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DIRECTIONS: Understanding By Design-- This step of Unit Design is to find Examples of units created by other teachers. In groups of 2 or 3, find one example online of a UBD unit for a specific grade level to share with the class. Post the PDF file here. Make sure your example is UNIQUE before posting. Comment on each other's posts and spend time looking at each example and how the documents were put together/design of each unit. 

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DIRECTIONS: Understanding By Design-- This step of Unit Design is to find Examples of units created by other teachers. In groups of 2 or 3, find one example online of a UBD unit for a specific grade level to share with the class. Post the PDF file here. Make sure your example is UNIQUE before posting. Comment on each other's posts and spend time looking at each example and how the documents were put together/design of each unit. 

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Group: Daisy, Noe, Deyci

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by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe

How do the principles of backward design and differentiation look when they are used together in the planning process?

What are the potential benefits to learners of classrooms in which both models are used?

What should we expect to see in classrooms using backward design and differentiation?

To this point, we have examined key elements in backward design and differentiation, looked at support for the two models in theory and research, explored pedagogical connections between the models, and probed the issue of grading as it relates to backward design and differentiation. It's important now to offer a sample of how instructional planning might look for a teacher who uses backward design to craft curriculum and differentiation to ensure instructional fit for learners. That is the goal of this chapter.

A Quick Review of Essential Goals of UbD and DI

A brief summary of essential elements in backward design and differentiation is helpful at this point to focus thinking about the illustrations of how the two models work together that will follow in this chapter. Both Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction are complex and multifaceted to encompass the full range of factors a teacher must address in designing and implementing quality curriculum and instruction. The discussion that follows briefly describes essential elements in the two models as they would guide a teacher who embraces and integrates both models.

Teachers whose work is guided by the principles of backward design and differentiated instruction do the following:

1. Identify desired learning results for the subject and topics they teach.

Determine what students should know, understand, and be able to do as a result of the study.

Specify big ideas worthy of understanding.

Delineate enduring understandings on which the teacher and students will focus.

State provocative, essential questions that will guide students' exploration of the big ideas.

Articulate specific knowledge and skill that students will need for effective performance on the goals.

2. Regard learner differences as inevitable, important, and valuable in teaching and learning.

Persist in developing greater understanding of each student's readiness to succeed with designated content goals to enhance individual academic growth, interests that might connect with content goals to enhance motivation, and preferred modes of learning to enhance efficiency of learning.

Work with students, family, and school personnel to understand and address learners' backgrounds and experiences, including gender, culture, language, race, and personal strengths, and to address those factors in teaching and learning plans.

3. Periodically review and articulate clear learning goals that specify what students should know, understand, and be able to do as a result of each segment of learning.

Ensure that each student has full access to essential knowledge, understanding, and skill in each segment of study.

Ensure that tasks and assessments focus tightly on knowledge, understanding, and skill designated as essential in a segment of study.

Ensure that all students reason and work at high levels.

Ensure that all students have equally engaging, equally interesting tasks.

4. Gather evidence of student learning in a variety of formats.

Provide varied options for demonstrating what students know, understand, and can do.

Ensure that students know what "success" looks like in their work-including both nonnegotiable class requirements and student- or teacher-specified goals for individuals.

Together, backward design and differentiation describe a comprehensive way of thinking about curriculum, assessment, and instruction, stemming from a shared understanding of what constitutes effective teaching and learning. In the instructional planning of teachers guided by backward design and differentiation, then, we should expect to see systematic attention to content goals they plan to teach and to the students who will learn them. In other words, such teachers will focus on clarity of goal and flexibility in arriving at the goal. Figure 9.1 illustrates how the big ideas of UbD and DI come together for classroom application.

Figure 9.1. Integrating and Applying the Big Ideas of UbD and DI

We'll first take a look at a unit plan for 5th or 6th graders on nutrition. Notice how the backward design process is applied and how it contributes to goal clarity in all stages of the unit. Then we'll examine options for differentiating the unit. At that point, look for flexible approaches to helping a diverse group of learners reach the articulated goals.

"You Are What You Eat": A Unit Planned with Backward Design

A group of upper elementary or middle school students will study the effect what they eat has on their health. The teacher who planned the unit drew upon content standards as well as a range of resources to engage his students in answering some essential questions about this important topic. What follows is the teacher's unit plan in a backward design format.

