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Planning with the end in mind

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Constructivism requires connection to prior knowledge, then builds on it with student-centered and differentiate scaffolding, informed by curriculum standards.

Backward design planning focuses on learning outcomes, standards, and the assessment of those standards. Planning steps are:
Step 1 - Identify learners (classroom needs, individual needs)
Step 2 - Identify curricular priorities (Big ideas, essential questions, required prior knowledge)
Step 3 - Design assessment framework (Performance tasks or projects, oral or written prompt, quiz or test, informal assessment)
Step 4 - Create learning activities (design and sequence learning activities, check for integration of accommodations)

-Daniel

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Backwards design is all about the big picture. It is about identifying the the main concept of the unit and narrowing it down to every day tasks. Once you have identified the big objective, it will be easier to understand our learners. It will also then be very clear what the learning goals are. After you have identified the big picture, it will be easier to identify assessment and evaluation methods. Finally, the last step will be creating daily activities and lesson plans to help support the bigger picture.

Lucy Wang

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Dear Alexandria,

Constructivist theory = backwards planning = prior knowledge.
Plan your assessment first, so you're able to see the big picture.  Once you know where you're going, the journey will be easier.  Your students will know what is expected from the beginning.
Scaffold. Scaffold. Accommodate.
Lesson plans should be designed with the final product in mind.

Four Steps of Backwards Design:
Identify Learners.
Identify Curricular Priorities.
Design Assessment Framework.
Create Learning Activities.

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Dear Edward,

I want you to remember that you just read some important documents and there are a few things that stood out that you should not forget. Remember that a text book is not the sole basis of daily teaching but instead it is one of many teaching tools. You must also understand that the difference between student knowledge and student understanding is crucial in implementing a backwards design approach. It might be challenging but you must remember that it is key to design curriculum and instruction that facilitate understanding, retention, and generalization with NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND act.

No matter how tired or worn out you get throughout the day or year, you must always keep in mind that children need opportunities to connect their prior knowledge and experiences with new information through their own thought processes and through interactions with others and the environment.

Ok now go and make a difference.

Cheers. lit;z�t�y

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Backward Design is a shift away from textbook driven curriculum to a constructivist approach which makes learning more relevant and       in-depth.

The constructivist approach states that students need opportunities to connect their prior knowledge and experiences to new information through processes and interactions with others and the environment.

Scaffolding is the gradual building of knowledge and skills to move beyond the rote knowledge to in-depth understanding and connection to real life.

Backward Design planning focuses on learning outcomes, curriculum standards and assessments to achieve those standards.

The Backward Design can be implemented in inclusive classrooms with students with disabilities, across curriculum content and grade levels.

The design includes four steps:
1. Identify Learners
2. Identify Curricular Priorities
3. Design Assessment Framework
4. Create Learning Activities
Childre, Sands, Pope - Backward Design,
Eunice Bosanszky

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Constructivism is the idea of how students construct
knowledge and focuses on connecting their prior knowledge to new experiences
and create new knowledge in the process.

There is a difference between student knowledge and student
understanding.  It’s one thing to know
what the degree tilt of the earth is but it’s another to know how that tilt
affects our life and the weather.

You can’t plan to teach unless you know what you want your
students to learn so it’s important to focus on the lesson outcomes.

Identify learners, classroom and student needs and weave accommodations
through the fabric of instruction.

  -Tyrone Russell

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Constructivism is the idea of how students construct
knowledge and focuses on connecting their prior knowledge to new experiences
and create new knowledge in the process.

There is a difference between student knowledge and student
understanding.  It’s one thing to know
what the degree tilt of the earth is but it’s another to know how that tilt
affects our life and the weather.

You can’t plan to teach unless you know what you want your
students to learn so it’s important to focus on the lesson outcomes.

Identify learners, classroom and student needs and weave accommodations
through the fabric of instruction.

  -Tyrone Russell

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Authors Wiggins and McTighe (2006) argue that you cannot plan how you're going to teach until you know exactly what you want your students to learn.

Step 1: Identify the learners is essential when designing the curriculum. It is important for teachers to identify the students' prior knowledge, interests, experiences, behavioural and special learning needs.

Step 2: Identify the provincial learning standards for the unit. The design must meet the learning goals for the grade and subject. Some school systems may be very strict with their standard, some may not be.

Step 3: Develop different types of assessments for the design. Ongoing and frequent assessment is key to identify whether the students understand the material being taught (e.g. formal assessments, informal assessments).

Step 4: Create activities that teach students the learning goals of the subject. Teachers should consider students learning disabilities and accommodate to their needs when planning the activities. Teachers must plan assessment for each activity. Asking essential questions, break instructions and weaving assessment prepares students for culminating tasks.

