One of the things that I have learned as a teacher is the importance of having a gameplan when it comes time to teaching a new concept or skill.  Yes, I have had my fair share of days where I thought, “Meh, I know what I’m teaching.  I can wing it.”.  Sometimes that is the case,  but more often than not, it is always best to have a plan to follow.  Any good teacher has to know that if you plan on introducing a new concept or skill, it is important to determine how the learner acquires the knowledge of them.  A great thing now is that there are so many ways that students can prove their learning such as formative assessments and summative assessments.  When planning a lesson, it is always a great idea for the teacher to have an end goal in mind.  When teachers have an end goal in mind, it helps them because now when considering activities and assessments, they can be geared towards the same goal. 

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 In this CSLE course, we have learned of two types of planning methods, the 3 column table and UBD (Understanding by Design).  During this course I was able to utilize both formats in order to create a plan that matched up with my current innovation plan.  One of the things that I liked about the 3 column table is that the teacher will begin with the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).  It doesn’t necessarily require a list of standards that must be showcased but more so focuses on what the big picture of the course really is.  In Dr. L, Dee Fink’s  A Self-Directed Guide to Designing Courses for Significant Learning, not only is the 3 column table included, but also two additional worksheets that play a huge role in the development of the table and course.  One of the worksheets allows the creator of the course to answer and think about many of the factors that need to be considered before the course begins such as: class sizes, duration of meetings, physical elements of the learning environment, and the characteristics of the learner and teacher.  The second worksheet helps the creator develop significant learning goals through questions about the learners’ foundation of knowledge, how learning will be applied and received through application and integration goals.  This worksheet also asks the creator to take into account how students want to learn and how to have learners continue learning even when the program comes to a close.  With the UBD plan, it reminded me more about the typical curriculum map that I would use as a math and science teacher.  It contains essential questions for the learners, established goals,  expected assessments and evaluation criteria, as well as a summary of learning events that will be seen throughout the duration of the course.  Wiggins and McTighe (2005) explain that when content mastery is treated as the means rather than the end, students will learn more in the long term and become more engaged in their work.  How the UBD plan supports this is by having the creator generate multiple ways for the students to show how they have learned new skills and concepts.  This ultimately helps all learners because it opens up demonstration of skills by differentiating for particular learners and allowing them to have a choice in how they showcase their skills.

 

Although both the 3 Column Table and UBD plan have their benefits,  if I were to begin developing new plans for curriculum, I would prefer to begin with the UBD model.  I would choose to begin with the UBD model because it is a format that I am familiar with and it allows opportunities for me as an educator to plan out a course or unit in an organized way.  I would be able to list activities and plans that I want to execute while also developing a list of how I could evaluate the tasks the learners will perform.  In the CSLE course we began with generating our BHAG, however I feel that for me personally, it would be more efficient to have an idea of what my BHAG is but build my course first and alter the goal if needed.  Fink’s BHAG plan and worksheet templates allow the creator the opportunity to take many things into consideration when developing a course.  I think that this will be beneficial for my innovation plan as I can adjust and modify the course to fit the environment where it will be piloted.  I believe that both ideas have their benefits and I can see how they both coincide with each other and how they support the construction and development of a course or project. 

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