Unit Title: You Are What You Eat

Unit Focus: Nutrition-Health/PE upper elementary/middle school (5th-6th grades)

Topics: Nutrition, health, wellness

Summary: Students will learn about human nutritional needs, the food groups, nutritional benefits of various foods, USDA Food Pyramid guidelines, and health problems associated with poor nutrition. The unit begins with a personal survey of each student's eating habits. Throughout the unit students keep a chart of what they eat each day. They will gather information about healthful eating from various sources (USDA pamphlet, health textbook, video, and guest speaker), analyze a hypothetical family's diet and recommend ways to improve its nutritional value, and design an illustrated brochure to teach younger children about the importance of good nutrition for healthy living. In the culminating performance task, students develop and present a proposed menu for meals and snacks for an upcoming three-day Outdoor Education program that meet the USDA Food Pyramid guidelines.

Additional assessment evidence is gathered through three quizzes and a written prompt. The unit concludes with students evaluating their personal eating habits and creating a "healthful eating" action plan.
Print Materials Needed

Health education textbook (chapter on nutrition)

USDA pamphlet on the Food Pyramid

Internet Resource Links http://home.excite.com/health/guides_and_directories/health_for_k_12/food/ http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/label.html http://ificinfo.health.org/infofsn.htm http://www.nalusda.gov/fnic/educators.html http://home.excite.com/health/diet_and_nutrition/diet_tools/quizzes_and_games/ Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
State: National Standard Number: Health 6

Title: McREL Standards Compendium
Descriptions
Standard 6: Students will understand essential concepts about nutrition and diet.

6.a: Students will use an understanding of nutrition to plan appropriate diets for themselves and others.

6.b: Students will understand their own eating patterns and ways in which these patterns may be improved.
Understandings

A balanced diet contributes to physical and mental health. Poor nutrition leads to a variety of health problems.
(Related misconception: It doesn't matter what I eat.)

Healthful eating requires an individual to act on available information about nutritious diets, even if it means breaking comfortable habits.
(Related misconception: If food is good for you, it must taste bad.)

The USDA Food Pyramid presents relative guidelines for nutrition, but dietary requirements vary for individuals based on age, activity level, weight, and overall health.
(Related misconception: Everyone must follow the same prescription for good eating.)

Essential Questions

What is healthful eating? To what extent are you a healthful eater?

Could a healthy diet for one person be unhealthy for another?

Why do so many people have health problems caused by poor nutrition despite all of the available information about healthful eating?

Knowledge and Skills
Knowledge: Students will know

Key nutrition terms (protein, fat, calorie, carbohydrate, cholesterol, etc.).

Types of foods in each food group and their nutritional values.

USDA Food Pyramid guidelines.

Variables influencing nutritional needs.

Specific health problems caused by poor nutrition (e.g., diabetes, heart disease).

Skills: Students will be able to

Read and interpret nutrition information on food labels.

Analyze diets for nutritional value.

Plan balanced diets for themselves and others.

Develop a personal action plan for healthful eating.

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence
Performance Task 1: Family Meals

Topics: Nutrition, wellness, health
Summary
Family Meals: Students work in cooperative groups to evaluate the eating habits of a hypothetical family whose diet is not healthy (e.g., the Spratts) and make recommendations for a diet that will improve the nutritional value of their meals.

Print Materials Needed: Copies of sample diets that are unbalanced

Standard 6: Students will understand essential concepts about nutrition and diet.

6.a: Students will use an understanding of nutrition to plan appropriate diets for themselves and others.
Context of Use
This formative assessment is completed in class and is not graded. The student analyses of the diets and their recommendations will inform the teacher of potential misunderstandings that need to be addressed through instruction.

Performance Task 2: Nutrition Brochure

Topics: Nutrition, wellness, health
Summary
Nutrition Brochure: Students create an illustrated brochure to teach younger children about the importance of good nutrition for healthful living and the problems associated with poor eating. This task is completed individually and is evaluated with a criterion list.

Standard 6: Students will understand essential concepts about nutrition and diet.
Student Directions
Because our class has been learning about nutrition, the 2nd grade teachers have asked our help in teaching their students about good eating. Your task is to create an illustrated brochure to teach children in the 2nd grade about the importance of good nutrition for healthful living. Using cut-out pictures of food and original drawings, show the difference between a balanced diet and an unhealthy diet. Include pictures to show at least two health problems that can occur as a result of poor eating. Your brochure should contain accurate information about healthful eating, show at least two health problems that can occur as a result of poor eating, and be easy for the 2nd graders to follow.
Context of Use
This individual assessment task occurs approximately three weeks into the unit. The teacher can use student products to check for misconceptions. Evaluative criteria are identified to guide the teacher's judgment and the students' self-assessments.
Evaluative Criteria for Nutrition Brochure
The brochure ...