Jonathan (Shu-Jung) Liu

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know contexts of student and class

choose a key illustration/activities that readily bridges to curricular expectations  E.g African civil war is a broad issue that could incorporate other expectations (e.g., natural resources, geographic locations, the independence movement, political development}

illustrations/activities should relate to current events or resources that are seasonally available.  (Teach bio in the spring to plant an outside garden and to watch plants bud)

develop assessments used to determine mastery of  the standards.

Evidence is never a single assessment product

should provoke interpretation, application, analysis, synthesis, and self-evaluation.

Josh

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Authors Wiggins and McTighe (2006): you cannot plan how you're going to teach until you know exactly what you want your students to learn: backward design planning focuses on learning outcomes, and standards and the assessments for accomplishing those standards. These assessments then guide the development of the learning activities (i.e., instruction and activities). With the learning outcomes clearly articulated as assessments, creating learning activities that scaffold understanding toward those outcomes is a more straightforward process.

Step 1: Identify Learners

Identify classroom needs

Identify individual student needs

Step 2: Identify Curricular Priorities

Determine state/local standards

Create essential questions

Identify prerequisite knowledge and skills

Step 3: Design Assessment Framework

Performance tasks or projects

Oral or written prompt

Quiz or test

Informal assessments

Step 4: Create Learning Activities

Design and sequence learning activities

Check for integration of accommodations

Designing curriculum that both accommodates learning needs and targets deeper levels of understanding is possible. Through the use of the backward design approach, learning can become relevant and meaningful for all students, supporting their mastery of general curricular standards. When standards,   assessment, and inquiry-oriented activities drive the curriculum, learning can be transformed.
Backward Design: Amy Childre, Jennifer R. Sands, Sanndra Tanner Pope

http://professionallyspeaking.oct.ca/june_2004/backward.asp

Hamida Samnani

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"Teaching is a means to an end. Having a clear goal helps us educators t focus our planning and guide purposeful action towards the intended result."
Anonymous.
1.Identify desired result
.Big Idea
.Skills
2.Means and purpose of assessment
3.Plan appropriate lessons which help us achieve the goals of the big idea.
Aliya.

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Backwards Design is about the difference between student understanding and student knowledge.
This approach starts backwards with the end result:
-First, identify the big idea or the most important skill as defined in the curriculum.  Understand student needs.  Identify what students will know at the end of the unit or the process.
-Next, determine how student knowledge will be measured, assessed and decide what it looks like or sounds like when students have the required knowledge and skills. Open ended, complex projects would be used to let students demonstrate their understanding and knowledge.
-Finally, plan lessons and activities that allow students to demonstrate that they have gained the required knowledge and skills.
-Alva

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Step 1: Identify the learners in your classroom, beginning with the class as a whole and then looking at individual students.
Step 2: Identify curriculum requirements by choosing appropriate standards; reflecting on the best time in the school year to teach them; creating essential questions for the students to ponder; and determining prerequisites to meet students where they are.
Step 3: Plan ongoing and varied assessments for students to scaffold learning and teachers to ensure learners are understanding content.
Step 4: Develop learning activities that reflect the needs of your learners, meet curriculum standards and will enable students to be successful on assessments.

Learning activities need to be meaningful and have real-life applications. Students need to be involved in the learning process by engaging in group work and reflective practices. Teachers must ensure that students that need accommodations to access the curriculum are receiving them. Often what is necessary for one is beneficial for all when it comes to accommodations for learning.

-Heather Sadoff (Worthington)

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Backwards Design creates a learning environment that is more meaningful, relevant and effective for learners. The result is that students come away with more understanding of the knowledge they learn. Its a shift from looking at teaching tools like textbooks first to plan lessons, to understanding your students needs and decluttering the curriculum to get at the big ideas.  Through backwards design, teachers and students see the interconnectivity of skills, knowledge and subjects and teachers become better at creating meaningful assessment. It encourages cross-curricular applications and constant scaffolding of lessons and prior knowledge of students.
Backwards design starts at the end;
Step 1: Understand student needs and their interest-What makes them unique?
Step 2: deconstruct the curriculum-What are the important over arching ideas and how can these expectations be clustered? What do I want students to know at the end of this?
Step 3: Plan for varied and meaningful assessment-Assessment for/as/of learning-Am i assessing the important expectations I am teaching?
Step 4: creatively plan learning activities based on the previous 3 steps.

