Based upon some discussion about my re-reading of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s Understanding by Design, I created a wiki for those of you who are interested in exploring this book together this summer and sharing our UbD lesson plans. As the authors say in chapter one, “Backward Design,” “In addition to using the UbD Design Standards for self-assessment, the quality of the curriculum product (unit plan, performance assessment, course design) is invariably enhanced when teachers participate in a structured peer review in which they examine one another’s unit designs and share feedback and suggestions for improvement” (27). I am really excited to try peer review, but I am not sure my colleagues at school would be on board. Let me rephrase. My department head would be interested, and one other member of our department might be, but the final member would consider it a personal affront.
I’m excited about this! Come join us if you are interested in this collaborative project.
Update, 5/30/08: Please read important new information in the comments.
[tags]UbD, Understanding by Design, Grant Wiggins, Jay McTighe, peer review, curriculum, assessment, education[/tags]
I am WAY too excited about this. 🙂
Because I want to be supportive of this, I am going to give all those who use this wiki access to our still-not-public course on ubd. Go to http://www.authenticeducation.org/courses . The enrollment key is Hopewell. I would love you to use it and give feedback – there is also a book study guide. I'll also build in a link to this wiki.
I have just completed a master's course in curriculum which utilized Wiggins and McTighe's UbD framework. The course was very rewarding and UbD has completely changed they way I look at curriculum and instruction. The book and companion workbook are terrific. The worksheets and organizers were aprticularly useful. Sample units done by others (that were shared by our professor) were also invaluable when discussing essential questions and enduring understandings. Above all, collaboration was/is key. The memebrs of the course all expressed how valuable our peer review/evaluation sessions were to the overall quality of our completed units. This sounds like an exciting opportunity to share with professionals outside "home" districts. I would be willing to share some of our completed units as samples/models. The endorsement from Grant Wiggins is also exciting and I will be checking out the online course/links.
A note to any new visitors: Grant's course (mentioned above in his comment) is no longer free, and the registration process he describes will no longer work. Thanks for letting us try it out, Grant!