Ubd Assignment: AP Environmental Science

This UbD assignment has made me really rethink the way that we have taught AP Environmental Science in the past. Most of the time, we are so crunched for time that we just do notes, labs, and tests. This gets the point across because many of them are honors students, however, it is not challenging them or benefiting them in the long term. This UbD assignment enabled me to look at one facet that we teach and come up with not only the big ideas, but has enabled me to enhance the curriculum planning (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006, p. 32) by looking at the unit through the essential questions while linking that with their assessment. By using the backward design to plan a lesson I was able to “provide the conceptual pillars that anchor” the class (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006, p. 32). Having everything linked together using the skills, knowledge, understandings, and essential questions all linked to the established goals and their assessments has ultimately helped me focus on what I want the students

33) if taught correctly. It is an interdisciplinary topic that many of the students are aware of already but might have misconceptions that need to be clarified, which can be determined through a pre-assessment. By completing the Stage 1 and Stage 2, it made me realize how important it is to match our assessment measures with our goals (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006, p. 34). As a teacher, I need to be aware that there is an AP test but how the students get the knowledge is totally up to me and we need to make sure that we differentiate with ultimately the same goal in mind for every student. Every student learns differently, but if you are a responsive teacher, you should be able to tailor the assessment to “accommodate the uniqueness of students” (Tomlinson & McTighe, 2006, p. 34) which this UbD template allows you to