Contains completely accurate information about healthful eating.

Shows a clear contrast between balanced and unbalanced diets.

Shows at least two likely health problems associated with poor nutrition and explains the connection between diet and the health problems.

Would be easy for a 2nd grader to follow.

Is well crafted (i.e., neat and colorful).

Performance Task 3: Chow Down

Topics: Nutrition, wellness, health
Summary
Chow Down: For the culminating performance task, students develop a three-day menu for meals and snacks for an upcoming Outdoor Education camp experience. They write a letter to the camp director to explain why their menu should be selected because it is both healthy and tasty. This task is completed individually and is evaluated with a rubric.

Resources: Access to USDA Food Pyramid and Nutrition Facts for various foods

Standard 6: Students will understand essential concepts about nutrition and diet.

6.a: Students will use an understanding of nutrition to plan appropriate diets for themselves and others.
Student Directions
Because we have been learning about nutrition, the camp director at the Outdoor Education Center has asked us to propose a nutritionally balanced menu for our three-day trip to the center later this year. Using the USDA Food Pyramid guidelines and the Nutrition Facts on food labels, design a plan for three days, including the three main meals and three snacks (morning, afternoon, and campfire). Your goal: a healthy and tasty menu. In addition to creating your menu, prepare a letter to the director explaining how your menu meets the USDA nutritional guidelines. Include a chart showing a breakdown of the meals' fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and calories. Finally, explain how you have tried to make your menu tasty enough for your fellow students to want to eat the food.

Context of Use: Culminating assessment, evaluated using the analytic rubric in Figure 9.2.
Performance Task 4: Personal Eating Action Plan Summary
Students prepare a personal action plan for healthful eating based on their unique characteristics (e.g., height, weight, activity level, etc.). The action plan includes nutrition goals and specific actions needed to achieve those goals (e.g., greater consumption of fruits and vegetables, reduced intake of candy). They are encouraged to share their action plans with their parent(s) or guardian(s).

Standard 6: Students will understand essential concepts about nutrition and diet. 6.b: Students will understand their own eating patterns and ways in which these patterns may be improved.
Student Directions
Information is useless unless it is used. Now that you have learned more about healthful eating, it is time to act on that knowledge. Your task is to prepare a personal action plan for healthful eating based on your unique characteristics (height, weight, activity level, etc.) and personal goals (e.g., to lose weight).

Include in the action plan (1) your specific goals related to nutrition and (2) the specific actions that you will take to achieve those goals (e.g., increase consumption of fruits and vegetables and reduce intake of candy). You should plan to present and discuss your completed Eating Action Plan with a parent, guardian, or other important adult in your life.
Context of Use: Culminating assessment, evaluated established criteria. Other Assessment Evidence to Be Collected

Selected-response/short-answer test/quiz.

Quiz 1: The food groups and the USDA Food Pyramid (matching format).

Quiz 2: Nutrition terms (multiple-choice format).

Prompt: Describe two health problems that could arise as a result of poor nutrition, and explain what changes in eating could help to avoid them.

Observations: Teacher observations of students during work on the performance tasks and in the cafeteria (while on cafeteria duty).

Stage 3: Develop the Learning Plan Learning Activities

1. Begin with an entry question (e.g., "Can the foods you eat cause zits?") to hook students into considering the effects of nutrition on their lives.

2. Introduce the essential questions and discuss the culminating unit performance tasks (Chow Down and Personal Eating Action Plan).

3. Note: Key vocabulary terms are introduced as needed by the various learning activities and performance tasks. Students read and discuss relevant selections from the health textbook to support the learning activities and tasks. As an ongoing activity, students keep a chart of their daily eating and drinking for later review and evaluation.

4. Present a concept attainment lesson on the food groups. Then, have students practice categorizing pictures of foods accordingly.

5. Introduce the USDA Food Pyramid and identify foods in each group. Students work in groups to develop a poster of the Food Pyramid containing cut-out pictures of foods in each group. Display the posters in the classroom or hallway.

6. Give a quiz on the food groups and Food Pyramid (matching format).

7. Review and discuss the nutrition brochure from the USDA. Discussion question: Must everyone follow the same diet to be healthy?

8. Working in cooperative groups, students analyze a hypothetical family's diet (deliberately unbalanced) and make recommendations for improved nutrition. The teacher observes and coaches students as they work.

