Chapter 1 UbD and DI: An Essential Partnership

Three things stood out to me in the first chapter of Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design. The first was the discussion in the beginning concerning content standards and accountability tests. This section made me think about the traditional way of evaluating a student and how ineffective it may be. I realize that evaluation of students needs to include more than test scores. Secondly, I learned what Understanding by Design and Differentiated instruction is and how they relate. Understanding by Design focuses on what is being taught and how it is assessed, while Differentiated Instruction is concerned with who is being taught, where they are being taught, and how the teaching occurs. It will be important and useful for me to recognize how these interact when dealing with my own classroom. Lastly, one of the points that were made was that students don’t have to master the basics before being able to think through concepts. Students can come to understand through interaction with ideas.