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Course 3, Chapter 3 - Start with the Ending

Module by: Fred Mednick. E-mail the author

Figure 1: Teamwork
(heavylifting.jpg)

Overview

Think about your goals. Where do you want students to end up? What behaviors do you wish your students to be able to demonstrate as a result of your instruction?

This section is about creating clearly defined and attainable outcomes for your students.

The article below is an excellent overview of how to begin; it includes practical guidance for teachers and theory in the form of Bloom's taxonomy. The assignments that follow will help you to apply what you learn to your classrom practice.

Required Reading:

The article called "Assessing Student Learning" can be found here and below, as a PDF file.

Assessing Student Learning

Assignment 1: Identifying Outcomes - Creating Learning Objectives

Assignment 1: Identifying Outcomes - Creating Learning Objectives

HOW TO GET TO ASSIGNMENT 1:

One Way

Click on the link in color at the top of the page. When it appears, press "Save" and name the file so that you can work on this assignment "off-line." You can type right on the assignment template. Be sure to save your assignment on a disk or on your computer hard drive.

Another Way

You can also copy the text below, and save it to your disk or computer.

GOAL: To create Learning Objectives using the "ABCD" model and Bloom's taxonomy as desribed in the article on the previous page called "Assessing Student Leaning."

GIVE: Feedback to others on their assignments at the TWB Learning Cafe.

Assignment 1: Identifying Outcomes - Creating Learning Objectives

Please answer the following:

  1. Think of a lesson or activity that you need to teach in the coming week. Say what it is:
  2. List and describe the behaviors you wish your students to be able to demonstrate as a result of your instruction.
  3. Create Learning Objectives - clearly defined and attainable outcomes for your students. Think about your upcoming lesson through the lens of the "ABCD" model. Start by writing down: "C" (the Condition). "Under what conditions will the learning take place?" (Use the model given in "Assessing Student Learning," the article on the previous page.)
  4. Identify "A" (Audience). "Who are you addressing?"
  5. Identify "B" (Behaviors). "What skills will be demonstrated to show that learning occurred?" (Be sure to use some of the action verbs in Bloom's taxonomy - from the article - to help you with this part.)
  6. Identify "D" (degree). "What is the expected level of accomplishment?"
  7. According to Bloom's ideas about cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains, state which domain(s) your intended instruction is addressing and why?
  8. Using the action verbs in Bloom's "Six Levels of Cognitive Learning" tell which action verbs and categories you are using in your lesson/activity.
  9. Next to each action verb (listed in #8 above) describe how you are going to address that action verb. For example, if you write the action verb "List" write one sentence telling what your students will be doing to address that verb, i.e. "I will show students a painting and they will be asked to list 15 things they see in the painting: table, chairs, stars, a house, etc."

Assignment 2: Understanding by Design and Learning Objectives ABCD

Assignment 2: Understanding by Design and Learning Objectives ABCD

HOW TO GET TO ASSIGNMENT 2:

One Way

To do this assignment, click on the link in color at the top of the page. When it appears, press "Save" and name the file so that you can work on this assignment "off-line." You can type right on the assignment template. Be sure to save your assignment on a disk or on your computer hard drive.

Another Way

You can also copy the text below, and save it to your disk or computer.

GOAL: To connect your Learning Objective ABCD model with another

"start-with-the-ending" process called "Understanding by Design." This time, you will consider an entire unit of study.

GIVE: Feedback to others on their assignments at the TWB Learning Cafe.

