1. Backwards Design Lesson Planning

2. Agenda Backwards Design (Beginning with the end in mind)
Discuss areas in which students traditionally experience difficulty.
Share knowledge in content, experiences, resources, and materials to help students learn.
Share successful teaching strategies that result in increased student achievement.
K- 5 Identify what changes in instruction must occur to increase student knowledge, understanding, and comfort levels in order to increase student achievement.
3rd-5th Identify strategies in areas in which students have difficulty on FSA assessments.

3. Elements of Effective Lesson Design
Students have a clear understanding of the unit/lesson objectives
Students build schema through eliciting prior knowledge
Students create evidence of developing ideas
Students are active learners
Assessments are authentic and have a tangible product
Assessments match learning objectives
(Jones, Jones, & Vermette, 2011)

4. Pitfalls in Planning Effective Lessons
Learning Outcomes: what the student should learn
Learning Activity: what the student does to achieve the outcome
Two key mistakes in lesson planning:
Focusing energy on developing activities that are “hands-0n” without being “minds-on”
Focusing on coverage of the material – just make it through the textbook
Newman 2013

5. Backwards Design Lesson Planning
Begins with identifying what the students need to learn
Three stages:
Stage 1: Identify the desired results (outcome)
Stage 2: Identify the assessment evidence
Stage 3: Identify the learning plans (activities)
(Newman, 2013)

6. (Newman, 2013)

7. Stage 1: Identify the Desired Results
Identify the classroom needs
Community location
Resources
Socioeconomic level
Educational background
Identify individual student needs
Special needs students
Necessary accommodations
Identify curricular priorities
State and local standards (objectives)
Essential questions
Prerequisite knowledge
(Childre, Sands, & Pope, 2009)

8. Good Learning Objectives
Clear, complete, and specific
Consists of knowledge, skills, and attitudes expected of students
Specific enough to be measurable
Objective drives the specific activity
Examples:
Student will create a bar graph to illustrate classroom preference for a chosen topic (CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.B.3)
Student will categorize 10 two-dimensional shapes (CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.B.4)
Student will compare and contrast the main characters from two core literature books (CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.9)
(Newman, 2013)

9. Stage 2: Identify Assessment Evidence
Move students beyond memorization to a deeper understanding of content, application, and relation to other concepts
Examples of evidence:
Specific response on assessments (ex. model drawings, number sentences)
Performance tasks or prompts
Oral or written prompts
Quizzes or tests
Informal assessments (observations, discussions, anecdotal records)
Include detailed rubrics to clarify expectations and guide student performance
(Childre, Sands, & Pope, 2009)

10. Stage 3: Identify the Learning Plan
Design learning activities
Engage students with essential questions and vocabulary
Make content meaningful by connecting to real life experiences
Break instruction into manageable parts
Integrate assessments throughout the unit
Ensure all student accommodations from Stage 1 are supported
(Childre, Sands, & Pope, 2009)

11. Backwards Design Lesson Plan Example Grade 1, Mathematics

12. Stage One: Identify Desired Results
Established Goals:
CCSS.Math.Content.1.OA.A.1
Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1.1
Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about grade 1 topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.
(Common Core State Standards Initiative)

13. Stage One: Identify Desired Results
Understandings
Students will understand that:
Combining two groups of objects illustrates the concept of addition.
A number sentence is the numerical representation of manipulatives.
Essential Questions
What does addition mean?
What are two ways to represent a number sentence?
Students will know…
Addition facts with a sum of less than 20
Horizontal and vertical number sentences
Students will be able to…
Add two numbers to represent addition
Write a number sentence in the horizontal and vertical format
Explain the process of addition to a partner
(adapted from Newman, 2013)

14. Stage 2: Assessment Evidence
Students will create an visual representation of a number sentence in their math journal.
 + ★★★★ = ★★★★
Students will write a corresponding numerical number sentence in their math journal (horizontal and vertical).
Students will describe the process of addition to a partner.
Complete Quizzes, Mid Module Assessment, or End of Module Assessments

15. Stage 3: Learning Plan
Strategies: What strategies will be introduced or carried over from previous lessons.
Target vocabulary: number family, partners, number sentence
Read aloud: The Mission of Addition by Brian P. Cleary
Mini-lesson: 2 partners make a number family, number sentence is the written representation of a number family
Activity:
Use manipulatives to create a number family
Illustrate the number family in your math journal
Write a number sentence to represent the number family
Tell your partner how you created your number sentence

16. References
Childre, A., Sands, J. R., & Pope, S. (2009). Backward Design. Teaching Exceptional
Children, 41(5), 6-14.
Common Core State Standards Initiative.
Jones, K., Jones, J., & Vermette, P.J. (2011). Six Common Lesson Planning Pitfalls –
Recommendations for Novice Educators. Education, 131(4),
Newman, R.  (2013).  Teaching and learning in the 21st century: Connecting the dots.  San
Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

17. Preparing to Teach a Lesson from a Story of Units
Step 1: Discern the Plot
Step 2: Find the Ladder
Step 3: Hone the Lesson

18. Step 1 : DISCERN THE PLOT Review Table of Contents Read Topic Overview
Review Assessments

19. Step 2: FIND THE LADDER Complete Problem Sets
Analyze and write notes on the new complexities of each problem as well as sequence and progression
Anticipate where students might struggle
Answer Student Debrief questions

20. STEP 3: HONE THE LESSON Select “Must Do” problems from Problem Sets
Select “Must Do” remedial work for whole class, small group, or individual
Designate “Challenge” problems
Consider how to use the vignettes of Concept Development
Chose Student Debrief questions
Adjust the balance of the lesson’s components as necessary to support the work