9. Have groups share their diet analyses and discuss as a class. (Note: The teacher collects and reviews the diet analyses to look for misunderstandings needing instructional attention.)

10. Each student designs an illustrated nutrition brochure to teach younger children about the importance of good nutrition for healthy living and the problems associated with poor eating. This activity is completed outside of class.

11. Students exchange brochures with members of their group for a peer assessment based on a criterion list. Allow students to make revisions based on feedback.

12. Show and discuss the video Nutrition and You. Discuss the health problems linked to poor eating.

13. Students listen to and question a guest speaker (nutritionist from the local hospital) about health problems caused by poor nutrition.

14. Students respond to the following written prompt: Describe two health problems that could arise as a result of poor nutrition, and explain what changes in eating could help to avoid them. (These are collected and graded by the teacher.)

15. The teacher models how to read and interpret food label information on nutritional values. Then, students practice using empty donated boxes, cans, and bottles.

16. Students work independently to develop the three-day camp menu. They evaluate and give feedback on the camp menu project. Students self- and peer-assess their projects using rubrics.

17. At the conclusion of the unit, students review their completed daily eating chart and self-assess the healthfulness of their eating. Have they noticed changes? Improvements? Do they notice changes in how they feel or look?

18. Students develop a Personal Eating Action Plan for healthful eating. These are saved and presented at upcoming student-involved parent conferences.

By using the backward design process, the teacher who developed this unit plan has established clarity about (1) what is essential for students to know, understand, and be able to do at the end of the unit; (2) what will constitute evidence that students know, understand, and can do those things; and (3) steps necessary to guide students to the desired outcomes. The teacher's clarity bodes well for student focus and achievement.

In most classrooms, however, student diversity is a powerful factor in how the learning journey progresses. That reality makes differentiation an important tool for student success-even in cases where teachers have designed carefully crafted, understanding-oriented curriculum.

Differentiating the Unit to Ensure Maximum Student Growth

Equipped with a clear and engaging unit plan, a teacher in a differentiated classroom would appear ready to guide students to success. Certainly the quality of the unit contributes greatly to the likelihood of success. Nevertheless, the class is likely to contain students whose skills lag behind grade level, students whose skills exceed the teacher's expectations, students whose interests vary greatly, and students who learn in different ways.

A teacher who understands that learner variability is also a factor in student success considers students as carefully as content and plans for their needs with equal care. The teacher typically begins a unit with a diagnostic assessment or pre-assessment designed to determine where students stand relative to desired learning goals.

In reviewing the pre-assessment data, the teacher saw the following:

Four students already seemed to have a reasonably elaborate understanding of the targeted ideas and solid mastery of most of the key information and skills.

Seven students had very little knowledge, and four displayed major misconceptions about key nutritional ideas.

Six students could explain the unit understandings appropriately, but they lacked at least some of the key information specified as central.

Nine students could explain the unit understandings in a very basic (but accurate) way and had some information about a few of the knowledge goals.

The teacher already knows that she has three students who are not proficient in English, two with diagnosed learning disabilities, two special education students on inclusion IEPs, one student with attention or emotional problems, and five students identified as gifted. She is also learning about the varied interests of her students and knows that they learn in different ways. Her goal is to use pre-assessment data along with other insights about her students to develop a basic differentiation plan for the unit. In addition, she will use a chain of ongoing assessment or formative assessment opportunities to adapt her instruction to the needs of varied learners as the unit progresses.

Whereas backward design ends with a stable yet flexible curriculum plan, differentiated instruction is, by definition, more fluid. Thus, a teacher's initial ideas about differentiation will evolve through a unit as students' proficiencies, misconceptions, and learning needs evolve. Nonetheless, the teacher can make some general plans for differentiation at the outset of the unit. Then, as the unit progresses, she can tailor the plans as necessary. What follows is a set of tentative plans from which a teacher might draw through the course of the unit. It is highly unlikely that any teacher would ever use all of these ideas in a single unit. However, having a broad repertoire of options for addressing learner needs makes it easier for a teacher to be appropriately and effectively responsive to varied learners. Among the options that a teacher may use are general procedures and supports that are broadly helpful across lessons and units, and adaptations specific to a particular task or product.

An Example of a Differentiated, Backward Design Unit in Action

When the time comes to move from curriculum planning to implementation of differentiated instruction, the last two stages of the backward design process must, of necessity, be reversed. In backward design, it makes sense to identify desired results, then determine acceptable evidence of those results, and then plan for teaching designed to ensure that each student succeeds with the desired results. In teaching (including differentiated teaching), it is necessary to proceed from considering where students begin the unit in relation to the desired results, then to implementing the teaching plan, and finally to gathering evidence of student success.

