Wiggins Chapter Nine

Planning for Learning

In this chapter, we move into stage three of the design process. We are not just thinking about we want but what the learners will need. As also mentioned in previous chapters, this stage is focused very much on feedback and on the "learnings," not the "teachings." The teachings are only part of the learning activities. I like the fact that they highlight feedback in this chapter, since in my opinion, it is vitally important. The authors claim, "Given the likelihood that learners will misunderstand key ideas and make performance errors...the design must make sure that teachers as well as learners get the feedback they need to rethink, revise, and refine" (192). Therefore, it is not just the students that need feedback, but the teachers as well.

Another main idea of this chapter is that the best plans are both engaging and effective. The authors describe a good activity to find out when work in the classroom is considered engaging and effective. The activity consists of two groups, and each group lists what activities they consider to be either engaging or effective. They then sort their results in a Venn diagram to see what activities overlap. I think this activity could really be useful, and it is totally doable.

Finally, the rest of the chapter describes each letter of the acronym "WHERETO." This acronym does not tell us how to construct the design, as we already learned in previous chapters. Rather, it tells us how to check the elements of our designs and basically make sure they are headed in the right direction. I am sure this is beneficial, but thinking realistically, it seems very time-consuming to go through each letter after creating each and every lesson. I suppose one will have to test it out to see the true results and whether or not it is worth it in the end.