Understanding
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| Listen, Understand, Act by Steven Shorrock (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) |
A definition from our 21st century reference (book), Wikipedia:
Understanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object.
I love this word. It can be seen as concrete, and at the same time be ambiguous in nature. It is what we hope students 'get', what 'clicks', the 'why', the way they can apply it and the lasting knowledge that they take from your class. When students understand a concept, they can make it their own and use it any applicable contexts. Understanding informs my aims with my senior students. The skills I teach them, they understand the links and processes involved, and then they can actually apply it to different situations.
My school is embarking on utilising Understanding by Design (UbD) more this year. I recently found this useful link on Edutopia created by Grant Wiggins: Understanding by Design Template - http://edut.to/1DFK8II. In the Template, he provides some of the reasons behind UbD. At the core it is a purposeful curricular planning process that makes the connections between learning and programs visible. He states that "UbD reflects a “continuous improvement” approach to design and learning." Look forward to sharing more about this process as we start implementing it across all year levels later this year.
Bonus: My Twitter Recommendations- Letter U
These educators have been part of my PLN for some time and it is fantastic to be able to connect with them, share ideas, be challenged and learn from one another.
Urbie Delgado
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