Jay McTighe: The OASCD October 2007

Review And Suggestion

  The OASCD and OPC jointly sponsored presentation by Jay McTighe held on October 2nd, 2007 at the Mississauga Convention Centre was an interesting phenomenon as much as it was a “workshop”: the way this event structured itself—not only the material McTighe presented, but also the way the audience of this filled-to-capacity session chose to attend the event, as well as the way that McTighe structured the delivery of his material—reflected a team approach that is quickly becoming the norm in teaching today.
  Many participants were present as teams—something McTighe must have found heartening as this team approach shows a clear recognition of the core idea that in order to function well as individual professionals, educators need “agreed-upon priorities related to exit-level objectives,” an idea that informs the entirety of McTighe and Grant Wiggin's seminal work Understanding by Design.  Of course this thought also resonates with the whole P.L.C. movement, but whether the thinking came from the likes of P.L.C. proponents Rick and Becky Dufour, or from the work of Wiggins and McTighe, it was at least evident that a team approach was central to the way a good portion of this audience was operating.
  McTighe also set up the day in a way that helped those teams present make the ideas presented meaningful for them in their own context: material was explained in manegeable blocks interspersed with breaks during which teams could discuss the implications the ideas being discussed had for their organization.  As McTighe considered "Practices that Work" for instance, he provided teams with an opportunity to explore what worked in their setting and why those practices worked for them; similarly, after addressing the significance of mission statements as a core focusing mechanism and stabilizing component in larger school approaches, discussion time allowed groups to, if not consider their mission entirely (a big job—and clearly not the stuff of a short chat), at least begin this process by posing the question “To what extent do staff, students and parents know of [their] mission?” 
  McTighe started the day by addressing what, in Schooling By Design, he and Wiggins see as the relationship between the backward design process explained in U. by D.—a process largely focused, in U. by D., on the development of

individual curricula—and a larger school focus.  And while the structure of the day allowed teams to address their unique situation, McTighe was quick to point out that the key to this relationship has to do with the fact that there tend to be common elements that educators almost universally describe as being the core characteristics of successful teaching and schools—core characteristics that provide the link between what happens in good classrooms, and what should happen in all classrooms all the time, characteristics that should be apparent throughout whole schools.  Asking why, if we know what these characteristics are, “we don’t see these characteristics more frequently throughout schools?,”  Jay then assisted those teams present by providing a framework around which they could develop an approach that ensures that those characteristics educators want in their organization are the characteristics they end up with consistently.  The framework McTighe provided was very much grounded…in the idea of being grounded, in the idea of having a core mission that could then be used in conjunction with backward design to inform every aspect of how an organization functions—everything from establishing policies, to hiring, to developing curriculum and day to day lesson material. The afternoon portion of this session then fleshed out what the more local curricular level of this process includes, providing an overview of backward design and how it works.
  Jay has agreed to return to Toronto this coming April to conduct a second session. During this session he will expand on the process of implementing backward design in the context of those components of the larger school management process not addressed in this first session. It might be useful, in this respect, for teams considering this event to acquire and read Schooling by Design ahead of time, think about its implications for their organization, and then identify/discuss those aspects of their organization that the team would like to consider. This way the discussion breaks included in Jay’s session could be put to good use by teams, allowing them to address what is important for them and their school or organization.

For further information about this session please see Jay McTighe's presentation slides found on our materials found on the Schooling by Design Resources Page.