1. Backwards Design for Rigor
Dr. Gyimah Whitaker
Area Executive Director,
South Learning Community

2. Purpose
Review the curriculum-planning framework for Understanding by Design (UbD) 1
Evaluate stage 1- Desired Results 2
Analyze stage 2 - Evidence 3
Practice collecting rigorous evidence for standards 4

3. Understanding by Design…
Way of thinking purposefully about curriculum planning
Develops and deepens student understanding via “big ideas”
Unpacks and transforms content standards and mission-related goals to relevant Stage 1 and Stage 2 elements
Demonstrates that understanding is revealed with students autonomously make sense of and transfer their learning through authentic performance task
Reiterates that effective curriculum is planned “backward” from long-term results through 3 Stages
Reflects a continuous-improvement approach to achievement

4. UbD: Stages of Backward Design
1. Identify desired results.
2. Determine acceptable evidence.
3. Plan learning experiences and instruction.

5. Good Design = “Backward” Design
Teaching is a means to an end, and planning precedes teaching.
The most successful teaching begins with clarity about desired learning outcomes and about the evidence that will show that learning has occurred.
Stage 1
Stage 2
Stage 3
If the desired end result is for learners to …
then you need evidence of the learners’ ability to…
then the learning events need to…
Drive in heavy traffic with aggressive and inattentive drivers without accident or anger.
Handle real as well as simulated driving conditions in which defensive driving is required by traffic and behavior.
Help novices become skilled in handling the automobile; help them learn and practice defensive driving in a variety of situations; help them learn to defuse anger using humor and different thought patterns, etc.

6. Social Studies Unit Before UBD

7. Stage 1 – Desired Results
What long-term transfer goals are targeted?
What meanings should students make in order to arrive at important understandings?
What essential questions will students explore?
What knowledge and skill will students acquire?
What established goals/standards are targeted?
1. Identify desired results.
2. Determine acceptable evidence.
3. Plan learning experiences and instruction.

8. Stage 2 - Evidence
What performances and products will reveal evidence of meaning-making and transfer?
By what criteria will performance be assessed, in light of Stage 1 desired results?
What additional evidence will be collected for all Stage 1 desired results?
Are the assessments aligned to all Stage 1 elements?
1. Identify desired results.
2. Determine acceptable evidence.
3. Plan learning experiences and instruction.

9. Stage 3 – Learning Plan
What activities, experiences, and lessons will lead to achievement of the desired results and success at the assessments?
How will the learning plan help students with acquisition, meaning-making, and transfer?
How will the unit be sequenced and differentiated to optimize achievement for all learners?
How will progress be monitored?
Are the learning events in Stage 3 aligned with Stage 1 goals and Stage 2 assessments?
1. Identify desired results.
2. Determine acceptable evidence.
3. Plan learning experiences and instruction.

10. Social Studies Unit After UBD

11. Social Studies Unit After UBD

12. Social Studies Unit After UBD

13. Where do I start for Rigorous Evidence?

14. Various Entry Points

15. Rigorous Evidence
Content Standards/ Established Goals
A Key Test or Assessment
What big ideas(s) and transfer goals are embedded in or implied in this standard/goal?
What will students need to understand about this topic to perform well on a key assessment?

16. Word Impact and Use– RL4
What big ideas(s) and transfer goals are embedded in or implied in this standard/goal?
Grades 9-10
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
Grade 6
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
Grade 3
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

17. Reading literature
Teacher Guidance

18. Reading literature
Teacher Guidance

19. Reading literature
Teacher Guidance

20. Word Impact and Use– RL4
What will students need to understand about this topic to perform well on a key assessment?
Grades 9-10
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).
Grade 6
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
Grade 3
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

21. Word Impact and Use – RL4
Analyze – to break into smaller components for the purpose of study or examination
Connotative – refers to the emotions (positive or negative) that are associated with words
Figurative – language that contains or uses figures of speech (e.g., simile, metaphor, personification, imagery, alliteration, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, idioms)
Impact- to have a strong effect on someone or something
Tone – the author’s, character’s, or narrator’s attitude toward a subject
Literary Devices

22. Word Impact and Use– RL4 What are context clues?
Questions for Analyzing Impact of Word Choice:
Questions for Defining a Specific Word/Phrase Using Context Clues:
After determining the meaning of the word do you think it is figurative or connotative?
Using those context clues can you figure out what the phrase means?
After determining the meaning of the phrase do you think it is figurative or connotative?
How does the word impact the meaning of the text?
How does the word/phrase impact the tone of the text?
What are context clues?
Using those context clues can you figure out what the word means?

23. Assessment Questions for a Passage of MacBeth
Are the questions rigorous? How do you know?
Read pg. 27 Are the questions rigorous? How do you

24. Core Idea
Standards are meaningless until you define how to assess them. Assessments, therefore are the roadmap to rigor.

25. Word Impact and Use

26. Text Structures and Features

27. Collecting Evidence from Various Assessment Types

28. Collecting Evidence from Various Assessment Types
Performance Tasks
Quizzes
Tests
Student Work Samples
Observations
Other _________
Related Assessments from Other States
Achieve the Core
Louisiana
PARCC
Louisiana 2
Engage NY
California
GOFAR
Massachusetts
North Carolina
Oregon
Kentucky
Washington
Connecticut
Virginia
Maine
Georgia
Baltimore
Idaho
New York – Office of Assessment

29. Core Idea
Write the assessment first, then ask the question: “What do I need to teach for my students to be able to master the questions on that assessment?”

30. Observing UbD in the Classroom
Pre-Observation Conference
What do you want the students to know and be able to do?
What do you want the students to come to understand?
Stage 1
How will students know what they will be learning?
What are some forms of evidence you will collect to determine if students have achieved the desired results?
Are students clear about the criteria for success?
Stage 2
In what ways will you help students learn this?
Stage 3
Observation
Observation focuses on student actions and products more than on teacher’s actions.
Post-Observation Conference
What evidence of learning did you collect? What does it tell you? Is there other evidence needed?
To what extent did your students learn what you intended?
Of the strategies you used, which were most effective?
In what ways did you provide feedback?

31. Monitoring UBD in the PLC

32. Your Turn Stage 1 & Stage 2

34. Resources