-Angela Liu

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Through  the use of the backward design approach, learning can become relevant and meaningful for all students, supporting their mastery of general curricular standards. When standards, assessment and inquiry- oriented activities drive the curriculum, learning can be transformed. This approach is the opportunity for students to connect their prior knowledge with new information through their own thought processes through interactions with others and the environment .Backward  Design is linked to Vygotsky's Scaffolding theory and structuring less and less help for the students to demonstrate their skills. Important to know learners [ as a class and individually ] to create essential questions that with hook the students based on curricular priorities, to identify prerequistic knowledge and skills needed, to weave assessment through the unit/course, to be transparent in the assessment process and expectation and to break the instructions and the activities into manageable parts. There are four steps;
Step 1: Identify learners .
Step 2 : Identify Curricular Priorities.
Step 3 : Design Assessment frame work.
Step 4 : Create Learning Activities.

Sarabjit Gadri.

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Amelia Chang
"What do we want students to know and do?" "How will we know they are doing it?"

Step one: Identify the learners' needs, learning styles and social context.
Step two: Cluster curriculum expectations into big ideas and essential questions that touch the reality of students' lives. Ask yourself what do you want the student to gain from it in the end and what prerequisite knowledge and skills they will need to achieve these goals.
Step three: Design the assessment plan.
A OF L should challenge students to orchestrate their newly gained knowledge and skills in an individualized way.
Design appropriate A FOR L and A AS L to prepare students to meet the challenge of A OF L.
Step four: Create and organize learning activities. Consider UD benefits for all when modifying for students with disabilities.

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Justine Owen
We are moving away from textbooks and getting down to the knowledge we truly want our students to acquire.

step1. Identify Learners: We must know what our students prior knowledge is before we start the lesson and we must recognize the the needs of individual students in the classroom.

Step 2. Identify Curricular Priorities. We must establish what the big idea is for the unit and clearly display what the learning goal is for the lesson. The learning goal is closely related to the curriculum and comes as a question. This question gets the students turned on to inquiry based learning and not just facts.

Step 3. Design assessment framework. Assessment for, as and of learning

Step 4. Create learning activities. Introduce key vocabulary in an engaging way. Create assignments and tests or projects spread out throughout the entire unit.

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Christina Mancuso
Backwards design means that the big ideas and ultimate goals are determined before anything else. When working through a unit, first determine what the goals of that unit are - what do students need to walk away understanding fully? What are the goals? Next, focus on what you feel would be adequate demonstration that these goals have been accomplished and that a deep level of understanding exists. In other words, focus on assessments. Finally, once the big ideas/goals have been set and assessments determined, use this information to construct lessons plans and daily activities that will eventually lead to that ultimate big idea/goal.

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Backward Design - Most important information

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Backward Design - Most important information

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Amanda Rose
Focus your planning on essential questions and the end skill of the students instead of just the curriculum. If you align teaching and learning assessments with knowledge and skill it will reduce the amount of assessments needed for the students. Students need to construct meaning, not just be given meaning. Making content relevant to the students personally will help construct meaning. Backward design is linked to Vygotsky's scaffolding theory and structuring less an less assistance for students to demonstrate their skill. Backward design takes dedicated time and in some cases retraining. Model for students how to question, discuss, infer, predict, etc. Assessment should be ongoing, frequent and varied.

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Backward Design - Lara Joannou

Focuses on learning outcomes i.e. curriculum and instruction that facilitates understanding, retention and generalization.

3 Stages:
1. Identify enduring understandings (big ideas and important skills and knowledge as defined in expectations and achievement charts)
2. Determine evidence of understanding and how best to measure this (should be anchored in authentic, open-ended, complex performance tasks or projects)
3. Plan teaching/learning activities that allow students to demonstrate that they have gained the required knowledge/skills (i.e. specific expectations)

Backward design is compatible with scaffolding - allows students to move beyond rote knowledge and develop depth of understanding.

Learning must be relevant for students and related to real-life.

Important to know learners (as a class and individually), to create essential questions that will hook students based on curricular priorities, to identify prerequisite knowledge and skills needed, to weave assessment throughout the unit/course, to be transparent in the assessment process and expectations, and to break instruction and activities into manageable parts (i.e. mini-lesson, activity, reflection/discussion) to ensure student engagement.

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Children need opportunities- ties to connect their prior knowledge and experiences with new information through their own thought processes and through interactions with others and the environment

instruction must not only be carefully scaffolded; it must also address students' unique learning needs

Step 1:Identify Learners – prior knowledge, experiences, & interests, as well as learning and behavioural needs  - Identify classroom needs & individual needs as well.

Step 2: Identify Curricular Priorities - Detenmiie Stale and Local Siati- dards  Create essential questions in a way that hooks and engages learners.

