UbD & DI Chapter Three

What Really Matters in Learning (Content)

When I think about how much information the typical student is expected to absorb in a single day, it is a bit overwhelming. It makes sense that researchers Marzano and Kendall concluded that of 160 national and state-level content standards documents yielded a synthesis of 255 standards and 3,968 benchmarks. Many students are capable of managing this expectation; however, many other students have a very hard time putting it all together. That is why it is important to teach the big ideas and core processes within the content standards. The specifics and more in depth ideas are then taught by exploring and applying the larger ideas and processes. In my classroom, I will make sure to look at the big idea and periodically dive into the specifics. This is because students and parents both get the signal that the underlying goal of all school efforts is to improve student learning of important content, not just looking at textbooks and practicing for standardized tests. I will also teach for learning of important content, not content that is unnecessary, and regularly check for understanding on the part of all students so I can make adjustments as needed. It is also important to keep content standards, desired understandings and questions as a constant target. It is important not to deviate from the these targets because there are important things I need my students to be able to answer by test time, and if they cannot do the skills I have taught them, I have not done my job as a teach.