Understanding+By+Design

I was first introduced to understanding by design at a workshop my principal organized. I was rather confused and decided it was something I was not going to do. However, after taking Curriculum Design and Development, I really got the hang of it and realized to some extent I was using it in my planning and in my lessons. Although I like the concept I think it is very time consuming. I am going to share some of the work I did last semester to meet the requirements for the course: Curriculum Design and Development. [[file:instructional_framework.doc [[file:needs assessment revised.doc]]
 * __Understanding by Design__ Gillian Edwin**
 * __Understanding by Design__ Gillian Edwin**

This page was created for educators to share their thoughts about Understanding by Design (UBD). I was introduced to it in undergrad and am currently taking a graduate class that deals with it. It's basically a curriculum-planning method that involves starting with the end in mind by pinpointing the overarching goals, understandings, knowledge, and skills of the unit. It avoids extra "cutesy" peripheral stuff that doesn't really forward the learning. The best part, in my opinion, is that it allows me to prepare my students for state tests without feeling like I have to "teach to the test." Instead, I plan meaningful learning activities with the end in mind. It's helpful for designing novel studies that go beyond simple comprehension strategies to tackle deep, meaningful themes!
 * __Understanding By Design (Julie D.)__**

Here are some links to UBD (cleaned up by jrwebber): Please share any units you have developed with UBD or thoughts about the process!
 * [|Template] for Creating Unit Plans
 * Website to Share Units Created With UBD: http://www.ubdexchange.org/ (this link appears broken)
 * Explaining Philosophy Behind UBD "[|A Breif Introduction]

As a school in need of restructuring our board of ed is doing anything to C.Y.A. and part of that is to have us do UBD's on top of our regular plan books. Many of our teachers complained that it is not a complete lesson plan and it adds to the work we already have to do. Also some teachers were trained how to complete a UBD while others were not. Needless to say it is a point of heated discussion amongst the faculty in most buildings. The funny thing is some how the guy who created the UBD caught wind of what was going on here in Newburgh and wrote a somewhat nasty letter that we were using them for the wrong purposes and doing it wrong. It was quite interesting. As for myself it's one more thing I do each week that takes a few minutes out of my Monday so I have something to hand in. Renee
 * WOW UBDs**

Renee- I totally agree with you. If my district forced me to do this I would resent it too. I see UBD as something you really need to be trained in, and even then, it's not something you can do for every unit. I use it for the 2-3 units per year that really want to emphasize and do my own shortened version for smaller lessons. Eventually, I hope to build my curriculum so that it's all UBD. And ultimately, that's what we as good teachers do anyway. It's just that some may not call it UBD or structure it exactly like that. (Julie)

Julie - I wonder if the link above that is broken required an account at **ubdexchange** and that you are logged in to view, can you confirm this? - (John W) John- I changed the link so that it takes you to the site's homepage (Julie)