Understanding By Design (UbD) is a Summer Curriculum Writing Institute that provides M.A.T. graduates completing their first and second years of teaching with a wealth of support and resources to take back to their classrooms. The novice teachers spend a week studying a curriculum framework called "Understanding By Design." Following this framework, the new teachers each wrote a unit for teaching in the following year.
Submissions from 2011
¿ Cómo se hace la paella?, Jennifer Aranda and Juanita Castillo
El arte de contar (The Art of Storytelling), Carol Arnold
The Individual and Group Dynamics in Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Kat Aylesworth
COMIDA- Let’s Eat!, Jonelle Bailey
Family Fun and Facts!, Jonelle Bailey
Vacation Plans, Jonelle Bailey
Setting the Scene: Adapting Romeo and Juliet to the 21st Century, Erika Barker and Veronica Pena-Montalvo
The (Dis)Advantages of City Living and the Passive Voice, Amy Barnett
Framing Poetry, Sherry Brown
Measurement: Surviving our Multi-Dimensional World, Courtney Bryand
Day of the Dead, Jeanine Capitani
Animal Interdependence, Christy Custer
La cultura de comida – The culture of food, Merida Elizondo
Grammar is a Source of Power: Bridging the Gap to Empower the Writer, Tina Harper and Monica Gonzalez
Life Is Like a Rollercoaster (Physics), Michelle Hockley
Cause and Effect: Using Expository Writing to Problem-Solve, Mollie Knapp
The Motif of Sight: Knowledge versus ignorance in Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex, Lauren Lee
Border Disorder – Cultures in Conflict Throughout the World, Bethany Lorge
De Vacaciones, Jaclyn Metcalf
Media Literacy and Rhetorical Analysis with Advertisements, Ellen Mitchell
Bamboo People—an interdisciplinary unit for high school, Mitzi Moore
Global Environmental Problems, the ISA way, Mitzi Moore and Kathleen Pedder
It’s a Small World After All: An Economic Experiment in Trade, Karen Morrison
Animal Habitats, Beth Morrow and Anne Peppers
Changes in the Earth and Sky: Shadows, Day, and Night, Beth Morrow and Anne Peppers
Energy: Electricity, Heat, and Light, Beth Morrow and Anne Peppers
Nutrition and Exercise, Beth Morrow and Anne Peppers
Our Families, Beth Morrow and Anne Peppers
Shapes, Beth Morrow and Anne Peppers
What Constitutes a Constitution?, Becky Orsini and Nick Thomason
Matter Matters, Natalie Pierce, Jamie Boelens, and Catherine Brackett
Extreme Makeover: Country Edition, Susanna Pierce
Finding the Right Fit, Norton Reihner
Genetics, Adaptations, Biomes, Theodore Risinger and Stephanie Greathouse
How Do You Get What You Want??, Garrett Scott and Anne Blake
Genetics: Heredity and Adaptations, Alexander Serna-Wallender
Debating the Truth, Lisa Shay
Number, Numbers Everywhere! But Whatever Do I Think? 1st Grade Numerical Fluency, Audrey Tan
Elemental Fiction, Amy Restivo Thomson
A Closer Look at Trees, Mattina Van Coppenolle
Ecology, Daisy Wang and Yipsel Ramos
Where’s My Home? The Case of the Lost Digit – Place Value, Jennifer Yu
Submissions from 2010
Romanticism: Past and Present, Amy Anderson
Días inolvidables (Cápitulo 1-1), Carol Arnold
Clothing Creativity and Cost, Jonelle Bailey
Getting to Know Me (MySpace/Glogster), Jonelle Bailey
Artists as Storytellers: Designing a personal comic book, Elizabeth Bendele
Who are you? Who, who! Who, who!, Kara Brown and Jean Yang
“What’s your Problem?” Research Project, Sherry Brown
Ancient Egypt, Jeanine Capitani
Citizenship, Christy Custer
Out of Chaos Came the Middle Ages, Laura Eberle and Hannah Rinn
Cultura y Idioma (Culture and Language), Merida Elizondo
Julius Caesar: The Power of Persuasion, Devon Erlich
You are Unique /Tú eres único, Jennifer Falcon and Jodi Ingersoll
Bond…Chemical Bond, Katie Fitch
In the Space Between Action and Reaction Individuals Have Choice: Romeo and Juliet and the Consequences of Choice, Monica Gonzalez and Tina Harper
Cultural Anxiety and Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Lauren Lee
Loss in Joyce’s Dubliners, Lauren Lee
“Who’s Coming to Dinner?” – Understanding the Middle East Culture, Bethany Lorge and Linda O'Connor
Independent First Grade Writers, WHAT? It can happen. Beginning Writing Workshop, Megan Nitcholas and Audrey Tan
Slavery – A Problem of the Past?, Becky Orsini and Nick Thomason
What’s the Story?, Alice Rasmussen
In Defense of the Indefensible, Patricia Rogers and Sarah Berce
Why is Africa Underdeveloped?, Robert Stafford
Getting to Know Me, Carrie Susong
Ecology – Energy Flow, Environments, and Habitats, Alex Wallender
Exploring Personal Responses to Reading: A WWII Book Study, Jennifer Wray
Submissions from 2009
Para mantener la salud, Maria S. Allen
Photographic Eye: Capturing the Moment through Personal Narrative, Amy Anderson
Heroísmo y los medios de comunicación (Capítulo 5A &5B), Carol Arnold
Our Learning Community, Carol Arnold
Art & Technology, Elizabeth A. Bendele
Proportional Relationships, Sabrina Bennett and Courtney Bryand
Rhetoric in the Real World, Sarah Berce
Patricia Polacco Author Study, Catherine Brackett
What section do I go to in Barnes and Noble?, Carol Cagnoni
Why Government?...Why Our Government?, Samuel DeJohn
Gases, Liquids, and Solids, Dustin Demoin
If You Aren't Part of the Solution, You're Part of the Precipitate!, Dustin Demoin
What's the Matter...Do Things Keep Changing?, Dustin Demoin
U.S. Imperialism and Expansion at the Turn of the 19th Century, Carly Dodd
Reflexive Writing and Literature, Kara Dougherty
Vamos de Compras, Merida Elizondo
Africa, Kate Empson
A Lesson Before Dying, Devon Erlich
The Nature of Narratives, Devon Erlich
Exploring Media, Kathleen Fenske
Making Writing Personal, Kathleen Fenske
Viva la Mexico, Beth Fitts
Supply and Demand, Matthew Shane Fitts
Success and Adversity Through Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Sarah Gamboa
MEdia Forms in USe, Salena Gonzales
Ideas Trait: The Foundations of Writing, Carolys Gordillo
Simple & Compound Machines, Roxanne Hammonds
Foundations of Forensics: The Role of Debate Throughout History, Lori Ingersoll
Bits and Pieces -- Working with Fractions, Kathleen Kilday
Reading Music-ABC’s, 123’s, Do Re Mi’s, Jessica Koppe
Think Inside the Box: Using Tables to Understand Number Patterns, Kristen Lesher and Carrie Susong
The Play Is a Mirror: Looking at Human Nature in Romeo and Juliet, Melissa Manny