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Understanding by Design is a method of teaching that allows educators to be very intentional with their instruction.  In essence, UBD focuses on working backwards.  Begin by identifying what you want your students to understand.  This is your end goal. At the end of this unit my students will understand ____________. Then in planning your instruction and essential questions, use your end goal as a guide.  Complete learning tasks and ask essential questions that guide students towards the final understanding.\

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(UBD) Understanding by design is a set of tools that a teacher can use to become a better designer. Specifically in the form of classroom planning in terms of short term teaching and lessons, that focus on reaching a long term goal. By using more focus and discipline, a designer (teacher) can creating an essential question encompassing what the learner needs to know and work backwards to build lessons and activities that guide students towards the end goal. The student will be able to transfer their knowledge towards complete understanding of the concept at hand.

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Understanding by Design (UBD) is utilizing backwards design when establishing a curriculum and ultimately keeping overarching goals in mind when determining what is necessary to help students understand. There are a couple key things to keep curriculums focused and establish students' true understanding. First is utilizing essential questions to guide instruction and learning. This is important for teachers to keep content focused and relevant, and for students to understand why they're learning what they're learning. It is also important to note that knowing and understanding are not the same. With this approach, teachers should be fostering and students should be developing their critical thinking skills, creativity, and SEL skills rather than simply intaking information. Lastly, UBD should be more student centered rather that teacher directed.

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Understanding by Design is a framework that allows teachers to focus the curricula and assess for understanding. This idea, “Understanding by Design” is a way of thinking and planning—it allows an educator to be mindful of what their priorities are for teaching with the “big idea” in mind. Understanding by Design also centers around an essential question. That way, students comprehend the importance of the content, and how it is meaningful to them. This focus allows students to transfer their learning through application, teaching others, and explaining their understanding in their own words. It allows students to enhance their critical-thinking skills by being exposed to methods that tap into higher-level thinking.

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Understanding by design really focuses on teaching and assessing for understanding and transfer of knowledge. The essential question is what is worth learning and understanding? Critical thinking, creative, and collaboration are also key components. Teachers should want students to understand big concepts that are transferable. Assessments need to look for understanding through transfer and through students putting their ideas in their own words to show that they really understand, rather than just recalling facts or memorizations. Designing with the end in mind, or backwards planning, is also an important step in this idea.

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Understanding by Design (UbD) is an approach to teaching where the teacher first identifies the “big ideas” or concepts the students should deeply understand by the end of the unit, then plans the unit based on the end goal. The focus is not on simply having students memorize facts for a test. This approach focuses on identifying the most important ideas and building meaningful experiences for students to discover these ideas. The goal of this approach is for students to be able to transfer what they know to other areas of their lives. This proves a deep understanding of the “big ideas” from the unit.

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Understanding by Design is a framework used to improve student achievement through intentionally prioritizing and focusing curriculum. Information is taught, assessed for understanding, and transferability within and across subject areas through backwards planning. Instead of covering all of the given standards or topics, teachers choose the "Big Ideas" or "Power Standards" which are the critical standards, topics, or concepts students will need throughout their lifetime. Students show their understanding by explaining the material in their own words, use what they've learned in a new situation, or by teaching someone else.

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Understanding by Design is an educational approach that focuses on what’s important for students to comprehend, based on what is provided in the curriculum. Understanding by Design gives deeper learning opportunities to students and helps teachers to prioritize learning. Instead of teaching basic memorization, this approach deals with teaching life-long lessons, such as making meaning.

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Understanding by Design is a framework for designing lessons based on looking at the overarching concept (goal, objective, big idea or theme), and using that as a basis for all supporting activities, questions and assessments.  It is about being cognizant of the goal at all times.  Additionally, UBD should ensure that students are learning for transfer and understanding, rather than knowledge acquisition.  It is not enough to know the answer to the question, but also the “why”.  Students should work with teachers to discover the meaning behind a concept and be able to make real world connections through deeper understanding.

