Chapter 2 UbD

Chapter 2’s critical point is the pattern of teaching both high and low level students in the same classroom.  The teacher should not teach to the individual but group similar student needs together and tackle them as a collective.  I think the section on teaching to the high end interesting.  I feel like that strategy is a form of trickledown economics for education.  By explaining what is expected and setting the bar high, the teacher can work with students to build themselves up to that level while challenging the high performing students.  This section also talks about encouraging optional group work in the classroom.  I agree that students given the option of working with partners or alone can incorporate some of the diversity of learning styles.  However, I am worried that students would take advantage of the system and use their partner for free answers.  One section talks about six different areas that teachers should attend to in order to foster student success.  For me personally, learning profiles and student backgrounds would be harder for me to incorporate or need the most work.  Though the responsibility for teachers to understand and look out for trouble in student’s backgrounds has been explained, it borders closely on invasion of privacy for me.