UbD & DI Chapter One

UbD and DI: An Essential Partnership

This chapter analyzed how Understanding by Design and Differential Instruction are used together in a classroom. It provided seven axioms that demonstrated how some of the ways that UbD and DI interface. I learned that DI is a critical component of instructional planning because it provides a framework for addressing learner variance. UbD is focused on what we teach and what assessment evidence we collect while DI is based on whom we teach, where we teach, and how we teach. As a teacher, I will need to make sure that I understand and attend to whom I am teaching, where they are being taught, what they are taught, and how they are taught. This will impact my classroom because I will be conscious of the students, the environment, the content, and the presentation so all students gain from the class. Something that I will integrate into my classroom stems from axiom 2 that suggests that when students understand the content, they are able to apply knowledge in the authentic contexts. I will have reasonable yet challenging quizzes and exams but I will not necessarily stop there for the students’ learning. Having them demonstrate their learning in the real world is ultimately what we want to see, and I will help them to achieve that. Axiom 5 also represents what I would like to do in my classroom because I want my students to want to explore, interpret, apply, etc… not just do it because they have to. If I can get them to use these tools they will not only be successful in my classroom but also in other classes.