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Understanding by Design is a framework that focuses on teaching and assessing students through understanding and transfer. It focuses on what is worth understanding in the curriculum, especially big ideas that are larger, transferable, and trans-disciplinary. Assessments have students show full understanding, not just knowledge of facts, by demonstrating understanding through transfer. It also involves backward design. Backward design is starting from the assessment at the end, what you want the students to know, and planning backwards to plan how and assure that the students will learn what they need to learn.

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Understanding by Design is teaching and assessing for understanding by focusing on what is important for students to understand.  When students understand the big idea, they are able to transfer the concept by applying their learning and are able to explain the reasoning behind their work.  This includes deeper thinking and the teacher is the facilitator of learning.

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Understanding by design is a way to reframe curriculum in order to ensure student understanding. There are three main goals when teaching a lesson using the UBD framework. These goals are acquisition, meaning-making and transfer. The teacher will begin by examining their content and pulling out "Big Ideas" in order to plan backwards and create over arching goals. Using these big ideas and goals teachers can create essential questions to guide and maintain focus on the lesson and future lessons. These essential questions should challenge the learners' thinking. This shift in mindset creates a student centered classroom rather than teacher directed. Overall, the learner should be able to see real world connections, gain understanding and transfer this understanding to other content areas/aspects of their life.

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Understanding by Design is a process to plan and implement lessons with the end in mind. First, a teacher must think of the "big idea," or goal. At the end of the unit, what should students understand. A teacher will then plan backwards thinking about that goal. Students will be able to demonstrate understanding of a concept and not only be able to show it through one project, but be able to transfer that knowledge throughout different experiences. UbD is also a process to get students to be more involved in their learning. UbD is student centered where students can challenge each other's thinking to deepen understanding.

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Understanding by Design is a framework for planning and teaching. It focuses on teaching for understanding and transfer. This begins with looking at the long-term goals of the unit. If teachers are clear on the big ideas, it helps them prioritize and assess for understanding instead of just testing the "facts" and answering questions correctly. As students are aware of these goals and essential questions of the unit, the focus begins to shift to the learner and why it is important for the learner to gain this understanding. In addition, how the understanding can impact and help them in future situations. This shift creates lessons that are student centered instead of teacher directed, which gives students more meaningful learning.

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Understanding by design is a framework to be used for understanding and transfer of knowledge. It starts with BIG IDEAS that we want our children to understand. We use these BIG IDEAS to help us plan backward (Backward design). Understanding by design can be very effective when planning out curriculum. Making sure that you understand what is important for the children to learn and why is it important for them to learn it. Making sure that you also have effective assessments that show their understanding of the learning through transfer.

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Understanding by Design is a process for curriculum planning.  Also referred to as "backward design" educators plan with the end in mind. Instead of teaching for rote memorization, educators are teaching for acquisition, meaning making, and transfer. Students should not only be able to understand the content of the lesson, but be able to utilize it, discuss it, and teach it to another learner. Learning begins with an essential question based on an element of a "Big Idea." This ensures teaching is focused and mindful. It also encourages student accountability, and learning is purposeful. Students know the expectations of their learning and are able to make connections to the essential question which will connect with the end goal of the learning segment.

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Understanding by design is a framework for curriculum planning, assessments and teaching to understanding. One component of understanding by design is finding what you want students to learn and truly focus in on that big idea and plan backwards from there. Students will transfer their learning by discovery and discussions that all connect back to the big idea for the unit. Understanding by design is a way for teachers to think and guide as they plan a unit and really be intentional in doing so. This is a great way for students to show their learning in new ways and students really become the center of their learning.

