This paper focuses on the "Understanding Goals" element from the "Teaching for Understanding" framework. The study featured a one-year study program covering colonial America and integrating history, English, anthropology, geography, and the arts. The paper presents: (1) a definition of "Understanding Goals"; (2) a story of how one teacher came to use the principles of "Understanding Goals"; and (3) the value of "Understanding Goals." The instructor learned the "Teaching for Understanding" framework over two years while teaching seventh grade in an independent school in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Author/EH)