Upgrade Your Teaching: Understanding by Design Meets Neuroscience

The Problem This Book Solves

Teachers face a persistent challenge: how to design curriculum and instruction that actually sticks. Despite hours of planning, many students forget key content within weeks. The disconnect between how teachers teach and how brains learn has never been more costly. Upgrade Your Teaching bridges that gap by translating cutting-edge neuroscience into practical, classroom-ready strategies.

What Is Upgrade Your Teaching? A Complete Overview

Upgrade Your Teaching: Understanding by Design Meets Neuroscience is a 2019 ASCD publication co-authored by Jay McTighe, a renowned expert on curriculum design, and Judy Willis, M.D., a neurologist and former classroom teacher. The book merges the proven Understanding by Design (UbD) framework with evidence-based insights from brain science. It answers the question: How can educators use knowledge of how the brain learns to improve curriculum, instruction, and assessment?

This is not a theoretical text. It offers concrete, actionable strategies for K–12 teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators across all grade levels and subjects. The book covers memory formation, attention, motivation, and the impact of stress on learning — all within the practical structure of the UbD backward-design process.

Who Should Read Upgrade Your Teaching?

This book is essential for any educator who wants to move beyond guesswork and into evidence-based teaching. Specifically, it serves:

• K–12 classroom teachers seeking practical strategies to boost student retention and engagement
• Instructional coaches and curriculum specialists who design professional development and school-wide frameworks
• School and district administrators looking for a research-aligned approach to improve learning outcomes
• Pre-service teachers and education students who want a competitive edge grounded in neuroscience
• Homeschool educators who want to optimize their lesson design for how children naturally learn

7 Key Things You Will Learn

Upgrade Your Teaching delivers a structured, brain-based upgrade to your teaching practice. Here is what you will master:

• How memory works — Understand the difference between working, long-term, and episodic memory, and how to design lessons that encode information for lasting recall.
• How to reduce cognitive load — Learn specific strategies to avoid overwhelming students’ brains, making learning more efficient and less stressful.
• How to use the UbD framework with neuroscience — See exactly how backward design aligns with brain-friendly principles, from stage 1 (desired results) to stage 3 (learning plan).
• How to boost student engagement — Discover how dopamine, curiosity, and novelty activate the brain’s reward system, turning passive listeners into active learners.
• How to manage stress and emotion — Learn how chronic stress impairs learning and how to create a classroom environment that reduces threat and increases safety.
• How to design assessments that actually measure understanding — Apply brain-based insights to create formative and summative assessments that reveal true learning, not just memorization.
• How to differentiate instruction using neuroscience — Understand individual differences in brain processing and tailor your teaching to reach every student.

Why Upgrade Your Teaching Outperforms Every Alternative

Most professional development books offer either theory without practice or tips without research. Upgrade Your Teaching is different. It is the only book that systematically merges the Understanding by Design framework — already used in thousands of schools worldwide — with the latest findings from neuroscience. While other books focus on isolated strategies, this one provides a coherent, brain-aligned system for designing entire units and courses.

Competing titles like Make It Stick or The Power of Habit offer valuable insights but lack the practical, curriculum-level application that teachers need. Upgrade Your Teaching gives you both the science and the step-by-step planning process. It is also written by two authorities who speak directly to educators: McTighe’s UbD expertise and Willis’s medical and classroom experience create a rare combination of credibility and usability.

Author Authority & Publisher Credibility

Jay McTighe is an award-winning educator and co-author of the Understanding by Design series, used by over 200,000 educators worldwide. He has worked with schools and districts across 47 states and 14 countries, making him one of the most trusted voices in curriculum design.

Judy Willis, M.D., is a board-certified neurologist who left her medical practice to become a classroom teacher. She brings a rare dual perspective: deep knowledge of brain function combined with real-world teaching experience. She has written multiple books on neuroscience and education and is a sought-after speaker.

The book is published by ASCD, the leading professional development organization for educators, ensuring rigorous editorial standards and alignment with current educational research. This combination of author expertise and publisher authority gives Upgrade Your Teaching unmatched credibility in the field.

Is Upgrade Your Teaching Worth It? Our Verdict

Yes. This is not a book you read once and forget. It is a practical guide you will return to again and again as you plan lessons, units, and assessments. The strategies are backed by neuroscience, tested in classrooms, and presented in a clear, actionable format. For any educator committed to improving student learning through evidence-based practice, Upgrade Your Teaching is a high-ROI investment. It replaces guesswork with a proven system that works for every grade level and subject.

Get Upgrade Your Teaching — Transform Your Classroom Today

You do not need to be a neuroscientist to teach like one. Upgrade Your Teaching gives you the tools to design lessons that align with how the brain actually learns. Whether you are a veteran teacher or just starting your career, this book will change how you think about curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Order your digital copy now from ASCD, the trusted name in educator professional development, and start upgrading your teaching today.