KUD: Milking it for All It's Worth

Yesterday was KUD DAY! Both presenters focused on this simple idea. Students cannot hit a target that is fuzzy or in constant motion. If the teacher does not have any idea what the KUD for an activity are , how are students expected to learn?

K: KNOW (facts, definitions, vocabulary, etc)
U: UNDERSTAND (generalizations, concepts, big ideas of the discipline)
D: Do ( the VERB, what do we want them to DO, skill, product)

Turn of phrases: prolonged direct instruction: "the ear hustle", racism of low expectations, praying for a teacher's retirement is not a leadership strategy, Most effective teachers: WARM DEMANDERS- part master drill sergeant and part Mother Theresa

FAVORITE QUOTES: Unquestioned patterns become prisons.
The greatest barrier to learning is not what the student knows but what the teacher believes.

Video: Everyday Creativity pt. 1  Narrated by a National Geographic photographer creating an interesting analogy for teaching! (One of the best video clips ever. I googled it..$795.00. YIKES!)

Take-Aways from Video:

• Creativity is looking at the ordinary in extraordinary ways. Falling in love with the world with passion and connection
• We have to learn how to change our lenses. There is more than one right answer. Continually search for another right answer...a better right answer.
• Seek this other right answer without fear...embrace it and change leneses
• Don't be afraid to make mistakes. An average National Geographic photographer will take 14,000 pictures for ONE article! 
• Press out of your own comfortable box, break PATTERNS in your life
• Don't think in terms of win-lose scenarios; think about win-LEARN scenarios
• Ask yourself: Why do we do it this way? Is there another right answer? Another way?
• We must train our technique: Vision without technique is blind.
• We must put ourselves in the place of most potential.
• Be patient, persevere, be ready to take advantage of windows of opportunity.
• Balance emotion and intellect -- really CARE.
• Life is a banquet of endless possibilities: Don't stop at the first right answer.

I've typed it all and it looks CLICHE and trite. Honestly, the video was inspiring. I can see it being very motivational at an opening session for a school district, too pricey for a school PL session!

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What you teach matters! Absolute clarity in instruction is needed.

We begin with designing challenges, ever mindful of teaching UP! Then, we assess our students to inform our teaching and learning. From this information we scaffold our challenge and create extensions for our challenge. Once created, we MANAGE for predictability and flexibility.

WE SHOULD SPEND MORE TIME PLANNING WHAT WE ARE TEACHING THAN WORKING ON AN ACTIVITY.

• A focus on MEANING (why it matters)
• a focus on UNDERSTANDING ( why it makes sense)
• a focus on RELEVANCE (why students will care)
• Designed for DEEP (vs. surface) learning
• Requires APPLICATION for TRANSFER of information to other contexts!!! They don't remember it if they don't get it. If they don't remember, they can't transfer. "Didn't your teacher teach you this last year??"
• Clear KUD- with UNDERSTANDING in the foreground of student work
• Necessity for critical and/or creative thinking
• Real-world applications
• A product focus -- evidence of learning ---thought process
• Opportunity for dialogue, discussion, examination of perspectives, confronting confusion
• Task assignment is based on consistent and persistent formative assessment
• Requires student reflection

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This next section contradicts FWCS beliefs as taught by Learning Forward.

Learning Forward says that STANDARDS=CURRICULUM

It's essential to know what curriculum is and is not!

Curriculum is not textbooks. Curriculum is not standards! Curriculum is not a pacing guide. It includes, but it is not LIMITED to standards. In other words, a curriculum should not be seen as a fixed or immutable entity. The ingredients of curriculum include the things listed.

All ingredients working together create a curriculum. Analogy: ingredients in a meal, all can be combined in different ways and combinations to create DINNER.

Everyone should get DINNER and not LEFTOVERS. Planning, preparing and serving the meal  require creativity and thoughtfulness. The art of putting together materials to teach is being lost due to "fast food" type learning packages, textbooks and companies who earn money selling canned programs of study.

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Plan for the Ceiling not the FLOOR!

Avoid TWINKY differentiation: not grounded in KUD, random, multiple intelligence's activities with no connection to learning

Pedagogical Content Knowledge - Cultural/Linguistic Lens  to Achieve Engagement

• Know my students- Do I know enough to ENGAGE them in what they need to know?
• Know my content- Do I really know my content, skills and standards and what they are asking student to do? If there is a gap, do I know my content well enough to find and fill?
• Know my skill level - Do I have MULTIPLE WAYS to teach the content/skill to diverse learners in my class

When planning think what it would look like for a student to exceed your standards.

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The power of the Teacher

When I close my classroom door, I create the weather!

Mindset: What you believe a student can do.

Do you see the "COAL" or the "DIAMOND"?

Don't let the swagger get in the way of the engaging! Don't let the hoodie or the sagging create expectations. Don't devalue linguistic differences. Instead, teach students to code switch from home language to academic language. Connect primary language to academic language. Academic language gives access to standards. Validate and affirm home language.

Don't randomly call on students; be strategic

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Engagement: 2 cartoons in ppt 

To ensure understanding work from clear KUDs.

The standards are all DO's!

(Lots of talk here about KUD. We played a game with a baggie full of cards. We had to sort them into K - U - D piles.)

IF WE ARE NOT CLEAR ON THE KUDS, WHAT WILL WE ASSESS???

4 Questions of PLCs

1. What do we want them to know?
2. How do we know when they know it?
3. What do we do when they don't get it?
4. How do we extend when they do?
5.