UbD as Curriculum Framework
I appreciate that this chapter, or book rather, includes many examples of essential questions and lesson plan templates demonstrating the backwards design. Although, I would have liked to have seen more examples of questions and planning related to language teaching. Of course we are able to get the big picture through seeing examples in other disciplines, but it would have been more interesting and meaningful to have seen it from a language teaching perspective.
A new point this chapter brings up is the process of framing the curriculum around assessments. I like this idea, but I think we can find both pros and cons with this method. A positive aspect is that it makes the teachers feel more responsible for the learning and have more accountability. It makes them see the big picture. A negative aspect is that if the test, or assessment, does not provide critical thinking and asks closed questions, for example, the teacher will only focus on that and nothing else.
As always, the big idea is not to build the curriculum around the content, but rather the learning. With that, we will (or should) have a great curriculum.
