Chapter 1 UbD and DI: An Essential Partnership

This first chapter in “Integrating Differentiated Instruction and Understanding by Design” was filled with many answers to the many questions that I had after reading the first reading assignment of the class. To begin with it answered my questions about just what UbD and DI are. Learning that Understanding by Design is what is being taught to the students and how it is assessed, and that Differentiated Instruction is more about who is being taught, where the teaching is being done, as well as how it is being taught, is actually something that makes a lot of sense. The axioms in the chapter, I felt, did a very good job representing the many ways in which UbD and DI can be presented in the classroom. It really helped me to see just what UbD and DI is, and it taught me the various ways in which it is applied in the classroom. One of the biggest things I learned in this chapter was that teachers, just like any profession have two characteristics, the first being the knowledge that defines them, and the second being the ability to adapt to the people they serve. With teachers, that is the curriculum they teach, and the students they teach it to.