Leading by Design with Grant Wiggins

Grant Wiggins, addressing school leaders in the session entitled "Leading by Design," focused on the need for school reform that is based on principles about how learning for understanding works, not just generic processes about change.

To successfully meet standards requires changing how teaching and learning are conceived, but many teachers don't understand their job--believing that it is coverage of the curriculum, rather than guiding students to understanding big ideas and the transfer of knowledge and skills. This misconception is supported by many school policies and practices.

School leaders can shift the focus from curriculum coverage to understanding by applying backward design to leadership and action planning:

• putting the focus on learning about learning
• researching what is and isn'’t working
• framing desired results and performance goals around teaching
• assessing for understanding

Tell Us What You Think--Join the DI and UbD Community
If you are a school leader, how do you apply UbD principles in your role?

If you are not a school leader, do your school leaders apply UbD principles? If so, how? Do school leaders allow you and show you how to apply UbD principles in your classroom?

Share your experience with other educators about what works and what to avoid--post a comment.

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

Understanding by Design in the Secondary Social Studies Classroom

Reflecting Student Interests--Tupac to Caesar Chavez
Angie Peterson, an educator in the Indianapolis, Ind. system, sets up her classroom to reflect her students' backgrounds at the beginning of the school year. She posts works by African American, Hispanic, and Asian authors and poets on her bulletin boards.

For example, Tupac Shakur is familiar to her students, so she posts his lyrics as poetry along with a book excerpt on the life of Caesar Chavez. (Learn how studying Tupac led one student to orchestrate a peace forum.)

Know Your Students
It's important to know who your students are and what content is important and relevant to their lives. That key theme was echoed throughout this conference and especially in the "Understanding by Design in the Secondary Social Studies Classroom" session presented by Peterson.

Connecting to Students
Peterson stays closely connected to her students and their families and has been called on as a teacher of record to help bail more than one of her students out of juvenile detention hall when parents couldn't be reached.

One teacher in the session shared that she gives her students her cell phone number and tells them to call when they need help.

Unit Design Based on What Students Want to Learn
Peterson asks her students to tell her which of these National Council for the Social Studies thematic strands and themes are the most important for them to learn:

• Culture
• Time, Continuity, and Change
• People, Places, and Environment
• Individual Development and Identity
• Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
• Power, Authority, and Governance
• Production, Distribution, and Consumption
• Science, Technology, and Society
• Global Connections
• Civic Ideals and Practices

She then had session attendees use these themes in small groups to begin designing social studies units that connect to their own students' lives.


Related Resources
Understanding by Design Professional Development Workbook
Implementing an Understanding by Design program is much easier when you use this in-depth resource for workshops, curriculum teams, and teacher training. This collection of templates, design tools, examples, and exercises helps you give all staff members a firm grasp of key UbD principles.

UbD Exchange
This is a cooperative Web site devoted to the development and peer review of curriculum units, where you can find plenty of curriculum units designed according to UbD principles for use in your classroom.

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

Opening General Session Video

During today's opening general session, attendees watched this video, in which students explain why they like learning in classrooms that use Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design:

"I like working in classrooms where they're doing different things because it can show your different strengths."

"I'd rather learn about something that I'm not particularly good at, because then it allows me to develop my skills in that subject or area."

"It increases your chances of reaching your potential."

View the video

• large (broadband)
• small (dial-up)

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

Last Minute Notices for Attendees

Please note the time change for the Making Connections reception.

Get quick answers to your last minute questions in our Conference Guide.

If this is your first time in New York City, these sites will help you find out what there is to do in NYC.

Learn more about next year's conference, visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

Reports from Conference Starting Tomorrow

The 2005 ASCD Summer Conference begins tomorrow--the Pre-Conference Institutes are already underway--and when it does, we will begin our reports from New York.

We'll provide a view of the conference for those of you who weren't able to make it this year, starting with a look at the video that will be presented during the opening general session. (We're repeating this conference next year. If you missed the conference because you didn't register before it sold out, you may want to register today for the 2006 summer conference.)

During the conference, we will post reports from conference sessions each day. However, our many bloggers are also busy running the conference, which means that they won't be able to get all their entries posted during the conference. We'll continue to post their reports through the week following conference.

For those of you who were at the conference, you can send us your session reports and comment on those posted by our bloggers. We will also be posting your responses to our questionnaires as we receive them.

Learn more about next year's conference--visit our 2006 summer conference page, where you can register today.

Explore Differentiated Instruction resources and Understanding by Design resources.

Need To Cancel?

Although we hope to see you all in New York, we have been getting some questions about cancellations (which those on the waiting list will surely consider good news).

All cancellations should be received by e-mail 14 days before the conference for a refund; we will charge a $25.00 processing fee. If there are less than 14 days before the conference, you are ineligible for a credit, but you can send a nonregistered person in your place with registration confirmation or written authorization from you.

Get all the details on our registration page.

Making Connections Reception Time Change

The Making Connections reception will now be held from 6:00-7:30 p.m., on Tuesday, June 28, on the 9th floor.

Meet with colleagues from around the world during this informal reception. Music will be provided by "The Hazbins," with Grant Wiggins at the helm. Light snacks and a cash bar will be available.

See more summer conference networking opportunities.

What To Do in New York City?

While the summer conference will be full of activities to keep you busy, including a performance by "The Hazbins," with Grant Wiggins at the helm, you will be in the heart of New York City, the city that never sleeps, and that has something for everyone.

Never Been to NYC?
If you've never been to New York City before, you might be interested in some of these sites, which can help you get started on ideas of post-conference activities:

• NYC official tourism site
• Fodor's NYC site
• Lonely Planet NYC guide

New Yorkers, Help Us Out
And, if you're a New Yorker, we're sure that you have an opinion for your colleagues about

• what they shouldn't miss
• what they should pass on
• where the best shopping is
• which are the must-see shows
• where to get good food
• and so on . . .

. . . So, help your colleagues out by posting your recommendations in a comment by clicking on the "comments" link at the bottom of this entry.

Important Notice for Conference Attendees

If you have not received a confirmation letter for the conference or Pre-Conference Institute, please call the ASCD Service Center immediately to determine the status of your registration at 1-800-933-2723, then press 2.

Conference Guide

Browse the Summer Conference Guide to quickly get all the information you need on:

What to do when you arrive onsite.

Check-In Schedules.

Session room locations and maps.

Networking Opportunities

ASCD Resource Center

Academic Credit

2005 Summer Conference Is Sold Out

Thank you to everyone who has registered for this conference. The 2005 Summer Conference is now sold out. There will be no onsite registration.

The second Summer Conference on Differentiating Instruction and Understanding by Design: Powerful Keys to Student Learning will be held in Denver, Colorado, in June 2006.

Learn more about the 2006 conference and register today.

Hotel Accommodations

The Marriott Marquis and the Millennium Hotel Broadway are now full. The conference will be held at the Marriott. We trust that you have already made your room reservation.

Please ensure that your room reservation is confirmed. If you have any questions about your reservation, please contact the hotel directly:

New York Marriott Marquis
1535 Broadway
New York, NY 10036

Millennium Hotel Broadway
145 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036
1-212-768-4400