Understanding

by Design, the
Holistic
Approach to
Teaching, and
Interdisciplinary
Education
Michaela G. Schnetzer
October 15, 2016
Understanding by Design
This framework is implemented in order to
aid educators in planning curriculum,
assessment, and instruction using a
backwards design (McTighe & Wiggins,
2012).
 UbD is based on seven principles:
Curriculum should be developed
through purposeful planning
dont just hope!
Curriculum and Instruction
should focus on the deepening
of student understanding and
transfer of learning quality
over quantity!
Understanding is achieved when
students are able to process
and apply or transfer learning to
other situations and learning
experiences.
Curriculum is planned
backwards, beginning with
desired results, followed by
evidence, and finally, the
learning plan.
Teachers are facilitators of
learning, not simply a
databased of information or
sage on a stage.
Curriculum should be
constantly reviewed, both
individually and with peers.
This framework should be
used for continual
improvement in order to
consistently better student
achievement and teacher
craft.
(McTighe and Wiggins,
2012)
Reaching each student
Because of UbDs open-
ended design, all learning
theories and cross-
curricular topics can be
easily implemented based
on the discretion of the
educator(s) involved.

As touched upon in the

seven principles of UbD,
the goal is to generate
deep learning through
meaning!
The Holistic Curriculum
Style
Holists believe that the objective of
curriculum is to capture student interest in
order to drive learning experiences. Emotion
is never severed from intellect in order to
derive meaning from substantive and
expansive instruction and learning. In a holist
classroom, power is often shared in hopes
that students will eventually be effective
participants in a democratic society (Miller,
2011).
How to Begin:
There are three stages involved with backwards design,
and all three must not only align to standards, but to one
another.
They include:
Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
Stage 2: Determine Assessment Evidence
Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction

(McTighe & Wiggins, 2012).

 Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
What is my goal? What do I want students to
understand, know, and be able to do?

Within this stage, Holistic Implications:

For a holist, goals would most
measureable learning often revolve around big or
goals and priorities universal ideas, such as identity or
power, and real world applications.
are defined. Essential
questions are also Examples:
developed in order to Transfer Goals: Students will
be able to create an original
create meaningful work of art that uses material
choices as symbolic
transfer of learning. representations of a specific
topic.
Essential Questions: How do
(McTighe & Wiggins, natural disasters impact daily
human life around the world?
2012).
(What is Holistic Education?, 2015)
Stage 2: Determine Assessment Evidence
How will my students
demonstrate what they
understand, know, and can do?
Within this stage, Understanding is
students must demonstrated when
demonstrate what they students can:
have learned Explain
(understanding) through Interpret
application. In order to Apply
thoroughly assess Demonstrate
understanding and Perspective
transfer of learning, the
Display Empathy
performance tasks
Have Self-Knowledge
should be authentic.
(McTighe & Wiggins,
2012)
Holistic Implications (Stage 2)
Assessment in a holist
classroom should be varied, or
differentiated due to the de-
emphasizing of traditional
materials such as text books
and exams and the belief that
learning and instruction should
be based on individual
students needs.

Most holists evaluate student

learning through project-based
assessment.

(What is Holistic Education?,

2015)
Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
How will I cultivate and support learning as my
students uncover new ideas and processes?

Within this final stage, educators Holistic Implications:

design appropriate lessons and
activities that will lead them to the
pre-determined learning goal. This
does not simply mean providing
information, but to provide
opportunities to draw inferences,
make generalizations, and apply
learning to new situations that once
again align to the other stages. It is
also crucial that educators check for
understanding constantly and
consistently at this level so students
successfully reach the learning goal
and accomplish the assessment,
whatever form it may take (McTighe
& Wiggins, 2012).
Activities should often be
performed in groups for social
and democratic opportunities,
and often be a choice of the
students. Other elements
expected are activities that
require critical thinking and
problem solving, real world
application, and hands-on
experiences in and outside of
the classroom (What is
Holistic Education?, 2015).
 Putting UbD in to Action: Powerful Self Portraits
Stage 1: Identify Stage 2: Determine
Desired Results Assessment Evidence
Students will be able to identify Students will interpret their
various types of power, as well as views on what power is
contemporary and historical
through symbolic imagery
figures who exude characteristics
of a powerful person. in a self portrait using chalk
Students will know and and oil pastels.
understand that power comes in
many forms.

Essential Questions:
Who are some examples of
powerful people from history or
today? What makes a person
powerful?
How do people secure, wield, or
exercise their power?
What makes you feel powerful?
Stage 3: will
Students Plan Learning
be able Experiences and Instruction
to identify the
three types of power, as well as assign
a corresponding symbol to each.
Students will be able to identify
powerful people from history, fiction,
religion, and of today, as well as
various characteristics or
accomplishments that make them
powerful.
Students will be able to discuss how
Kehinde Wiley gives the impression of
power in his portraits through symbolic
imagery.
After reading about Malala Yousafzai
and her fight against the Taliban's ban
on girls in school, students will be able
to write a 10 sentence essay describing
what makes Malala a powerful person
and why.
After researching powerful people,
students will be able to select a portrait
of a powerful person to form the basis
of their "Powerful Self-Portrait."
Interdisciplinary
Education:
Aknowledge view and curriculum approach that consciously
applies methodology and language from more than one
discipline to examine a central theme, issue, problem, topic, or
experience (Jacobs, 1989).

