ELA 8: (in response to “What are the building blocks of learning?”) students will begin to appreciate the process of how knowledge and skill are the means by which meaning-making and transfer is created—hence, the “building blocks” of these language-related goals. Junior high students will be shown an overview of how Understanding by Design works at each level—understandings, essential questions, evidence, and planning—in order for them to implement their own backward design plans by the third trimester. This will be accomplished in part by breaking down my own UbD lesson for them. A letter will be sent to parents of seventh and eighth grade through weekly likewise communicating the basic properties of UbD, upon which their children will be assessed for activities such as the above.