To do this assignment, please refer to the Understanding by Design template below:

Understanding By Design Template

Assignment 2: Understanding by Design and Learning Objectives ABCD

  1. Think about an entire unit you need to teach in the next few weeks (i.e. "the Water Cycle"). Name that unit below:
  2. Using the Understanding by Design template (above) as your guide, complete "Stage 1: Desired Results" of the Understanding by Design template by writing your response below:
  3. Using the Understanding by Design template as your guide, complete "Stage 2: Assessment of Evidence" of the Understanding by Design template by writing your response below:
  4. Expand on your initial ideas for "Stage 2: Assessment of Evidence" of the Understanding by Design template by doing the Learning Objectives ABCD model for this unit of study (as you did in Assignment 1 completing "C" and then "A, B, and D"; Bloom's domains - cognitive, affective, psychomotor; and action verbs) and write it below:
  5. Using the Understanding by Design template as your guide, complete "Stage 3: Learning Activities" of the Understanding by Design template by writing your response below:
  6. Write 1 -2 paragraphs reflecting on the process of creating a unit of study in this manner (steps 1 - 5 above).
  7. How might you modify either the Understanding by Design template to suit your needs or the Learning Objective ABCD model?

Required Reading

Assessment as a Tool for Learning (online)

This article is an excellent overview on assessment and how we can use it to inform our teaching practices, and improve communication amongst students, faculty, parents, and schools.

PDF version below:

Assessment as a Tool for Learning

Toward Genuine Accountability: The Case for a New State Assessment System (online)

Grant Wiggens, a curriculum and assessment specialist, has written about the role of assessment in learning. His argument is persuasive. He believes that teachers must connect assessment with the learning process itself, rather than serve as a judgment placed on the material and the student at the end.

Are the Best Curricular Designs "Backward"? (online)

The Understanding by Design Exchange is an excellent resource for learning more about this "start-with-the-ending" process of curriculum design.

To access an in-depth Understanding by Design template click here.

To see how teachers have applied Understanding by Design to specific units of study click here .

Assignment 3: Active Reading and Creating Dialogue

Assignment 3: Active Reading and Creating Dialogue

HOW TO GET TO ASSIGNMENT 3:

One Way

To do this assignment, click on the link in color at the top of the page. When it appears, press "Save" and name the file so that you can work on this assignment "off-line." You can type right on the assignment template. Be sure to save your assignment on a disk or on your computer hard drive.

Another Way

You can also copy the text below, and save it to your disk or computer.

GOAL: To reflect on assessment issues through the use of a tool known as "Focused Freewriting."

GIVE: Feedback to others on their assignments at the TWB Learning Cafe.

Assignment 3: Active Reading and Creating Dialogue

  1. Read the article on the previous page called "Assessment as a Tool for Learning." Find a sentence or phrase within that article that captures your attention. Re-type that sentence or phrase below and put it in quotation marks. Now, use that sentence or phrase as a trigger to do a "Focused Freewrite" (2 - 3 paragraphs in length).

    Note:

    A Focused Freewrite is when you use a phrase or sentence from something you've read as a trigger for free-form writing - that is, you write any thoughts, questions, stories that come to mind as it relates to this phrase or sentence. Focused Freewrites may end up 2-3 paragraphs in length, and sometimes you'll stick to the trigger topic and sometimes your mind will wander into seemingly unrelated places. Give yourself permission to move between "wandering" and coming back to writing about the topic.
  2. Read the article on the previous page called "Towards Genuine Accountability: The Case for New State Assessment System." Find a sentence or phrase within that article that captures your attention. Re-type that sentence or phrase below and put it in quotation marks. Now, use that sentence or phrase as a trigger to do a "Focused Freewrite" (2 - 3 paragraphs in length).

HOW TO GET TO THE NEXT MODULE:

Usually, you just click "Next" to go to the next page. When you finish a section, however, (as you're about to do when you finish reading these two paragraphs), you need to click on the "Outline" button, which is on the bottom, right-hand side of the page. Look underneath the blue bar and click on the word "Outline."

When you click on "Outline," a screen will come up that will show you the outline for Course 3. Look for the next section to read and click on the first topic in that next section. For example, when you get to the outline now, look under the next section called "A-REEF: Assessment" and look for the first topic in black lettering called "Overview." Click on "Overview."

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Definition of a lens

Lenses

A lens is a custom view of the content in the repository. You can think of it as a fancy kind of list that will let you see content through the eyes of organizations and people you trust.

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Lens makers point to materials (modules and collections), creating a guide that includes their own comments and descriptive tags about the content.

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