John Dewey is quoted as saying if a subject is learned in

isolation, or segregated when acquired, it is disconnected
from the rest of (an) experience and is therefore not available
under the actual conditions of life (Adler and Flihan, 1997).
Dewey believed that education should be a collaborative effort
in order to achieve a common goal. Interdisciplinary instruction
requires educators to do precisely that: teach a subject not in
isolation, but by using all curricular studies in order to create
solid connections between academic studies and the real world,
as well as shared knowledge amongst students.
How to make it work as a
team:
1. Establish the need, or the why,
interdisciplinary opportunities should
be implemented
2. Define terms that will be used unity
is key for understanding across the
board
3. Identify assumptions that will guide
effective practice
(Jacobs, 1989)
Interdisciplinary Education using
the UbD Framework
Stage 1 Identify
Desired Results

When working
McCarthyism and the impact on
American Society and Culture within an
Is it possible to limit ones interdisciplinary
freedom of thought?
Should there be limitations to team, this stage
freedom of speech? would be agreed
How can unfair or unfounded
accusations or rumors impact upon by all
someone socially? Emotionally? involved.
Culturally? Professionally?
 Stage 2: Determine Assessment Evidence
11th Grade US History
Students will interpret political cartoons from
the McCarthyism era and explain how it relates Although the
to the Cold War and the impact on American assessments will
Society. vary between the
included subjects
11th Grade Language Arts based on content
Students will write a paper applying their and the instructor,
knowledge of McCarthyism in the 1950s and the team should
comparing it to the Crucible and the witch- continuously
hunts of the 1600s. review each
others
assessments to
11th Grade Art History
make sure they
After studying the Hollywood Blacklist,
align to stage one
students will create a film in groups, making and three.
sure to include themes and ideas that would
have been flagged in the 1950s as Communist.
Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and
Instruction
This is where the individualism of each
classroom will determine what is being
covered. The educators personal
teaching pedagogy, preference of
curriculum theory, etc. plays a major
role in how students reach and
successfully master Stage 1 and 2.
Idiosyncrasy will keep students
engaged and insure all types of
learners are valued through
differentiation.

Although this is a more independent

realm of interdisciplinary education, it
is once again crucial that the involved
parties constantly meet as a team to
check for alignment, share ideas, and
make changes where needed.
Putting it all together
Understanding by Design and the Holistic approach to
education not only support content learning, but also
how to apply knowledge beyond the classroom in both
professional and social circumstances.
Children are inspired to take responsibility for their
learning and explore beyond the traditional realms of
education.
By using interdisciplinary education, the whole
student is engaged and connections will reach beyond
each individual classroom, preparing students better
for both their professional and social futures.
Your turn!
Step 1: Using the unit you brought
along, complete the UbD template for
all three stages.
Stage 1 Identify Desired Results
Stage 2 Determine Assessment
Evidence
Stage 3 Plan Learning
Experiences and Instruction

Step 2:
In your groups and using one UbD
example, identify at minimum two
interdisciplinary connections
between the chosen unit/subject
and two other content areas.
Explain connections and activities
that would support the original
desired results.

Step 3: Document one example,

including interdisciplinary
opportunities, on big paper for a
gallery walk at the end of our session.
Benefits for Educators:
The Understanding by Design framework, the Holistic curriculum theory, and
interdisciplinary education hold teachers accountable for what is being taught in
the classroom. By working backwards, teachers are more likely to convey the
point to the learning, rather than just the facts. By building bridges across content
areas, meaningful connections and deeper learning are more likely to be obtained
by students.

When both the educators and the student have a clear vision of the overall
gain, global understanding and learning is successfully accomplished (Buehl,
2000).
 References
Adler, M., & Flihan, S. (1997). The Interdisciplinary Continuum: Reconciling Theory,
Research and Practice. National Research Center on English Learning &
Achievement, 2(36), 1-41. Retrieved September 19, 2016, from
http://www.albany.edu/cela/reports/adlerinterdisc.pdf

Buehl, D. (2000, October). Backward Design; Forward Thinking. Retrieved October 4,

2016, from http://weac.org/articles/read_backwards/

Jacobs, H. H. (1989). Interdisciplinary curriculum: Design and implementation.

Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

McTighe, J., & Wiggins, G. (2012). Understanding By Design Framework. Retrieved

from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/siteASCD/publications/UbD_Whit
ePaper0312.pdf

Miller, D. L. (2011, April). Curriculum Theory and Practice: What's Your Style. Phi
Delta Kappa, 92(7), 32-39. Retrieved from Social Sciences Citation Index.

Miller, R. (2000). A brief introduction to holistic education, the encyclopaedia of

informal education. [http://infed.org/mobi/a- brief-introduction-to-holistic-education/.
Retrieved: October 3, 2016].

What is Holistic Education? (2015). Retrieved October 04, 2016, from

http://www.schoolaroundus.org/educational-philosophy/our- educational- philosophy/