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Understanding by Design is being clear and concise throughout the entirety of the learning processes and activities throughout a unit. These learning processes and activities all connect to the common goal for the unit, which is communicated by teachers and students throughout the unit. Teachers are deliberate in planning engaging, hands-on lessons in which students SHOW their knowledge in discussion, presentation, project, etc. Students connect to the material by actively becoming a part of it. They know their requirements from the start to the end, and go through each part in order to fulfill the requirement of the standards in the unit.

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Chelsea Understanding by Design a Nutshell

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Chelsea Understanding by Design a Nutshell

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Understanding by Design is a framework where teachers identify the broad, long-term goals of learning when planning a lesson to teach. The first step of UbD is to identify what results are wanted from the learning. This goal should include meaningful connections to students' lives and between other areas of learning. Students should also be aware of the goals (essential questions) so they know what they are working towards and why. When students know the goal and how it connects to their learning experience, they are more motivated.
The second step of UbD is to determine how students will be assessed.  The assessment should be designed specifically to assess the goals identified in the beginning of the unit.  Students should be able to explain, interpret, and apply their knowledge to other areas of their life or learning.
The third step in UbD is to plan the learning.  There should be a shift in learning from teacher directed to student centered learning.  It is also important for the students to construct their own learning through investigation.  The teacher's job is to guide the understanding and coach them through the lesson instead of leading them through.
In conclusion, Understanding by Design is when teachers start with the end in mind. When planning a unit, teachers identify what the goals and outcomes are, plan how students will be assessed, and create opportunities for students to explore, transfer, and direct their own learning and investigation in the lesson.

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Understanding by design is the practice of planning lessons and instruction by first looking at your goals for the unit. It is important to first look at the big ideas you want students to learn from the unit to help guide your teaching. Understanding by design leads to students knowing what they are learning, why it is important for them to learn it, and how it ties to the big idea.With understanding by design there are three teaching goals of teachers: teaching for meaning, transfer, and acquisition.

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"Understand by design is a set of tools (and way of thinking) teacher's can use to be a better performer." (Grant Wiggins) Teacher's can use backwards planning to help narrow the focus on the essential questions with the goal of having them understand and transfer their learning to new situations..  The design starts with that goal in mind along with larger transferable concepts (SEL skills) and all details and lessons should point to those essential understandings.

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Karen Nali          Understanding by design is a framework for creating lessons and assessments that help you teach for understanding and transfer.  This is done by deciding what you want your students to know and be able to do at the end of the unit (Essential Questions) and build backwards from there.  Everything you do should tie into these essential questions, with the goal being to have the students be able to transfer the learning in new situations, be able to describe learning in their own words or be able to teach it to other students. Then you know that understanding has occurred. UbD helps students think deeper and engage more fully with the material. It is not “covering material”, but deciding what is worth learning. 

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Karen Nali          Understanding by design is a framework for creating lessons and assessments that help you teach for understanding and transfer.  This is done by deciding what you want your students to know and be able to do at the end of the unit (Essential Questions) and build backwards from there.  Everything you do should tie into these essential questions, with the goal being to have the students be able to transfer the learning in new situations, be able to describe learning in their own words or be able to teach it to other students. Then you know that understanding has occurred. UbD helps students think deeper and engage more fully with the material. It is not “covering material”, but deciding what is worth learning. 

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Understanding by Design is teaching and assessing for understanding by focusing in on what is important for students to understand. Using Big Ideas as an end goal for understanding and transfer, then working backward to supporting essential questions that help students reach that end goal. Doing this allows the teacher to only do things if they are going to contribute to students reaching the end goal. Making students aware of the end goal so that they know both what they should know and why it is important for them.

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Understanding by design is engaging students in activities that guide them to discover the ‘Big Idea’. When students understand the big idea, they are able to transfer the concept by applying their learning in new scenarios and are able to fluently explain the reasoning behind their work. This involves deep thinking processes and requires the teacher, as the facilitator of learning, to have a clear vision of their intention.

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Melody Kurtti-"In a nutshell, What is Understanding by Design?" 

