Chapter 6; Crafting Understanding

In chapter 6, Wiggins highlights some of the ways in which we can distinguish understandings, for example: interference and learning. To achieve this, students are meant to being able of doing proposals, of questioning and criticize everything, but also verify their results.

We understand again the difference between knowledge and understanding, and what is the benefit of both in their different aspects. It is in our hands to help our students to achieve understanding.

The way we can do this, is through planning. When we plan, we should not let our objectives to disappear in meaningless activities. Instead we should plan our desired results by putting a frame to the understanding we are aiming at. It is better if we know where we are heading by understanding it, instead of letting things happen not aware of if it really happens or not.

Chapter 5: Essential Questions: Doorways to Understanding

Questions are the most important thing in life. Through questions, human have discovered the world and the universe, and also themselves.

When we teach, to encourage question making is essential. The skills that question making develops is critical thinking. As teachers of English, we should not teach how to read or how to write, or speak. We should teach to question everything, to question every little thing and our students would come up with answers that would fortify  their perspective of the world.

An inquiry-based learning is beneficial to both students and teachers, for students develop their thinking through their answers, and the teacher learns from his students.

In this chapter, Wiggins talks about the essential questions. It is in fact really easy to ask questions which answers are simple, but as teachers the trick in here relies on the kind of questions you make to your students. Do these questions make them think? Or do these questions just leave them in the same place where they started? The trick is to ask questions that can lead your students somewhere. Hence, their learning and understanding could become fruitful.

Chapter 4: The Six Facets of Understanding

In Chapter 4. Wiggins explains that there are six facets to follow when we teach, in order to make learning as fruitful as possible.

The author in this chapter suggests that there is a difference between understanding and knowledge, and that this distinction is paramount to education. Understanding has several meanings, and it cannot be classified as an achievement. Instead, it is more accurately to say that understanding is but the sum of achievements, and it is perceptible through transference. However, someone is able to show their understanding when they are able to teach, proof, explain, infer, and so on.

Therefore, the author states that we could divide the process of understanding into six facets that if we have them clear, then a richer understanding would be boosted.

The facets are:

1.Explanation: basically, this facet is concerned with the ability to understand through question what they at first did not know. Inquiry-based learning would be a perfect example for this.

2. Interpretation: The students can narrate stories, tell something about them or events, or can use analogies, express their understanding through pictures and so on. Basically, production.

3. Application: the learner is able to apply his understanding with no further problems in several contexts and through different ways.

4. Have Perspective: To be able to see the big picture of things, to show ones' own perspective and to understand others' critically.

5. Empathy: to empathize with others, or to be able to relate to others' experiences.

6. Self-knowledge: to show awareness of what is unknown for us, to have clear our limits and to reflect on them

Chapter 3: Gaining Clarity on Our Goals

        Goals are the most important part of the process of learning. Moreover, it is a process that is not solely done by the teachers, but also by the students. If we want our students to gain understanding in their learning process, then we must include their needs in order to develop it. That is one role of the teachers: to clarify and help students to understand how the course is working for their benefit, and how the goals expected help them in their learning. 

        Teachers tend to make the twin sins Wiggins talks about, every day in every school. On the one hand, the sin of aimless coverage content, to drill in subjects that are meaningless and do not go anywhere. The learning becomes a mechanical process of merely memorization, and there is no purpose in the topics discussed or the content.

        On the other hand, the isolated activities some teachers are used to do. Watching videos with no further objectives, reading texts with no thinking afterwards, or the creation of dialogues and their memorization with the solely goal of expose them to the class. There is no learning comming from any of these situations. There is only boredoom and time wasted.