1. Backward Design
A Snapshot

2. What Is It?
Backward Design is a process of lesson planning created by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe and introduced in Understanding by Design (1998).
This lesson design process concentrates on developing the lesson in a different order than in traditional lesson planning.

3. What is Traditional Lesson Planning?1. 2. 3.

4. Begin with the END in mind!
Why?

5. “A ship with no port of destination, knows no favorable wind.”
Anonymous

6. A Concept’s Whose Time Has Come
Ralph Tyler in1949 wrote:
“ Educational objectives become the criteria by which materials are selected, content outlined, instructional procedures are developed, and tests and examinations are prepared…”

7. “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” Stephen R. Covey
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.

8. Traditional Common Planning Mistakes
Cute activities that don’t really go anywhere or are too loosely connected to the objective.
Fun activities, just because they are fun.
Marching through the textbooks.
Both are symptomatic of a lack of intellectual focus on targeted goals

9. Traditionally teacher’s have used:
Table of Contents
Activities
Assessments
In traditional lesson planning, goals are supposed to be developed before activities, but often, activities come first and we work instructional objectives around them. For example: “We have an apple theme. How can we use apples in math?”

10. Backward Design begins with:
Goals & Objectives
Assessments
Activities

11. Backward Design: Shift Your Focus from:
“Teaching” for mere content mastery
Teaching discrete skills, out of context, on neat-and-clean exercises, with simple answers
Linear coverage of all content, as if everything is equal and learnable by one exposure

12. Backward Design asks you: To Focus on Students’ Learning:
“Learning” how to USE content effectively.
Draw upon many skills, in realistic contexts via complex tasks and problems.
Recursive curriculum with clear priorities goals.
…and many chances to understand
Textbook as a resource, in support of explicit learning.

13. Shift Your Perspective!
It’s NOT what I teach but how do I get it learned
It’s NOT the input but the yield
It’s NOT the syllabus but the results

14. Backward Design
Is A Three Step Process…

15. Identify desired results.
Determine acceptable evidence.
Plan learning experiences and instruction.
Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

16. Stage 1:Identify Desired Results
What is important for students to be able to do, know, or perform?
What enduring understandings are needed?
What state, national, and district standards need to be met?
What are the essential questions?

17. Enduring Understanding
Worth being familiar with.
“Nice to know”
Important to know and do.
Foundational skill
“Enduring Understanding”
Assessments:
Worth being familiar with and Important to know and do:
Traditional quizzes and tests
Paper/pencil
Selected response
Constructed response
Important to know and do and Enduring understanding
Performance tasks and projects
Open ended
Complex
authentic
Core task
Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

18. History Assessments: Significance of the Magna Carta Limits on Power
Rule of Law
Assessments:
Worth being familiar with and Important to know and do:
Traditional quizzes and tests
Paper/pencil
Selected response
Constructed response
Important to know and do and Enduring understanding
Performance tasks and projects
Open ended
Complex
authentic

19. The Constitution Assessments: Limits on Power Three Branches of
Government
Checks
and
Balances
Assessments:
Worth being familiar with and Important to know and do:
Traditional quizzes and tests
Paper/pencil
Selected response
Constructed response
Important to know and do and Enduring understanding
Performance tasks and projects
Open ended
Complex
authentic

20. European History Assessments: Congress of Vienna Competing Groups form
Alliances
Balance Of
Power
Assessments:
Worth being familiar with and Important to know and do:
Traditional quizzes and tests
Paper/pencil
Selected response
Constructed response
Important to know and do and Enduring understanding
Performance tasks and projects
Open ended
Complex
authentic

21. The Big Question?
How do I determine what is an…..
“Enduring Understanding?”
What are the four filters?

22. Filter 1 Does the “enduring value” have value beyond the classroom?
Jerome Bruner, The Process of Education (1960) wrote…..
“is this worth knowing as an adult?”
The Big Idea is also known as the
Linchpin idea.

23. Filter 2
To what extent does the idea, topic, or process allow the student to use the information, or ‘doing' the subject?
For example…
Interpreting historical events,
Researching and critiquing books,
Debating social and economic policies

24. Filter 3 Will the idea, topic or process require Uncoverage?
Are there ideas or concepts that are not obvious or counterintuitive?
Will these ideas or concepts need significant teachers’ guidance?

25. Filter 4 Will the idea, topic, or process:
…offer the potential for engaging students?
For example…what does it mean to be independent?

26. Historical Enduring Understandings…
History involves interpretation; historians can and do disagree.
The study of history involves understanding the various schools of thought.
Historical interpretations are influenced by one’s perspective (e.g. freedom fighters vs. terrorists).

