How is

understanding developed and demonstrated?

Performances of Understandingusing multiple intelligences

How to Teach for UnderstandingT527 on 15 October 2009

T-527 Fall 2009

Goals for today• Understand how to clarify/refine goals to focus

on understanding important content, methods, purposes, and forms

• Understand how to design performances that help learners ramp up their understanding of target goals through a coherent, challenging, accessible sequence of activities: introductory, guided, culminating

• Understand how to select, employ, and justify new technologies to foster understanding

• Understand how to use readings, the rubric, and colleagues to reflect on your own understanding and to request constructive feedback

T-527 Fall 2009

Activities for today

• Talk with Arzu Mistry and Todd Elkin about using

technology to enhance performances of

understandng

• Reflect on the process of curriculum design

• Discuss readings to clarify criteria for effective

performances of understanding/uses of technology

• Work/consult on projects: use the rubric to assess

topic/goals and plan learning/technology activities

• Mid-course assessment

T-527 Fall 2009

Curriculum design as a collaborative reflective process

T-527 Fall 2009

Curriculum Design as a collaborative, reflective process

• Reflect on readings: Disrupt your prior ideas,

habits, expertise

• Consult with your partner to connect theory with

practice without becoming too constrained

• Share draft work

• Keep with the schedule

• Surface dilemmas, request and provide feedback

• Respond to feedback revisions

T-527 Fall 2009

Using theory

To design and analyze practice

T-527 Fall 2009

Defining your topic

Throughlines, Big Purposes, Overarching Goals

Curriculum Standards Required Content

Generative Topic

Target of Difficulty

T-527 Fall 2009

Finding a Target of Difficulty

Important toUnderstand

Difficultto Teachand Learn

Helpedwith New

Technology

T-527 Fall 2009

Understanding goals

Boix Mansilla &Gardner– Knowledge

– Methods

– Forms

– Purposes

Focus on big ideas

Align coherently: long-term, units, lessons;basic knowledge and skills to higher-order goals

T-527 Fall 2009

Nested Goalsfocus coherent learning

Throughlines: Overall goals

Understanding goals: Unit goals

Subgoals: Lesson goals

specific skills andknowledge

T-527 Fall 2009

Publicize explicit goals

• Veenema and Gardner: Unless educators are

clear about their goals and their own priorities, the

technology will becoming a tool of obfuscation

rather than clarification.

Goals define assessment criteriaand drive design of performances

T-527 Fall 2009

Effective Learning ActivitiesPerformances of Understanding

– Develop and demonstrate understanding of

target goals

– Require active learning and creative thinking

– Build through coherent, challenging, accessible

performances: introductory, guided, culminating

– Include a rich range of entry points, levels of

difficulty, multiple intelligences

– Provide multiple opportunities for assessment

and feedback

T-527 Fall 2009

Use technologies to enrich Performances of Understanding

Multiple Intelligences Theory

• Represent ideas in multiple ways to engage learners

• Allow learners to use multiple intelligences to

access, analyze, and express information and ideas

• Enable learners to choose different pathways

through material they are studying

• Provide scaffolding that learners can select and

tailor to serve their needs

• Use mindtools to engage and facilitate critical

thinking and higher order thinking

T-527 Fall 2009

Work on your projects

• How do your topic and goals look in relation

to the rubric criteria?

• Plan learning activities with today’s

readings in mind

• How might you use technologies to engage

learners, make goals clear, provide

multiple/flexible methods to develop, apply,

and express understanding?

T-527 Fall 2009

Complete midcourse feedbackby Monday, October 19

• Download file from assignments in course

website and email or deliver to Stone’s mailbox

in 321 Longfellow Hall

OR • Complete the online form in Survey Monkey at

• http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm

=27cGOxF7dfWLhPUIJZ_2b6tg_3d_3d