Response+Journal+1

My name is Selwaan Mahmoud. I am a fourth grade teacher at the American International School in Riyadh. I expect this course to give me the tools and practice I need to implement the ideas that stem from learning through understanding. A group of us took the ASCD course Understanding by Design last school year. Although we had many conversations and discussions about the concept of understanding by design we were not able to actually put a unit together. This is what I am looking forward to doing. After my first exposure to this concept I felt that this is the real reason I went into teaching,but I think sometimes we get so caught up in following curriculums, meeting needs of "special" students, participating in other school activities that we don't have the time to even think, let alone plan for the concepts of learning thorugh understanding.I expect this class to give me the tools and practice in designing units that develop understanding at its various levels. I hope that through practice I will be able to implement it throughout all subject areas in a comprehensive way.