Understanding by design chapter 4

When we talk about understanding we are also referring to a multi-faceted comprehension of itself. These facets are related to different approaches which are important an necessary in order to have a mature understanding.

• able to explain. it is related to the ability of explain, justify, make connections and give examples of a certain issue providing facts and data
• able to interpret. the ability of owning learning experiences and be able to explain them by using stories, ideas and events (personal dimension).
• able to apply. Related to the capacity of transform the understanding in actions. Do the subject in real contexts
• have perspective. be able to observe and listen to different point of views under the light of the critical thinking.
• able to empathize. take into account what other people might find odd. Perceive how other experiences are related.
• have self- knowledge. Be able to identify my own prejudices, beliefs and ideas. Show metacognitive awareness reflected on the meaning of experience and learning.

All these abilities might help to clarify the desired understandings, the best assesments and learning activities that are most likely to help students to achieve the goals of the course. In other words, we help to avoid missundertsandings and we make sure that the class design is an enabler of expected knowledge and performance.

Understanding by design chapter 3

Gaining clarity in our goals.
When we design a curriculum or we plan a class, we have to consider the following path about goals in order to do not get lost and make the class more richful and meaningful:

1. Identify the goals.
We do not have to forget the purposes of the class. We must have these goals clearly identified. hence, the class is straight to the point and we avoid going by the trenches.

2. Understand the goals
We have to clearly comprehend the sheer matter of the goals we have identified beforehand. then, we have to ask ourselves how important they are, and how we are going to take them into account in our planning

3. Considering skills and a framework
Before we have identified and understand the goals for the class, we have to contextualise them with the reality of the class. Which abilities does my students have? which ones they need?. before we have that clear, it is possible to start planning.

4. goals achievement
At this point, teachers have to be able to identify what are the skills students need to do a specific activity and which ones they are going to acquire. also we have to know what is the expected learning and how it is related to the main purpose of the class.
it is asked to be aware of the importance of all the aspects in the lesson planning. Teachers have to discriminate activities in order to use the class available time in the best way possibe.

understanding by design chapter 2

"Understand"... do we really understand what does "understand" mean?
there is a problem related to the difference between knowledge and understanding. According to what Wiggins said about understanding, it is a menthal process which is more complex than just knowing something. Understanding is the process of comprehend and assimilate what is the main trunk of something in order to fully comprehend all the branches.
Hence, there is evidence of how important understandig is. Teachers have to understand many things before design a curriculum:
What is the importance of this content? is it really useful?
does this activity work? what can the students learn from it?
When we understand all these questions before designing and we do not lose our object of sight, we will improve the class efficiency and students proficiency

Understanding by design chapter 1

"Teachers are designers. An essential act of our profession is the crafting of curriculum and learning experiences to meet specified purposes" Understanding by design Grant Wiggins and Jay Mc Tighe

When a company does not take into account the potential customers' interests, it is almost sure than in few years or even months it is going to go bankrupt. when we think that students are our "customers" we should take into account their interests motivation and many other features in oreder to achieve one big purpose that is learning. It is in this case that teachers are designers.

We have got to set and make plans in order to help our students learn english. It is not all about going to the classroom and stand there, there has to be a thorough plan that supports our teaching methods and the assesments that we use.

Hence the need to better plan or class in order to achieve the desired results. this process consist of three steps or stages:

1.identify desired results. we should ask orselves before plannig what our sts should know or be able to do. it is important to have a goal to achieve or a mindmap in order to better achieve our learning goals. it is crucial in this stage to consider all the aspects (national standards, curriculum, and even more importan classroom reality)

2. determine acceptable evidence how do teachers determine that the goal is achieved? it is important to think about the mechanisms we will use to evaluate results and desired learnings. When you think and plan this stage before implementation, it helps the teacher to forecats further situations and overcome frustation. What it is more, it helps to avoid frustration and save time.

  3.plan learning experiences and instruction. after we have already all the mind processes involved in learning, we have to go over the practical part. which methods are the best or better work out in our foreground (classroom)? this is the stage in which teacher have to link their experiences and knowledge to achieve the desired results.

To sum up, it is important for teacher to better plan their classes and consider that we are leraning builders/designers. We have one goal that is help out our sts to learn english. with that purpose in mind, we should start up and design for learning.