Following is an example of how a teacher might think about differentiating the nutrition unit as a whole. Each stage of planning suggested by the backward design process is included in the example, but you'll note that the stages flow in a "teaching fashion" rather than in a "planning fashion." Notice that the proportion of adaptations the teacher considers making to address the needs of varied students and support the success of each student in attaining the desired results reflects the proportions suggested in Figure 3.3. Very few modifications have been made in the "desired results" stage, many in the "teaching plan stage," and some in the "acceptable evidence" stage. Note also that the desired results serve as the rudder for most of what takes place during instruction and that the teacher uses differentiation as a means of ensuring that all students succeed with the desired results (and move beyond them when appropriate). In addition, you'll see that some adaptations are useful at both the teaching and gathering-evidence stages of instruction.

Focusing on Students in Relation to Desired Results

1. The teacher pre-assesses students to determine their entry levels related to the knowledge, understanding, and skills specified as essential for the unit.

2. The teacher gathers some information about student interests and learning preferences in ways that have direct application to the unit. As a result of the pre-assessment data, the teacher identifies and plans to address important precursor knowledge and skills with which some students will need help to achieve the desired results for the unit. These will become essentials for students who lack them-in addition to the knowledge and skills specified as essential for the unit. These students will also, of course, work with the unit's enduring understandings.

3. Also as a result of the pre-assessment, the teacher identifies some students who have already mastered skills and acquired knowledge she plans to teach in the unit. She will plan to provide these students with alternate work when appropriate to ensure their continuing growth. They will also work with the unit's enduring understandings.

4. Two students have Individualized Education Programs that require attention to skills not included as essential for the unit. The teacher notes those as well and plans to address them in partnership with the special education teacher. Both of these students will also work with the unit's enduring understandings.

Carrying Out and Differentiating the Teaching Plan

1. When students are asked to read the health text, the teacher offers or provides supported reading for students who have difficulty with text material (e.g., reading buddies, taped portions of the text, highlighted texts, graphic organizers for distilling text, double entry journals, read-alouds, etc.).

2. When key vocabulary is introduced, the teacher provides key word lists with simple definitions and icons or illustrations for English language learners, inclusion students, and others who struggle with vocabulary.

3. The teacher ensures that students who do not speak English fluently have access to some means of bridging the student's first language and English. Such approaches might include student groupings that include a student who speaks both languages, dual-language dictionaries, Internet sites on the topic in the student's first language, opportunities to brainstorm in a first language before writing in a new language, or writing in the new language followed by conversation and editing in the student's first language.

4. The teacher provides or suggests resources at a range of reading levels and at varying degrees of content complexity so that all students have access to materials that are appropriately challenging for their needs.

5. The teacher uses small-group instruction to conduct the concept attainment lesson and categorization activity only with students for whom the pre-assessment indicates a need to establish the concept of food groups.

6. In class discussions and student discussion groups, the teacher makes certain to connect enduring understandings with a variety of student experiences, cultures, interests, and perspectives.

7. The teacher uses a variety of techniques such as Think-Pair-Share and random calling on students to ensure that everyone has the opportunity and expectation to contribute to class understanding. When appropriate for particular students, the teacher scaffolds student responses through techniques such as cueing students about upcoming questions and asking students to build on one another's ideas.

8. On occasion, the teacher provides varied homework assignments when appropriate to ensure that student time is effectively used to address their particular needs.

9. When the speaker comes, the teacher asks a student who does not sit and listen well to be responsible for videotaping the session.

10. The teacher models how to read and interpret food labels briefly for the whole class and then offers a mini-workshop for students who want or need additional practice with the labels before beginning the related task.

11. The teacher makes consistent use of small-group instruction based on formative or ongoing assessment data to find alternate ways of teaching to clear up misconceptions for some students, demonstrate application of skills for some students, and extend the unit's challenge level for some students. Such groups are flexible in composition and reflect the fluid nature of learning in a classroom.

12. When ongoing or formative assessments indicate that a student has mastered particular skills, the teacher ensures that the student works with alternate assignments that are relevant, interesting, and challenging for those students.

13. The teacher invites students to propose alternate ways of accomplishing goals beyond those she provides to students.

14. The teacher uses "heads up" oral reminders to the class as she informally observes student work to call student attention to potential trouble spots in their tasks and responses.

