“The pessimist complains about
the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”
--William
Arthur Ward
Two
competing Truths teachers deal with
daily:
- The pace of learning varies from student-to-student.
- A semester contains a limited number of class periods.
Grant
Wiggins, half of the Understanding by
Design team, recently wrote about this very problem. UbD is a lesson planning framework, which at its
heart makes sure students learn those things deemed most important by the
teacher. A good descriptive term for
what Wiggins is talking about in the article is this: A Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum.
The “guarantee” is that all students will learn the most important
concepts and skills. The “viable” means
it is limited to what you can actually accomplish in your limited time with
students.
White Space
In
“Avoid Coverage and Make Time for Learning,” Wiggins gives a very practical approach
to creating a guaranteed and viable curriculum and lessen the stress between learning and coverage:
Build in and identify in your
map/syllabus/unit/lesson plan what we call white space. White
space is a placeholder for any results that are likely to
occur that require slowing down or re-teaching or re-practicing. Practically speaking, each week has a
half-period or a whole-period built into the week's plan for such
adjustment.
- Devise 1-2 quick exit slips or informal formative assessments related to unit goals, and use those results to inform use of white space.
- Identify the parts of the unit that can be skipped or shortened, if need be, to ensure that unit goals are fully addressed. Putting an asterisk by those activities alerts you to the possibility. (It also has the virtue of helping you identify relative priorities in a unit: not everything is equally important in a lesson plan).
- Use the decisions about priorities from Steps 2 and 3, as needed, to accomplish unit goals.
You
know from personal experience that the first time through a topic may not be
enough. Be a realist, and plan in white
space. Wiggins’s suggestions keep
the focus on what is really important: student learning. Use formative assessments, give feedback to
students, and be responsive to student needs.
At one time or another, all students will have misconceptions or
misunderstanding, so give yourself permission to accept this reality—and to do
something about it.
If
necessary, jettison the
non-essentials first while still guaranteeing students understand the most
important concepts and learn the key skills.
A Simple Proposal
As
you plan your next unit, give it a try.
Build in some white space and
develop several quick assessments to inform your decision of what to do during
this time. Keep the main thing the main
thing. Make sure the assessments are
about the key concepts or skills of
the unit. At the end of the unit ask
yourself two simple questions: Did all students learn the key concepts and
skills? Did the students and I feel less
stress from the competing demands of learning and coverage?
I
can’t guarantee your week will be great, but I hope it is a viable option.
Phil
Kudos this week to the risk-takers,
to those of you out there experimenting with instructional practice. Last week I saw a great app called
“Socrative” being used to make quick formative assessments, I talked to a
teacher assigning differentiated homework which met individual student needs,
and I heard about a guest speaker who shared his story of taking a product from
idea to production. The journey we are
on consists of small steps just like these, each one moving us forward on our
journey to redefine excellence at HSHS.
Two
more quotes on being a realist:
- “Why are we born? We’re born eventually to die, of course. But what happens between the time we’re born and we die? We’re born to live. One is a realist if one hopes.” --Studs Terkel
- “If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.” --Mahatma Gandhi
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