27. What Enduring Understanding’s Do You Teach?1. 2. 3.

28. What are Essential Questions?
Have no simple “right“ answer; they are meant to be argued.
Are designed to provoke student inquiry.
Often address the conceptual or philosophical foundations of a discipline.
Raise other important questions
Occur frequently throughout the learning process
Stimulate continue rethinking of big ideas, and prior lessons.
Examples

29. Examples Is the judicial branch too powerful?
What do we mean by “all men are created equal?”
What role did/does religion play in the development of US history?
How and why do we provide checks and balances on government?
Who are our global friends and why?

30. What essential questions can you ask?1. 2. 3.

31. Stage 2:Determine Acceptable Evidence
How will enduring understanding be measured?

32. Think like an assessor! A Common Mistake….
Teacher’s think goal/objective….
then activities.

33. Decide upon the Assessment
… and actually create the test/assessment BEFORE you begin day one of instruction!
This will provide the “road map” for what is to be taught.

34. Assessments should vary!
Both formal and informal
Scope
Time frame
Setting
Structure

35. In the assessment process students should demonstrate their understanding’s through….
… ‘the six facets of understanding.’

36. Six Facets of Understanding: students…
can explain - accurate
can interpret - meaningful
can apply - effective
have perspective - credible
can empathize - sensitive
have self-knowledge – self aware

37. Select Assessment Type
Ask yourself, “What is the best way for students to demonstrate what they know and can do?”
Traditionally...
Paper and pencil test? (Multiple choice, short answers, true/false, single essay)

38. Traditional assessments have students…
Report the information…
Recite..’Just the facts…’
Use the lower level of Bloom’s Taxonomy…

39. Backward design challenges teachers to develop …
Summative assessments, sometimes called “performance assessments.”
Summative assessments incorporate the strengths of traditional assessment with a product or performance task.
Move towards the upper end of Bloom’s taxonomy.

40. Summative Assessments
… require students to apply skills, concepts, and understandings to a new problem in a different context or to a different text(s).

41. Possible Summative Written Assessments
Biographies
Editorials
Historical Fiction
Position Paper
Research Report

42. Possible Oral Performances
Debates
Historical Interviews
Oral Report/Presentation
Speeches

43. Possible Visual Products
Diagram/Diorama/Power Point
Graph
Map
Political Cartoon
Poster

44. Assessment Continuum Observation/Dialogue
Informal Checks for understanding
Observation/Dialogue
Academic prompt
Performance task/project
Quiz/Test
Wiggins, G & McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding by Design. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

45. Remember….
Assessments are interwoven throughout the entire unit of study.
Assessments are a part of the learning process and should occur throughout the sequence, not just at the end.

46. Develop a Scoring Guide/Rubric
Purpose?
To provide clear descriptors about how performance will be judged.
Result?
Your grading will be more reliable.

47. Sample US History Rubric
Clear, well-developed thesis that in a sophisticated fashion with key components…
Clear, developed thesis that deals with the key issues…
General thesis responding to all components superficially…
Little or no analysis…
(Education Testing Service/College Board, 1992, p. 25)

48. Rubric Sites to Explore
Because there is NEVER enough time… borrow, borrow, borrow!!!

49. Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences.
Learning experiences are planned after desired results and the method of measurement of those results are identified.
What will the students need to know in order to achieve the desired goal, learning, or understanding?
Various strategies are used to plan the learning.

50. Delivery of Instruction
How will you teach this standard/objective?
Think Learning Strategies!!
Consider learning styles

51. Learning strategies…
Teachers need to design the sequence of learning experiences that students will undertake to develop understanding.
Beyond learning about a subject, students will need lessons that enable them to experience directly the inquiries, arguments, applications, and points of view underneath the facts and opinions they learn if they are to understand them.
(Wiggins and McTighe,Understanding by Design, p 99)

52. Good Teaching “..is dependent on good design.
Good design and good teaching are dependent upon clear purposes.”
(Wiggins and McTighe,Understanding by Design, p.159)

53. Delivery of Assessment!
Test time!!
Don’t forget to vary the type!

54. Make appropriate changes!
Reflection
Take the time to reflect upon the success of the lesson/unit/assessment.
Was the objective achieved? Did the students learn? How did they score? What could you have done better or in a different manner?
Make appropriate changes!

55. Revisions
Creating a unit using the backward design planning process is not a neat, tidy or easy process. 
It requires ongoing revisions and flexibility.

56. Students in the revision process…
They raise questions that will cause you to revisit your ideas.
Each group will have their own learning styles to consider and factor in.
As the needs and strengths of the students change so will the assessments.

57. And…
Teachers might have to let go some of their favorite, old reliable lessons, because they just don’t fit anymore.

58. And finally…
As you teach the unit, you will also make continual adjustments based on the formative assessment data you gather about what students know and can do. This will take time.
And besides, reflection and revision is something all good teachers do!

59. Now it’s your turn!

60. Resources
Understanding by Design, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, 2001, Prentice Hall Inc
Understanding by Design, Professional Development Workbook, Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, 2004, ASCD