15. The teacher uses regular "teacher talk" groups as one assessment strategy to help her get a sense of how students' work is progressing, where they are confused or "stuck," how they are using their time, and other factors that will enable her to assist them more effectively.

16. The teacher offers periodic miniworkshops (with specific students sometimes invited to attend) on skills or topics with which students may experience difficulty as they work or on skills or topics designed to push forward the thinking and production of advanced learners.

17. The teacher offers students the option of working alone or with a partner when feasible so that students may work in a way that's most comfortable and effective for them.

18. The teacher uses rubrics with elements and criteria focused on key content goals as well as personalized elements designed to appropriately challenge various learners and cause them to attend to particular facets of the work important to their own development. At this stage in instruction, she introduces the rubrics to students so that they are familiar with them and with their requirements when they begin work with their products or assessment tasks.

19. The teacher tiers activities when appropriate so that all students are working toward the same content goals but at different degrees of difficulty so that each student works at an appropriate challenge level.

20. The teacher offers students varied modes of exploring or expressing learning when appropriate.

Determining Student Success

1. The teacher gives quizzes orally to students who need to have questions read aloud. Students who need additional time to write answers take the quizzes in two parts (on two days).

2. The teacher continues to ensure that students who do not speak English fluently have access to some means of bridging their first language and English. Such a strategy might include student groupings that include a student who speaks both languages, dual-language dictionaries, Internet sites on the topic in the student's first language, opportunities to brainstorm in a first language before writing in a new language, or writing in the new language followed by conversation and editing in the student's first language.

3. The teacher provides or suggests resources at a range of reading levels and at varying degrees of content complexity so that all students have access to materials that are appropriately challenging for their needs.

4. The teacher invites students to propose alternate ways of accomplishing assessment goals beyond those she provides to students.

5. The teacher provides some options for varied ways to express the desired outcomes.

6. The teacher guides or directs the work of one or more small groups for students who need adult guidance periodically throughout their product or assessment work.

7. The teacher offers students the option of working alone or with a partner when appropriate so that students may work in a way that is most comfortable and effective for them.

8. The teacher uses rubrics with elements and criteria focused on key content goals as well as personalized elements designed to appropriately challenge various learners and cause them to attend to particular facets of the work important to their own development.

9. Students can request peer consultation directed by critique guides that focus the "consultant" on key product requirement delineated in rubrics.

10. The teacher provides optional planning templates or organizers to guide students' product or assessment work.

11. The teacher continues to use regular "teacher talk" groups as a means of helping her get a sense of how students' work is progressing, where they are confused or "stuck," how they are using their time, and other factors that will enable her to coach them more effectively.

It's important to reiterate that it is not our intent to suggest that any teacher would make all of these modifications in a given unit, but rather to illustrate many ways a teacher can adapt a high-quality curriculum plan to address the varied learning needs of students with the goal of maximizing the possibility of success for each student in achieving the unit's desired outcomes. Now it's useful to take a look at how a specific portion of the nutrition unit might be differentiated using some of the general approaches noted here-and some other approaches to differentiation as well.

An Example of a Specific Adjustment to an Assignment

In addition to drawing upon a range of more generic approaches to addressing a range of student readiness needs, a teacher can examine any task or assessment to determine whether some students might benefit from a differentiated version of the work and how the work might be modified to benefit particular learners. Following is a summary of one assessment task in the nutrition unit and differentiated versions of the task the teacher might develop in response to student readiness, interest, and learning profile needs. The adaptations reflect the kinds of needs revealed in the unit's pre-assessment and formative assessments. The example illustrates how a teacher can take a planned assessment and modify it to address varied readiness levels, particular student interests, and a range of learning profile preferences without departing from the unit's essential goals. Again, it is not the intent of the examples to suggest that a teacher should use all of the options but rather to show how differentiating even a well-constructed task might make it more effective for particular students.

The Original Activity (Not Differentiated)

Because our class has been learning about nutrition, 2nd grade teachers in our school have asked our help in teaching their students about good eating. Create an illustrated brochure to teach the 2nd graders about the importance of good nutrition for healthful living. Use cut-out pictures of food and original drawings to show the difference between a balanced diet and an unhealthy diet. Show at least two health problems that can occur as a result of poor eating. Your brochure should also contain accurate information and should be easy for 2nd graders to read and understand.

Differentiated Versions of the Activity

To address readiness needs

Students who are having difficulty with the basic principles of nutrition and the consequences of nutritional decisions, as well as with reading and writing, will complete the original version.

