BACKWARD DESIGN Information in the presentation is from Understanding by Design Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

What is Backward Design? To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction. -Stephen R. Covey The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

WHAT GUIDES US Teachers are constrained by standards Students’ needs EFFECTIVE CURRICULAR DESIGNS ARE BACKWARD The norm The reverse Given a task to be accomplished, how do we get there? Begin with assessments

STAGES IN THE BACKWARD DESIGN PROCESS IDENTIFY DESIRED RESULTS DETERMINE ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE PLAN LEARNING EXPERINCES AND INSTRUCTION

STAGE 1: IDENTIFY DESIRED RESULTS

WHAT IS WORTH UNDERSTANDING?  Big Idea  Active learning  Uncoverage  Engaged students BACKWARD DESIGN IS A PROCESS AND SET OF TOOLS TO MAKE THE SELECTION OF CURRICULUM PRIORITIES MORE LIKELY TO HAPPEN BY DESIGN THAN BY GOOD FORTUNE

STAGE 2: DETERMINE ACCEPTABLE EVIDENCE  Collect assessment evidence  Plan assessment first  Consider a range of assessments  Continuum of assessments

STAGE 3 PLAN LEARNING EXPERIENCES AND INSTRUCTION  Planning instructional activities  Knowledge and skills  Actvities  Teaching  Materials and resources  Overall design

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS  Can’t be answered in a sentence  Multilayered  Repeated  Go to the heart of a discipline  Recur naturally throughout one’s learning and in the history of a field  Raise other important questions

UNIT QUESTIONS  Specific  No “right” or “wrong” answer  Holds students’ interest

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONUNIT QUESTION Must a story have a moral, heroes, and villains? What is the moral of the story of the Holocaust? Is Huck Finn a hero? How does an organism’s structure enable it to survive in its environment? How do the structures of amphibians and reptiles support their survival? Who is a friend?Are Frog and Toad true friends? Has it been true in recent U.S. history and foreign affairs that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”? What is light?How do cats see in the dark? Is light a particle or a wave?

WHAT IS UNDERSTANDING  Can explain  Can interpret  Can apply  Have perspective  Can empathize  Have self-knowledge

BLOOM’S TAXANOMY

SAMPLE TEMPLATES  NJCCCS (New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards) njccs.orgnjccs.org  Standards Resources  Curriculum Templates  Weekly lesson planner Weekly lesson planner