Step 3: Design Assessment Frame>vork  - "What evidence will demonstrate student understanding of the unit standards?" Evidence is never a single assessment product – ongoing & frequent assessment

Step 4: Create Learning Activities – design and sequence learning activities

***Give students the opportunities to make the content meaningful by connecting it to real life***

- Jennifer Campione

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It targets the understanding of big ideas for all learners and encourage teachers to align teaching and learning activities and assessments to the knowledge and skills they want students to acquire.

Step1Identify learner

Step 2Identify curricular priorities- Essential questions- Provocative Questions will foster inquiry, understanding and transfer of learning.

Step 3Assessment Framework- Assessment is crucial- students can explain, interpret and apply their learnings.

Step 4learning activities-should be engaging, organized, equip students to inquire and explore key ideas and tailored to different needs and interests.

Maneet

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Understand your students and keep that in mind. What works with one group of students might fail with another group. Always keep your audience in mind.

Identify your priorities in the curriculum. Don't get bogged down in following the curriculum to the letter, because you won't get through it. Prioritize and utilize cross curricular lessons.

Plan your assessments with your students and environment in mind.

Create lessons that address the most important things you want the students to learn.

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- Opportunity for students to connect their prior knowledge with new information through their own thought processes and through interactions with others and the environment

- Teach based on what you want the students to learn (focuses on learning outcomes, standards and the assessments for accomplishing standards)

- Steps to applying this approach in the classroom involving students with disabilities :

1. Identify Learners (Classroom Needs/Individual Student Needs)

a. Understand the needs of the students and know their                                   prior knowledge, experiences and interests

2. Identify Curricular Priorities

a. Choose standards to drive the unit and allow students                               to have a deeper and broader understanding of the concept

3. Design Assessment Framework

a. What evidence will demonstrate student understanding of
the unit?

b. Attempt to build student ability to use knowledge and skills
in a sophisticated manner

4. Create Learning Activities

a. Sequence of lessons that guides students towards
accomplishing desired understanding

b. Opportunity to make content meaningful by connecting it to
real life

Anu Kanagasabai

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1. Student knowledge & Student understanding are not the same thing. How do I measure student's understanding ?
2. Assessment ? What design will ensure that I measure students understandin

-Marie-France J

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Backward Design Steps for Involving Sp. Ed. Students

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Backward Design Steps for Involving Sp. Ed. Students

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1. know your learner: Identify classroom needs/ student strengths
2. Identify Curricular Priorities:  Determine the standards and develop open ended oral/written prompts
3. Design Assessment Framework: Performance vs Project
4. Create Learning Activities:

"For students with disabilities, accommodations are integral component to scaffolding understanding."

Ophelia A.

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Vaseema

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1. Understand the difference between understanding and knowledge with students (memorization vs comprehension)
2. Know your students, know their environment, and know their needs.  Plans need to fit both the school and the students (for example, you would not do a technology-heavy unit in a low-income school, or a unit on Chekhov at the Primary level)
3. Determine Priorities--what your unit will be will depend greatly on the needs of the state/province/school.  The standards will provide guidelines for the unit and for what needs to be achieved.  In doing this you also need to determine what questions to ask and just what you are looking to achieve with the unit (specifically.)
4. Plan your assessment (keep your environment and students in mind)
5. Course work is best linked by open, complex tasks that compose the unit.  Unit design, however, needs to make sure that course work is compatible with all students and can be completed by them.  Accessibility is paramount.
-Engage students with questions and vocabulary
-Break down material into manageable components
-Assessment present throughout unit
--Stephen Johnson

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1. Identify:  Classroom needs and individual student needs!
2. Remember to connect prior knowledge with new information through own thought process and interactions with others and environment.
3. Plan teaching and learning activities that allow students to demonstrate that they have gained the required knowledge and skills.
4. Units and courses should be anchored by authentic, open-ended and complex performance tasks or projects that allow students to use their knowledge in context.

--Monica Parisi

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1) Identify enduring understandings,

2) determine evidence of understanding (authentic, open-ended and complex performance tasks or projects)

3) plan teaching and learning activities that align with  1 & 2

**Key concepts: enduring understandings and essential questions

Darlene

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3 Steps to Backwards Design for teaching:

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3 Steps to Backwards Design for teaching:

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1. Identify the most important thing you want students to learn based on the curriculum

2. Identify how students can show sufficient evidence for having learned this material

3. Create lessons that are centered around the most important things for students to learn, and assessments that will show sufficient evidence of learning these things.

Donald

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Teacher understanding of the difference between student knowledge and student understanding is critical to implementing a backward design approach.

When inquiry-based activities drive the curriculum, learning can be transformed.

Through the use of the backward design approach, learning can be relevant and meaningful for all students. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Know your students

Step 2: What do I want them to learn?

Step 3: Prepare all assessments

Step 4: Create learning activities

Mahsa