experience strong curriculum that emphasizes important ideas and encourages students to think at a high level. This includes students who are deemed to perform at the “low end” of the spectrum. These students often perform better if they are encouraged to think at the high end. This chapter also outlines some effective instructional strategies for teaching in academically diverse classrooms. The biggest theme to these strategies is a teacher’s ability to be flexible and to be creative. I also had some of the same concerns about managing a differentiated classroom, mainly about managing time. When trying to manage time, it is important to move slowly, and if students finish early, it is very useful to provide extra activities.

Brittany
One of the struggles that a teacher faces in the classroom is teaching to the ability levels of all of the students. Since all students are at a different level of learning, it is the teacher’s job to make sure that every student’s needs are being met. While teaching lessons, it is very important for the students to see the connection of the material to the real world. When students are aware of this connection, they are more likely to be motivated to learn so that they can apply their knowledge when it is needed. Another thing that students need to be aware of are the goals of the unit and lessons. By presenting the students with these goals they can better direct their focus in the direction where the lesson is headed. Not telling the students the objectives of a unit is like giving them all the details about a project without actually explaining what they need to do for the project. In my future classroom, I want to be sure that my students are clear as to the direction that the lessons are going in and the real world connections. By doing this, my students may possibly be more goal-oriented because they can see where the finish line is.

Corinne
This chapter discusses how to design a rich, challenge, and learning based curriculum. It gives the reader the key to designing a good curriculum based on the Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction theory. The key is focusing on important ideas, giving the lessons meaning, making the students think, allowing students to find knowledge for themselves, and eliminating the mystery of where the lesson is going. I would like to incorporate all of this advice when I become a teacher and need to design lesson plans for my students. The chapter also discusses several "how do I" questions that frequently arise from teachers. While reading, a question of my own arose; for my students there will be a line between designing challenging activities and assignments and ones that are too difficult or frustrating, how do I recognize were that line is. The answer the book gives for every "how do I" question is that it takes experience to understand students and find patterns in what works and what doesn't. This impacts me because now I understand that teaching will be very difficult at first, and that once I am a working teacher my learning process is not over, I will always be learning about not only my subject, but about the students and patterns in human beings.

Scott
"The focus of this chapter is instructional decision making in a classroom built on the principles of backward design and differentiation." In order to be an effective teacher we need to be flexible, allow for changes in curriculum based on the needs of students. We also need to learn how to cluster students based on their abilities, both by levels and learning styles. Students need to be able to learn the basics of our content and be able to apply it before they are forced to move onto more challenging situations. Personally, the most important part that I took out of this chapter is how we need to be able to adapt to different situations. The final section explains how it is difficult for teachers to break old habits. This made me thankful that I am able to learn these methods now, when I do not have many preconceptions about how I should teach.

Ryan
This chapter focuses on differentiation and backward design and how it is important in the decision making of a classroom. This chapter makes teachers more open-minded, flexible, and challenging to students. Another important aspect of this chapter is learning from students in order to get a feel for their learning styles and learn their level of ability. If this is taken into consideration then students should be able to take content from a classroom and be able to learn it before moving on from a specific lesson. This chapter explains how to use the backward model responsively and trying to start better teaching habits. As a teacher I will take the responsibility and ideas that this chapter has presented and try to incorporate them into my classroom.

Cara
Flexibility seemed like the "big idea" of this chapter. I might have done a little better in some of my science and math classes if I had known what the teacher really wanted me to get out of each of their units. Honestly, practicum might be the only class that I have ever seen the course objective or main ideas included in the syllabus. In the chapter, it is mentioned that a teacher must plan and improvise in a differentiated classroom. This makes sense to me. It is always good to have a plan in mind, but plans sometimes must be tweaked slightly in certain situations. The little diagrams in the section about teacher flexibility may be some of the things I turn back to once I am in the classroom.

Drew
Flexibility is of utmost importance in this chapter. In this chapter, it stresses that the flexibility of a teacher to change the curriculum to meet the needs of students is essential. This will help a teacher better implement differentiation in the classroom. This chapter really seemed to touch on other readings and other lectures I have read and heard. It hits on the idea of giving your curriculum meaning, making the students think, and making them find knowledge. It is also important to show the students the goals and the assessments of the unit ahead of time. I can see the importance of flexibility in this chapter. Of course, this is asking for a teacher to really think on their feet. This is a skill I personally hope to gain with time.

Tim
Chapter six of //Differentiate Instruction and Understanding by Design,// was based primarily upon making decisions within the classroom based on the principles of the backwards design model. The chapter spoke of using differentiation within the classroom and how sometimes a teacher must be able to adjust a teaching strategy to fit the classroom needs. One of the more important factors the chapter stressed was the teacher’s ability to be flexible within a classroom setting. The chapter went through different ways the teacher can be flexible with a specific element, such as time or space, and get a positive response from the students. This chapter really hoped to show me that a teacher must be able to think fast and make decisions quickly while still realizing the consequences. I hope one day my mind will be organized in such a way that I will be able to think on the fly as some teachers do.

Rachel
In my opinion, creating an educational yet engaging curriculum will be the most difficult part of teaching. As a teacher, I had to follow standards, meet different learning styles, and apply my lessons to real like situations. If my students can’t see a connection between what I am teaching them and real like situations, then why would they bother putting any effort in to learning it? As a teacher, I will also have to analyze my student’s needs. If I have a student who needs work in a specific area, I need to make sure that I am meeting his/her needs instead of punishing or ignoring that student in order to be an effective teacher. My brother has been diagnosed with ADD and, after he failed every single one of his classes, was put on medication. I believed that if his teachers had worked with him and discovered what worked best for him, he would have been much more successful.