Students who have a basic understanding of principles of nutrition and their consequences will have a similar version that asks them to write their brochures for elementary students who are interested in becoming healthy middle schoolers. They will also be asked to present at least six essential nutritional guidelines for the elementary students in their brochure. Following these guidelines should make it more likely the students will become healthy middle schoolers. Rather than use cut-outs and drawings, students will be asked to develop icons that represent the key guidelines for good nutrition and help call attention to the meaning of the guideline that they represent.

Students who are very advanced in their knowledge and understanding of the vocabulary and principles of good nutrition and who are advanced readers will be asked to develop a brochure to be used in a pediatrician's office for young people between the ages of 10 and 16 who visit the office-and for the parents of these young people. The brochure should offer accurate and important information and guidance about nutritional decisions, doing so in ways likely to catch the attention of the audience and to be memorable to them rather than boring them or being a turn-off to the topic.

Students in the class who are very nutrition-savvy and have a strong interest in the topic will design a specialty brochure for distribution at a health center, aimed at adolescents and their parents who already pay a lot of attention to nutrition at home and who want to become more sophisticated in their decision making. Their brochure should be accurate and attractive, and also aimed at a knowledgeable audience.

To tap student interests

Students have the option to include in their brochures some nutritional information about specific roles or groups that they are interested in thinking about, as well as the nutritional needs of those groups. For example, specific nutritional guidance for runners, football players, teenagers, people with allergies or asthma, models, and pilots would enable students to move from more general information to particular needs and to see how information applies to varied individuals and groups. To assist with this aspect of the work, the teacher convenes groups of students with a similar interest focus to share ideas as they complete their brochures.

Students have the option of completing the task for students whose school is in a culture other than the United States and in which they have a particular interest (e.g., good nutrition in Mexico or Iraq).

To address student learning preferences

Students are given a choice of several ways that their knowledge, understanding, and skill might be demonstrated. For example, instead of having only the option of a brochure, students might be invited to complete the task in the form of annotated storyboards for a series of public service announcements, a three-part column in a magazine for students of a specified age, an essay on a Web site, or a position paper to be shared with the managers of a school cafeteria.

Students have the option of working alone or with a team on the design of their product, although they must ultimately complete the product alone.

All of these possible modifications-and many other options not described here-have two primary purposes: (1) to ensure maximum growth for the full range of learners in achieving important curricular outcomes and (2) to provide flexible yet valid evidence of student understanding. With success in mastering important ideas and skills comes a whole array of other benefits-among them a sense of self-efficacy, an appreciation of the power of knowledge, a realization of one's power as a learner, and a sense of belonging and contributing to a community of learners. Powerful curriculum is essential in effective classrooms-and so is the capacity to connect each learner to that curriculum in a way that succeeds for the learner. Backward design addresses the former and differentiation the latter. Both elements must work, and work in concert, for schools to effectively serve the full array of students entrusted to them.

Observable Indicators in UbD/DI Classrooms

What should we see when teachers have integrated the principles and practices of Understanding by Design and Differentiated Instruction into the fabric of their classrooms? This section lists a set of observable indicators, organized around four categories: "The Learning Environment," "The Curriculum," "The Teacher," and "The Learner" (adapted from McTighe & Seif, 2002). This list may seem daunting, but we would not expect to see every one of these indicators on every single visit to a classroom. Nonetheless, we believe that teachers who understand and embrace the key ideas of UbD and DI will naturally and consistently seek to integrate them into their repertoire. Over time, a growing number of such indicators will become the norm.

The Learning Environment

Each student is treated with dignity and respect.

Each student feels safe and valued in the classroom.

Each student makes meaningful contributions to the work of the group.

There is a balanced emphasis on individuals and the group as a whole.

Students work together collaboratively.

Students are grouped flexibly to ensure attention to both their similarities to and differences from peers.

Evidence indicates that varied student perspectives are sought and various approaches to learning are honored.

The big ideas and essential questions are central to the work of the students, the classroom activity, and the norms and culture of the classroom.

There are high expectations and incentives for each student to learn the big ideas and answer the essential questions.

All students have respectful work-that is, tasks and assessments focused on what matters most in the curriculum, tasks structured to necessitate high-level thinking, and tasks that are equally appealing and engaging to learners.

Big ideas, essential questions, and criteria/scoring rubrics are posted.

Samples/models of student work are visible.

The Curriculum

Units and courses reflect a coherent design; content standards, big ideas, and essential questions are clearly aligned with assessments and learning activities.

There are multiple ways to take in and explore ideas.

