Deciding What to Teach & Test: Developing, Aligning, and Leading the Curriculum, by Fenwick

W. English
Chapter 3 Notes: Aligning the Curriculum
Curriculum alignment[the] overlap between the content, format, and level of
cognition of the curriculum is a term to phrase how an educator teaches in his or her
classroom and how that teaching is measured (English, p. 77, 2010). The two formats,
frontloading or backloading, mean forming the test around the curriculum or forming the
curriculum around the test, respectively.
It is nearly impossible to separate assessment performance from socioeconomic status.
One of the biggest factors in how a student performs on a test is their background, even
more so than the schools curricula or size (English, p. 80, 2010).
Standardized tests are not wholly effective. English claims that information from
standardized tests shows how one student is doing compared with another student on an
assumed or mythical national curriculum that is unspecified (p. 81, 2010).
A frontloading curriculum is meant to explain the classroom work to be done without
necessarily providing means for closer supervision, and does not offer much flexibility
for teachers (English, p. 83, 2010).
Teaching to the test (or backloading) has some issues. One of the primary issues is that
there is no proof of alignment, and that proponents of this method assume that qualities
being measured on the test are continuous, when that is not always the case (English, p.
87, 2010).
One of the consequences of using standardized tests is socioeconomic determinism,
where curriculum alignment is much lower in areas of a lower socioeconomic status
(English, p. 91, 2010).

Understanding by Design, by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Chapter 8: Criteria and Validity
Engagement, craftsmanship, and character development are the three most important
items when considering how best to select and present necessary criteria (Wiggins &
McTighe, p. 173, 2005).
Using backward design, a specific goal developed in the early stages of curriculum
planning will clearly point to the criteria needed to reach that goal (Wiggins & McTighe,
p. 176, 2005).
The six-facet rubric provided on pages 178-179 clearly outlines how to judge whether or
not students are meeting the necessary criteria, including whether their work reflects a
sophisticated and comprehensive grasp of the material or a nave one (Wiggins &
McTighe, 2005).
Developing ones own rubric should be done by using a variety of students work and
dividing the exemplary from the excellent from the good from the okay from the needs
 improvement, in order to best provide a working rubric that has a category for all levels
of students work (Wiggins & McTighe, p. 181-182, 2005).
Validity measures how educators interpret the results of their assessments, not necessarily
the assessments themselves. The self-assessment provided in Figure 8.5 on page 187
outlines how to assure validity by checking if a student could fake his or her way
through it or do poorly on an assessment while still grasping the concepts (Wiggins &
McTighe, 2005)
Chapter 9: Planning for Learning
The best lesson plans are both engaging and effective. This means learners are challenged
to think in new, creative ways and that the lessons help learners become more proficient
and productive (Wiggins & McTighe, p. 195, 2005).
Good learning contains many characteristics, including clear performance goals, a
hands-on approach, obvious real-world application, strong feedback system, and a safe
environment for taking educational risks, among others (Wiggins & McTighe, p. 196-
197, 2005).
In order for students to get the most out of their education, the work must be purposeful
in their eyes. If students see a way to apply what theyre learning to real life, it interests
them and challenges them more than a lesson that they cannot connect with (Wiggins &
McTighe, 2005).
Schoolwork does not need to be, and shouldnt be, tedious and boring. [T]o enable
learners to reach higher intellectual standards, we will have to improve our ability to
provoke their thought, curiosity, and drive (Wiggins & McTighe, p. 202, 2005). Rather,
students should feel challenged and able to connect their work to areas outside of school.
With all that being said, it is not the teachers job to entertain his or her students. While
elements of fun are helpful and, in my opinion, necessary, it is important to remember
that the teachers main role is to teach, and the students is to learn. Gaining their interest
can be done in interesting, attention-getting fashions, like weird facts, personal anecdotes,
etc., if they add to the overall tenor of the lesson.
Chapter 10: Teaching for Understanding
Only successful attempts by the learner to learn cause learning (Wiggins & McTighe, p.
228, 2005). This quote is amazingly important, because only when a student takes
ownership of his/her learning will he/she be able to truly learn.
Students do not reach an understanding of material by teachers covering of that
material; it is only when they achieve a learning goal or challenge as it relates to the
content that true education occurs (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005).
A textbook should not be the unit. Rather, it should be a tool that is utilized to help reach
a better understanding of the content, but it should not comprise the curriculum in its
entirety. Even the best textbooks will be useful in achieving only some of our desired
results (Wiggins & McTighe, p. 231, 2005).
Students best learning occurs when they feel the need to question and dig further based
on their own conclusions and findings. Students should be pushed towards finding
 issues, problems, gaps, perplexing questions, and inconsistencies that were hidden
earlier (Wiggins & McTighe, p. 235, 2005).
Lecturing is not bad and discovery learning is not good. Rather, the most effective
combination of teaching methods should always be implemented, in order to better assist
students in their understanding of material.