前言——追求理解的教学设计笔记1
（格兰特.维金斯 杰伊.麦克泰格 著 ）闫寒冰 宋雪莲 赖平等译
本书基于第一版，是在美国50个州及其他8个国家成千上万的K-16（小学初中高中大学一体化）教育者持续六年不断研究的基础上而来。不管是首次接触此书还是已经读过第一版（2001）的读者，都会从《追求理解的教学设计》一书中，发现自己在教学实践中坚持的做法和理念，同时，还会发现此书编者一直坚守和弘扬的核心——更深地挖掘并不断反思探究学习中的基本问题：“为学生更好地理解而教”。
相比较第一版，第二版中重要修改有以下几点：
1.修订后的单元设计模板提供了结构性的基础框架。
2.模板从感官和内容形式等方面更便于教师使用。
3.更清晰地解释了术语：“理解”。
4.细致论证了什么是“基本问题”。
5.创造了WHERETO模式。
6.删除或简化了“为理解而教”的部分章节内容。
7.提供了更多案例，覆盖K-16所有年级学科。
小记：
读翻译作品是最令人头疼的事。其一、《追求理解的教学设计》本身就是一本专业性很强的书，对于首次接触到的专业术语，会有这种感觉：所有的汉字都认识，就是不明白讲了什么。其二、翻译是否能够忠实原文，原原本本的体现出原文的主旨和思想。我曾经买过一套西方哲学的书，对比原文发现还是看英文版的比较明白。
对于《追求理解的教学设计》一书，为了能够领会书中要义，我用了一天的时间，终于从网上搜集到了英文原版。三页多的原文前言大概用了四个多小时对比译文终于才感觉领会到了一二。这本书，估计一个月也啃不完。如果有感兴趣的朋友，我可以共享原文pdf版，共读。谢谢！
以下是原文相应部分的摘抄，与君共享。
Preface（P6-P9）
Understanding by Design(Expanded 2nd Edition) Grant Wiggins & Jay McTighe
To first-time readers of Understanding by Design (UbD), we welcome you to a set of ideas and practices that may confirm much of what you believe and do as an educator. Readers familiar with the first edition of Understanding by Design are forgiven for any puzzlement or angst they may feel upon looking over the Table of Contents of this second edition.
We have revised the UbD Template, the key terms of UbD, dozens of worksheets, and some of the big ideas—a number of times—based on feedback from users, our own observations, and the deep desire to continuously improve. And, more important, this is what the work of teaching for understanding is all about: digging deeper, continually asking the essential questions, rethinking. We keep trying to better understand design and understanding.
As for a concrete list and explanation of the key changes in this second edition, here are the highlights:
1.The UbD Template for unit design now provides a structural foundation for the revised book.
2.The UbD Template has been revised to be clearer and more user-friendly, we think, in its overall look and feel as well as its integration of form and content.
3.We have greatly sharpened the meaning of understanding in conceptual, as well as practical, terms—an irony that nicely illustrates just what working for understanding is all about; that is, constantly rethinking the big ideas.
4.We have laid out a much more careful argument about what essential questions are and are not.
5.We created the acronym WHERETO by adding TO to the original acronym WHERE in Stage 3 of the UbD Template.
6.We deleted or minimized sections on teaching for understanding (and the habits of mind required), having decided this topic was outside the scope of the book.
7.We have included more examples, across grade levels and subject, to reflect the happy fact that the book has become widely used by elementary school staff and college professors, two groups that were not initially included in the target audience.
Acknowledgments（P10-P11）
Many individuals, far too numerous to mention, have helped us develop and refine the ideas and materials of ... Nonetheless, a few deserve special acknowledgment.
1.We owe a debt of gratitude to A, B, C and D.( Their ..., based on ..., has resulted in ....) We especially appreciate the helpful advice provided by A and B as ... was brought to completion.
2.Special thanks go to E, whose work on ... was vital in ...; F, who ... and ...; and G, who ... and .... We offer heartfelt thanks to L who .... Their ... and ... helped us ....
3.There would be no ... had it not been for H. H was the first to ... and .... We are very grateful.
4.We are also thankful to J for .... The manuscript is the better for ....
5.Finally, we once again thank K for ... and ..., and .... We trust that ....