Multiple forms of assessment allow students to demonstrate their understanding in various ways.

Assessment of understanding is anchored by "authentic" performance tasks calling for students to demonstrate their understanding through application and explanation.

Teacher, peer, and self-evaluations of student products or performances include clear criteria and performance standards for the group as well as attention to individual needs and goals.

The unit or course design enables students to revisit and rethink important ideas to deepen their understanding.

The teacher and students use a variety of resources. The textbook is only one resource among many. Resources reflect different cultural backgrounds, reading levels, interests, and approaches to learning.

The Teacher

The teacher informs students of the big ideas and essential questions, performance requirements, and evaluative criteria at the beginning of the unit or course and continues to reflect on those elements with students throughout the unit.

The teacher helps students connect the big ideas and essential questions of the unit with their backgrounds, interests, and aspirations.

The teacher hooks and holds students' interest while they examine and explore big ideas and essential questions. This approach includes acknowledging and building on the variety of student interests in the class.

The teacher helps students establish and achieve personal learning goals in addition to important content goals for the class as a whole.

The teacher uses a variety of instructional strategies and interacts with students in multiple ways to promote deeper understanding of subject matter for each student.

The teacher uses information from pre-assessments and ongoing assessments to determine skills needs, check for understanding, uncover misconceptions, provide feedback for improvement, and make instructional modifications.

The teacher routinely provides for student differences in readiness, interest, and mode of learning.

The teacher facilitates students' active construction of meaning, rather than simply "telling." The teacher understands that individual learners will make meaning in different ways and on different timetables.

The teacher uses a variety of strategies to support students' varying needs for growth in reading, writing, vocabulary, planning, and other fundamental skills that enable academic success.

The teacher uses questioning, probing, and feedback to encourage learners to "unpack their thinking," reflect, and rethink.

The teacher uses a variety of resources (more than only the textbook) to promote understanding.

The teacher provides meaningful feedback to parents and students about students' achievement, progress, and work habits.

The Learners

Students can describe the goals (big ideas and essential questions) and the performance requirements of the unit or course.

Students can explain what they are doing and why (i.e., how today's work relates to the larger goals).

Students can explain how their classroom functions and how its various elements work to support success of each learner and of the class as a whole.

Students contribute actively to effective functioning of classroom routines and share responsibility with the teacher for making the class work.

Students are hooked at the beginning and engaged throughout the unit as a result of the nature of the curriculum and the appropriateness of instruction for their particular learning needs.

Students can describe both the group and individual criteria by which their work will be evaluated.

Students are engaged in activities that help them learn the big ideas and answer the essential questions.

All students have opportunities to generate relevant questions and share interests and perspectives.

Students are able to explain and justify their work and their answers.

Students are involved in self- or peer assessment based on established criteria and performance standards.

Students use the criteria/rubric(s) to guide and revise their work.

Students regularly reflect on and set goals related to their achievement, progress, and work habits.

A Final Thought

Understanding by Design is a sophisticated planning process. It demands in-depth content knowledge, the capacity to "think like an assessor," concern for authenticity in learning activities and assessments, explicit attention to student rethinking, a blending of facilitative and directed teaching, and the disposition to critically examine one's plans and adjust based on feedback and results. Differentiated Instruction is also a complex process. It demands continual attention to the strengths and needs of learners who not only change with the passage of each year but evolve during the school year as well. It requires the capacity to create flexible teaching-learning routines that enable academically diverse student populations to succeed with rich, challenging academic content and processes, and to create learning environments that are both supportive and challenging for students for whom those conditions will differ.

When integrated, the two frameworks certainly challenge teachers, but they also reflect the best of content- and learner-centered planning, teaching, and assessing. Both approaches require that teachers be willing to move out of their educational comfort zone, risk the initial uneasiness of expanding their repertoire, constantly reflect on the impact of their actions, and make adjustments for improvement. We believe the effort will pay off in more engaging and effective classrooms-for students and teachers alike. In the end, that's what makes teaching both dynamic and satisfying.

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Bringing It All Together: Curriculum and Instruction Through the Lens of UbD and DI

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by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Jay McTighe How do the principles of backward design and differentiation look when they are used together in the planning process? What are the potential benefits to learners of classrooms in which both models are used? What should we expect to see in classrooms using backward design and differentiation?

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Group:Ryan and Maria

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Physical Fitness and Nutrition ( Grades-10-12 )

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Physical Fitness and Nutrition ( Grades-10-12 )

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Ruby: Teresita: Josie

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5th grade
Social Studies
Civil War