I am currently reading Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. I have just started chapter 2. I really enjoyed chapter one and I am looking forward to finishing it so that I can begin to use it in my classroom. It is a book about planning units which is very useful for me in the position I am currently in. I like beginning with the end in mind. The authors used this quote by Stephen Covey: "To begin with the end in means mean to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you're going so that you better underand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction." That quote comes from the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Although I am not very far into the book, I am enjoying that it stresses the fact of understanding. A quote from the book I like that talks about understanding is "How do we make it more likely-by our design-that more students really undersand what they are asked to learn?" The book's goal is being able to plan understandable units for our students. It argues against activity focused and coverage focused teaching and for results focused teaching. Some of what I have read reminds me of Madeline Hunter's ways to plan a lesson. Although this book's goal is to plan units. Another thing it mentioned that I liked is to be sure that " 'hands-on' is also 'minds-on'". It stresses engagement and understanding. I also like the fact that it talks about using Essential Questions in your unit plans, which I am also using in Curriculum Mapping. I look forward to reading more of this book.
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We have been using this book for a few years at our school. At first we had a lot of pushback from teachers because they thought it was another new thing but it is just a different way to look at what is really good practice.
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