ASCD Poll: Applying Understanding by Design

In the ASCD poll, we asked which aspects of Understanding by Design (UbD) are you most comfortable applying. If you haven't taken the poll yet, please vote now.

Tell us about how you are using UbD in your district or school. What aspects of UbD work best for you? What aspects do you have trouble with? Please share your thoughts by posting a comment.

Comments

[Lin Lescher]

UBD is an excellent strategy which helps teachers clarify their thoughts on planning for relevant teaching, towards planned formative (and finally, summative) assessments.

[Janet DeBow]

Thanks to the NWAS/SD LOFTI Grant work, I feel very comfortable with UbD. I am currently involved with Project ENRICH and UbD just naturally fits differentiated instruction.

[Frank Romano]

I have been teaching UbD as an essential component of the two graduate courses I instruct for two universities in eastern Pennsylvania; School Curriculum and Best Practices in the Classroom. I enrich the unit design with principles of learning from various models and brain-based research. The students (teachers) usually struggle with Stage I, identifying the overarching understanding. They have not looked at instructional design that way before. However, After understanding understanding, the rest of the model flows more easily. After the earlier frustrations, I usually recieve very positive feedback as to the effectiveness of the design.