Effective lesson planning and design Vallesha Adams EDU 650 Teaching learning and leading in the 21 st century Wendy Ricci November 11, 2013

Effective lesson design & backwards design Elements of effective lesson design a. Clear and specific learning objectives. b. What can the teacher expect from students? c. Are the objectives knowledgeable for the students’ understanding? The most important parts of the lesson design are: clarity, completeness and specificity.

Why are good learning objectives critical to planning effective instruction? “ The idea is to challenge the students with higher level learning objectives, questions and assessments as well as preparing them for the growing amount of higher level questions and provided in testing situations” (Newman,2013).

Good learning objectives Good learning objectives are critical in planning effective because they provide the students with: 1. why and what they are learning 2.what is expected from them

Common Core State Standard (CCSS) Presentation of knowledge and ideas (Kindergarten) CSS.ELA-Literacy. SL.K.4 Describe familiar people, places, things, and events with prompts and support, provide additional detail. (Students should be able to give descriptions through speaking)

Learning objective: Reading A learning objective for reading for kindergarten students would be to find out the students’ knowledge and ideas of a simple book. Some questions I might ask are: Describe the picture or illustration of the little boy in the book Where the wild things are. Can you indentify the parts of the book (front, back, spine and title)? Can you name the components of the book(illustrator, author) and what they do.

Common pitfalls of effective planning  Teachers focus too much on the planning itself  Pressure from administration to “teach” for testing  Do not understand students needs and abilities

Common pitfalls of planning  Assessments  Activities for the students  The instruction itself  The materials not age appropriate

How do teachers avoid these pitfalls?  Learning should be holistic, comprehensive and transformative, goal setting, wide range process that integrates academic learning  Collaboration with peers  Connect their work to the real world  Move beyond the rote of memorization of facts and skills  Take ownership of their learning (Newman,2013)

Be specific and communicate for the instructions to become effective.

What is backwards design? Backwards design is a three step process that involves beginning with the end of the learning process and working towards the initial process, which is the activities of the instruction. I. Identify results II. Determine evidence III. Plan learning experiences and instruction (Newman,2013) Backwards design is beginning with the end in mind (start with the end of what you want the students to achieve first).

How does Common Core State Standards Initiative play a role in designing effective instruction? The CCSS provides a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. ( These standards are for students to gain quality skills and knowledge to be applied to real world situations after graduation.

Differences between the two instruction models (Newman, 2013) Traditional PlanningBackwards design Select standard or topic to coverSelects a standard(s) to cover & learning outcome Begins with INPUTS-develop learning experiences and activities for students Begins with OUTPUTS-develop an assessment to determine success for outcome Teachers then proceed to teachDevelop learning experiences Assessments,quizzes or other form of feedback is given Teachers then teach Results are given & talk about with class as a whole or individually Assess results using assessment developed in step 2 Generally a new topic is selected to be discussed Feedback is given Research of current topic is ongoing or a new topic can be chosen

Assessments “Assessments should be of true and authentic whether it be formal or informal, needs to be valid and reliable” (Russell, 2003). In other words, the assessments should be that of observations that are in the moment and real.

Backwards design instruction activity Stage 1 Standard: Presentation of knowledge and ideas Students will be able to give brief descriptions of things that they have seen through speech. Students will have opportunities to ask questions for a more clear understanding

Backwards design continued Stage 2 Evidence and assessment Provide true observations of students speaking with peers in conversation Give oral quizzes to assess students abilities to listen and then answer

Backwards design continued Stage 3 Learning activities Show and share day: students bring an item or choose from the classroom and describe what it is & why they chose their particular object Teacher chooses a topic for students to engage in a group

The teacher is ultimately responsible for providing the students with the best possible instructional learning outcome.

References Newman, R. (2013). Teaching and learning in the 21 st century: Connecting the dots. San Diego, CA: Bridgeport Education, Inc. Russell, J. (2003). Making use of the new student assessment standards to enhance technological literacy. Technology Teacher. 63(2), 27.