Chapter 9: Planning for Learning

Now that we have established our desired objective in Stage 1, considering the six facets of understandings and that we have selected the appropriate pieces of evidence we will gather to assess our students’ performance in Stage 2, we can start planning the learning activities in Stage 3.

Before designing the activities whereby our students will show understanding, it is important to consider the age of our students and their context. We must ask ourselves “what kinds of instructional approaches, resources, and experiences are required to achieve these goals?” After asking this question, we must design an effective and engaging plan for learning. Engaging because it must challenge students, foster critical thinking and make them be motivated to participate in the lesson. Effective because it help students be competent and productive. This plan for learning must be above all meaningful.

After undertaking a couple of workshops to find out the most effective activities to plan for learning, the book shows a list of common characteristics, including real-life challenges, variety of tasks, meaningful feedback, safe environment to mention a few. In order to provide a better design tool which includes all the main features a good learning plan must have, the authors of UbD put all these elements together in the acronym WHERETO which helps teachers: ensure the students Where the unit is going and Why, Hook and Hold students' attention, Equip students with knowledge, tools and experiences, provide their students opportunities to Rethink big ideas, Reflect and Revise their work, give their students opportunities to Evaluate their progress, create Tailored tasks and activities to highlight individual talents, styles and interests and be Organized to optimize deep understanding.

With this design tool, we can see how stage 1 can be translated into meaningful opportunities for our students to reach the desired objective and how all the previous elements in stage 1 and 2, such as six facets of understanding, essential questions, knowledge, skills, evidence and rubrics meet to create a really good learning plan.

I cannot offer my perspective in this matter because I have not used this tool before. Nevertheless, I can say that this leaves nothing to chance. Teachers and students can feel safe because lessons and objectives are well thought and designed, reducing the possibilities of confusion, misunderstandings, gaps or dangerous improvisation. There are no excuses. I only have to sit and think of what enduring understandings I expect my students to have.