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Melody Kurtti-"In a nutshell, What is Understanding by Design?" 

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Understanding by Design is a way to plan your lessons in a backwards design. You look at your end results first. You plan your end assessment or outcome first so you know what you want your students to know/learn. Then you go backwards from there.  Understanding by Design focuses on teaching to achieve understanding. Once you know your end result, you can create essential questions and big ideas that will guide the students to understanding. Once you have these complete, you will come up with the learning strategies that will be used. Lastly, you will create learning activities that will lead the students to your end results. So, in the end, you created your plans from back to front.

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Pokey Phillips - What is Understanding by Design?

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Pokey Phillips - What is Understanding by Design?

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Understanding by Design (UbD) is taking a look at the unit and asking myself “What is my goal for the unit? What do I want my students to know? What is important?” Ultimately, I want the material to be something the student can use and transfer. When I create lessons for the unit, I need to keep these questions and goal in mind. If it does not accomplish my goal, then it is not important for the lesson.

When starting to implement UbD, it can be a daunting task. The advice is to think big, start small, and go for the win. Think big means think long term as in three or four years out. Implementing UbD is not something to do all at once in one year. Rather it takes time. Start small means do not change all units and lessons in one year. Instead, start with one or two lessons and try UbD. Go for the win ties in with starting small. Start with units and lessons I have already taught, like, and know. This will help me see how UbD works. If I start with a lesson I do not like or have not taught, it would be too easy to blame UbD if it does not go well instead of looking at the material, lesson, or myself.

Lastly, UbD is a set of tools. I should use what I like and what makes sense to me. UbD is a way of thinking and being more mindful of what and how I am teaching.

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Understanding by design is a way of planning and creating lessons with the main goal as the focus. Teachers create units of study with this end-product and outcome of student understanding in mind. Through this practice, the students are better able to identify the relevance of the material discussed and how it relates to their everyday lives; they can identify the why more so than the how. This student-centered atmosphere encourages creativity, engagement, and higher-level thinking through interactions and hands-on and minds-on learning.

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Jannetto- What Is Understanding by Design?

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Jannetto- What Is Understanding by Design?

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UbD is a framework for planning instruction. This framework encourages teachers to start with a "Big Idea" that is generative so that students can connect with the content in a meaningful way. UbD is a shift from teacher directed instruction to student centered instruction. It engages students in more meaningful and active learning. It enhances student thinking rather the simple question and answer process. This design keeps the end goal of a unit as the focus and requires students to know why they are engaging in the learning as well as how it impacts or relates to their lives.

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UbD stands for understanding by design. It is a way of thinking about your teaching and a set of tools. It is looking at what you want the students to know and be apply to apply at the end of the unit, and building lessons to get the students their. It is looking at all that you are doing the the lense of a big idea. Checking out those lessons to see if they are truly helping the students take the learning beyond recalling and into the realm of making-meaning and transferring the information.

UbD is focussing your lessons around the goals that you want the students to know and letting the students know the goal. You are not hiding anything from them, but instead telling them the destination and letting them help you get there. They are able to do this because they understand that what they are doing is important and has meaning. They aren’t left searching for the value in the information they getting.

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In understanding and design, you teach and assess for understanding and transfer. It gives us a way to prioritize and focus our teaching so we are teaching what's most worth understanding. (The big ideas!) We then assess and check for transfer. Can the students take what they learned and apply it in a new situation/in the real world or teach it someone else? It puts the learning on the students by giving them ownership. They are able to explain WHY they are learning it.

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Understanding by design is a way of thinking and planning based on teaching and assessing concepts for understanding, so the learner is able to transfer these ideas and processes into other areas /disciplines in life.
It is prioritizing curriculum and asking myself, "What is worth teaching?"  "What do I want my students to know and why?"
It is not covering all the content in the textbooks.
This is my understanding of UBD.
(Symbolism is in this picture. Open the shell to get to the "heart" of the content)