This is a copy of the presentation that was used to introduce UbD to the Freedom staff on January 17, 2022. 

The simple stages template is used to give a broad overview of Unit Planning using the Understanding by Design Framework. 

There are many ways to begin developing the UbD template.  This document shows various entry points and how the information you already use may be helpful to the curriculum mapping process. 

The Stage One Template follows the electronic version from EduPlanet21.  Stage One's focuses on transfer, meaning-making, and acquisition.  Prompts are included to spur your thinking around Transfer Goals, Understandings (Big Ideas), Essential Questions, Knowledge, and Skills. 

What's the Big Idea?  How do we use a Big Idea to get to Understandings and Essential Questions?  This document seeks to explain the interrelationship between these three pillars of UbD.  

Stage one of UbD can be daunting, especially when dealing with weighty concepts like Transfer, Understanding, and Essential Questions.  This document helps us to think a bit more concretely about our content and why we teach it.  We start with Knowledge and Skills and funnel these concepts to uncover how those discrete elements inform a larger curricular Understanding. 

This document takes a deep dive into the explanation of Transfer Goals.  Distinguishing characteristics and discipline-specific examples are included. 

If you're struggling to frame Understandings as you map your units, this document will help!  It includes a multitude of examples as well as discussion on moving from concrete skills to transferrable understanding. 

What makes a question essential?  This document will show you how effective Essential Questions drive our curriculum toward long-term understanding.