Curriculum Design and Purpose
Curriculum Design
The instructional design of the unit is based on the Understanding by Design theory of Wiggins and McTighe (1998). The unit uses the backward design model and the six facets of understanding. The backward design model centers on the idea that the design process should begin with the end in mind. First, one needs to identify what the students should take away from this unit. Wiggins and McTighe's framework isolates three main stages:
- Stage 1: Identify desired outcomes and results
- Stage 2: Determine what constitutes acceptable evidence of learning (assessment)
- Stage 3: Plan Instructional strategies and learning experiences that bring students to acceptable levels of competency.
For teachers who are not familiar with this model, stage one is really defining goals and objectives. However, in this model, stage one not only focuses on course objectives but on life long learning objectives that should endure over time. These life long learning objectives are referred to as the "enduring understandings." Stage two focuses the unit by determining what forms of assessment are acceptable evidence of competency with regard to the outcomes and results. Basically, what forms of assessment will demonstrate that the student acquired knowledge, understanding, and skill? These forms of assessment can vary from performance tasks to quizzes and tests to observations and dialogue. Stage three determines what sequence of teaching and learning will equip the student to successfully demonstrate the necessary level of competency. In this stage, the teacher decides what lessons to create and what instructional strategies to use. Wiggins and McTighe suggest framing these activities around the "Six Facets of Understanding." The six facets are:
- Explain
- Interpret
- Apply
- Have Perspective
- Empathize
- Have Self-Knowledge.
This unit is designed according to this model. I will refer to the aforementioned stages and facets of understanding in the classroom activities section of the unit. However, for further explanation of this theory, visit the Understanding by Design Website at www.ubdexchange.org. You can also read the first two chapters of Understanding by Design by visiting the following website: www.ascd.org/readingroom/books/wiggins98book.htm/#intro.
Purpose
Using the backward design approach, I will explain the purpose of the unit. With respect to the "Enduring Understandings," I try to think of it in terms of how my students will think back on this unit many years from now and what the most important aspects of it that I want them to remember are. If one thinks of three concentric circles, these understandings would be representative of the inner circle or core.
- Enduring Understandings
- Students will uncover that poetry is a vessel for voice
- Students will write free verse poems
- Students will recognize that the degradation, dehumanization and murders of African Americans during the Jim Crow Era and Jews during the Holocaust were two examples of Crimes Against Humanity.
- Students will uncover that their voices are a part of humanity.
- Students will uncover that how they treat people directly affects the human condition.
You can see that the enduring understandings for this particular unit do not deal with dates, statistics, and the recall of specific literary terms. Although these things are important, they are not the most important aspect of what I want my students to take from this unit. The Enduring Understandings listed above are the ideas that I want to imbed in the soul of each student. The use of the word "uncover" is a reminder of the real meaning of the overworked word "discover." The idea is that the students will uncover an enduring understanding through the way the teacher structures the learning activities and through the materials that are presented. In this particular unit, the poetry that is used and the strategies that are connected to the "six facets of understanding" will allow the students to uncover the deeper meaning of the unit.
Once the Enduring Understandings are established, the next level in the design is "What is important to know?" In terms of three inlaid circles, this knowledge would fall into the middle circle. These expand out of the core circle, the enduring understandings. These will be the objectives that I will need to create appropriate means of assessment. The following is a list of what I want my students to be able to do and know:
- Students will be able to identify and implement varies forms of figurative language, including: hyperbole, metaphor, oxymoron, personification, simile, and allusion.
- Students will be able to identify tone by selecting words that represent denotation and connotation.
- Students will be able to identify symbols of oppression and hope.
- Students will be able to identify the voice of the victim versus the voice of the oppressor, by analyzing selected words and symbols.
- Students will identify sensory images.
- Students will create poems of their own that are vessels for an oppressed voice, based on the poems that were analyzed.
- Students will create ecphrastic poems based on artwork and/or photographs related to each of the crimes.
- Students will compare and contrast the use of theme, symbol and figure concerning the two crimes
- Students will recognize that artwork and photographs are visual representations of voice and can relate to poetry
- Students will analyze notional ecphrastic poems
I will assess this knowledge through criteria referenced assessments (quizzes, tests, prompts) and informal forms of assessment (observations, dialogues, presentations).
The next level in the design is, what do I want my students to be familiar with as a result of this unit. In terms of the circle metaphor, this is the outer layer. This information will come from essays and movies. I want my students to be familiar with the following:
- A timeline of dates
- Statistics about each crime
- Biographies of authors who are featured in the unit
- The geography associated with each of these atrocities
- The role government played in each crime
- Definitions of words particularly associated with each era.
As you can see, when using the backward design model it is possible to include other crimes against humanity if a teacher wishes to do so, because the enduring understandings could stay the same. As I narrate the classroom activities, I will make reference to these levels and facets of understanding. Hopefully the ideas will solidify once they are used in context.
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