UbD Chapter 4 The Six Facets of Understanding

This chapter explores the six facets of understanding. When we truly understand we can expain, interpret, apply, have perspective, empathize, and have self-knowledge. Let us begin with the first facet which is explanation. This is basically asking the question why is this? This requires students to explain what they know and give good reasons to explain it. As a teacher, I know that the correct answer is valid if the students can explain why and show his or her work and justify it. If a student simply gives me the right answer but fails to understand how he or she got it then I have to go back and reteach. I want to be able to constantly ask my students to prove their answers and not just accept their right aswer and stop there. I will make it a point to make this mandatory in their classwork and homework. I want to set up the expectation that they will be expected to explain the process. Second, interpretation is another facet of understanding. Here this involves asking questions like what does it mean? Why does it matter? In other words, interpretation equals meaning. Next, facet number three is application. This translates to, "the ability to use knowlede effectively in new situations and diverse real contexts." (p92) In simple terms this facets asks the question how and where can I use this knowledge. As an example, the authors offer the following: a couple uses their knowledge of economics to develop a plan for saving and investing (p. 92). Application means a person can use knowledge and apply it to different situations. Perspective is another facet of understanding. This facet asks from whose point of view. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the idea? How does it look from another point of view? The book offers an example of a student who is able to explain two different views of the same situation. As a specific example, a student must be able to understand two different perspectives of the American Civil War ( the union view and the confederate view), The Conquest of Mexico ( the Aztec perspective and the Spanish one), and more recently the views for and against legalizing undocumented immigrants in the United States. These are just a few examples of where a student would gain this idea of perspective. Facet number five is empathy which is defined as the ability to get inside the feelings and worldview of another person (p. 98). These would be questions like how does it seem to you? What do they see that I don't? What was the writer, artist, performer thinking, seeing, feeling, etc.? (p. 98) How often do we hear or use the phrase, "don't judge unless you have walked in my shoes?" This points to empathy. Empathy is one of the core values at Rocketship, and I like this facet of understanding because I see that it is instrumental in understanding such abstract concepts as racism, sexism, poverty, abuse, etc. The last facet of understanding is self-knowledge. This facet involves the question how does who I am shape my views? What are the limits of my understanding? The authors offered solid examples of this facet which would be a student who purposely uses graphic organizers to study because he or she is aware of his or her learning style.

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this chapter because it broke down what understanding looks like. It gave me specifics to look for in my students which again are explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge. The more I read in this book, the more interested I become in learning more and more about Understanding by Design.