Chapter 9: Planning for learning

             In this chapter the authors talk about the importance of planning. We have to be carefull when we plan. First it mentions that we have to plan the appropriate learning activities at the heart of everyday classroom life. we have to know what they need individually and collectively to achieve the desired results an do perform well.Our design must be user-friendly, not only intellectually defensible.But how we know if our plan is good...According to the authors a plan must be engaging and effective.Engaging a design that learners find truly thought provoking, fascinating and energizing. Learners not only enjoy the work,but it engage them in worthy intellectual effort centered on big ideasand important performances.On the other hand, effective is when a learner becomes more competent and productive at worthy work.
              For reaching the ideal design UbD propuses us some guidelines,which are represented by the acronym WHERETO, in which:
W: ensure that students understand where the unit is headed, and why.
H: hook students in the beginning and hold their atttention throughout.
E: equip students wth necessary experiences,knowledge, tools and know how to meet performance goals.
R: Provide students with numerous opportunities to rethink big ideas,reflect on progress and revise their work.
E: build in opportunities for students to evaluate progress and self assess.
T: be tailored to reflect individual talents, interests, styles and needs.
O: be organized to optimize deep understanding as opposed to superficial coverage.
            These elements are helpful for design, but is easy to lose viewpoint, if we are not careful,it just contributes to students' short-term learning.In my opinion I think that, it is very important and it sounds great, but how and when we can do all of these things.

Chapter 6: Crafting Understandings

            In this chapter the authors talk about the understandings, but what is understanding?... According to the authors understanding can be defined as:
1. an important inference, drawn from the experience of experts, stated as a specific and useful generalization.
2. It refers to transferable, big ideas having enduring value beyond a specific topic.
3. It envolves abstract, counterintuitive, and easily misunderstood ideas.
4. Understanding is the best acquired by uncovering and doing the subject.
5. It summarizes important strategic principles in skills areas.
            We have to consider that understanding is not the same for all of us.We have to consider different kind of students which have different abilities and develop skills in a different way. Understanding is a process which requires certain conditions, which we as teachers don't have.
             It is very clear that we have a lot of books explaining the desirable, but what happen in our classroom, with our time, materials, text book and also with headship.Theory is one thing, but reality is another very different thing.

Chapter 5: Essential questions; Doorways to Understanding

           This chapter talks about the essential questions that help us to enhance the critical thinking of our students, but what is essential?...According to Wiggins and Mc Tighe in Understanding by design essential can be defined in four different ways when it is used to characterize questions. The first one has to do with important questions that recur throughout all our lives. The second one refers to core ideas and inquiries within a discipline, they are historically important.A third meaning for essential questions refers to what is needed for learning core content. If it helps students effectively inquire and make sense of important but complicated ideas and knowledge.And finally the last meaning refers to questions that will engage a specific and diverse set of learners. In other words, the same question is not necessarily important or essencial for and adult or another particular student.
            According to this chapter we as teachers have to know first our students, thus we can make and  prepare essential questions for them. We know that one of our duties is to help students think about their learning process and to raise their awareness of how they develop their own learning strategies  to become effective learners and independent thinkers.
            Hans George Gadamer said: " Only a person who has questions can have real understanding", but I ask myself, what about those students who never ask,not participate or simply are shy students. I have to think that he or she does not understand anything or he is not worried about his learning process...