Understanding by Design – NACA Inspired Schools Network

NISN SCHOOLS FACE TWO COMMON CONUNDRUMS WHEN ASKING WHAT MISSION-DRIVEN CURRICULUM LOOKS LIKE:

IF EACH OF OUR SCHOOL MISSIONS ARE SPECIFIC TO INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES, HOW WILL WE DESIGN CURRICULUM THAT IS CULTURALLY EXCELLENT AND ACADEMICALLY RELEVANT?
IF WE CANNOT PURCHASE THIS CURRICULUM (AFTER ALL, BIG PUBLISHERS DO NOT HAVE A NATIVE LITERATURE PROGRAM THAT IS BOTH ACADEMICALLY RIGOROUS AND RELEVANT TO A PARTICULAR INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY), WHAT FRAMEWORK ENCOURAGES US TO DESIGN COHESIVE, COMPREHENSIVE, AND STANDARDS-DRIVEN CURRICULUM THAT CENTERS INDIGENOUS IDENTITY, HOLISTIC WELLNESS, AND ACADEMIC PREPARATION?

Developed by Wiggins and McTighe (2005), Understanding by Design (UbD) is a framework for backward designing high quality yearlong curriculum frameworks and unit plans, from big ideas, essential questions, and student outcomes.

At NISN, UbD is the curriculum framework that helps our Teacher-designers backward design student learning from Indigenous communities’ desired results for their children and their future as community leaders. In a few words, UbD is the primary curriculum means to meet the community-led ends outlined by each of our schools missions.

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

What should students know, understand, and be able to do?
What is the ultimate transfer we seek as a result of this unit?
What enduring understandings are desired?
What essential questions will be explored in-depth and provide focus to all learning?

NISN-ized:

What do community (students, families, and elders) believe students should know, understand, and be able to do as a result of the year of learning?
How will students use, apply, and transfer their knowledge, skills, and understandings to community ends?
What community enduring understandings should students acquire through their learning?
What essential questions will be explored that invite students into questions pivotal to the community, its past, and its future?

Stage 2: Determine Assessment Evidence

How will we know if students have achieved the desired results?
What will we accept as evidence of student understanding and their ability to use (transfer) their learning in new situations?
How will we evaluate student performance in fair and consistent ways.

NISN-ized:

What performance or product will give us evidence that our students acquired the community’s desired results for learning?
How will knowledge keepers and community leaders play key roles in supporting students to acquire their learning and evaluate their learning in an authentic community context?

Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences

How will we support learners as they come to understand important ideas and processes?
How will we prepare them to autonomously transfer their learning?
What enabling knowledge and skills will students need to perform effectively and achieve desired results?
What activities, sequence, and resources are best suited to accomplish our goals?

NISN-ized:

What scope and sequence of learning, informed by community members and knowledge keepers, will guide students to acquire the desired results and complete the performance task?
What learning supports will connect students to traditional ways of planning, knowing, and doing?

Overview of UbD

Building EUs and EQs