UbD Chapter 1

I was not very familiar with the concept of Understanding by Design, so I learned a lot about it from the first chapter. Listing off the four “who, where, what, how” elements of teaching was a really good way to put in simple terms what the important parts of teaching are. It was interesting to learn about how the two ways of thinking are both dependant on and strengthened by each other; that interchangability is essential to teaching as a whole, and it was really valuable to learn about how those two major concepts come together to create an ideal framework for instruction. I really liked the part where the authors specified that differentiated instruction is not a formula or magic solution where you simply plug your students and content area into place and everything works well. I think it can be easy to want to use educational methods in this way, but as the authors stated, differentiated instruction is meant to guide teachers through their own methods of instruction and give them a foundation for how they should seek to educated fairly and effectively. Understanding by Design and differentiated instruction are both things that will definitely impact my future classroom. A ‘one size fits all’ method of instruction has no place in modern teaching, and it is essential that, when I am a teacher, I find ways to embrace my students’ differences and adapt my instruction to best fit their varied needs. I also think that the idea of formulating a curriculum around the needs of my students is very important to ensuring that they are successful, and I will definitely keep in mind the ways that appreciating the differences in their learning levels and styles can have a positive impact on our classroom.