1. Backwards Design for Standards-based Education
Highlights of the Work of
Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe By
Marianne Kenney
Social Studies Instructional Specialist

2. Desired Outcomes Awareness/Refresh on UbD philosophy and framework
Awareness/Refresh of social studies standards and beliefs
Commitment to develop/improve UbD unit
Stage 1
Stage 2

3. Social Studies Mind Walk
Think-Pair-Share
What does good social studies teaching look like?
How do students learn social studies?

4. Why should we begin with the end in mind?
K-W-L:
What do you already know?
What do you want to know?

5. UbD in a Nutshell Read the first page Turn to a partner and talk
What is the main idea on this page?
What are the implications for what we do in the classroom?

6. Understanding by Design
“Backward Design” focus:
Clarify results and evidence of them before designing lessons.
UbD is a way of thinking more carefully about design; it’s not a program.
This design process is compatible with the whole notion of standards-based education.

7. We Learn About…. 10% of what we READ 20% of what we HEAR
30% of what we SEE
50% of what we both SEE & HEAR
70% of what we DISCUSS
80% of what we EXPERIENCE
95% of what we TEACH

8. Understanding by Design
Thinking like an assessor is key to effectively designing the curriculum.
Overcoming the “twin sins” of “aimless activity” and “superficial coverage”.
The work is only “coverage” or “nice activity” unless focused on questions and big ideas, directly related to the standards.

9. 3 Stages of “Backward” Design
Identify desired results
Determine acceptable evidence
Plan learning experiences & instruction.
Then and only then

10. Stage 1 - Step 1 Identify desired results
Consists of four components
Content standards
Understanding big ideas
Essential questions
Knowledge and skills

11. Targets
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”
“Too many teachers focus on the teaching and not the learning. They spend most of their time thinking, first about what they will do rather then first considering what the learner will need in order to accomplish their learning goals.”
Standards and benchmarks are our targets

12. Folder Activity
You can work in your grade level team or alone if you wish
Work on an upcoming unit
Use the chart paper and markers
Select ALL the standards that might be used in a performance assessment
You have 10 minutes

13. What are the Big Ideas? Usually derive from the standards
A linchpin that is essential for “holding together” related content knowledge.
Central to coherent connections in a subject and an anchor for making facts understandable and useful.

14. What are Big Ideas for?
Connect the dots for the learner by establishing learning priorities.
Without Big Ideas, students are easily left with forgettable fragments of knowledge.
Provides:
Conceptual “lens” for area of study
Breadth of meaning by connecting and organizing facts
A focus on the heart of the subject
Ability to transfer knowledge/facts

15. Essential questions Are at the very heart of the subject.
EQ is a way to connect content/facts in an engaging and thought provoking way.
Centered on the Big Ideas
Allows students to apply their skills while addressing the Big Ideas
Can provide purpose for learning.

16. Skills and Content
Identify specific skills and knowledge that the students will learn and use in the unit.
Be specific: What will students know and be able to do?
Now….revisit standards and glue.

17. Peer Consultation Gallery Walk: Each team presents their Stage 1
Consultants listen and jot dot questions and ideas
Consultants share questions and ideas
Presenters listen and jot down ideas
Presenters share their final thoughts
Share his/her commitment to improve their unit

18. Questions?
Create UbD Frayer organizer

19. 3 Stages of “Backward” Design
Identify desired results
Determine acceptable evidence
Plan learning experiences & instruction.
Then and only then

20. Stage 2 is the essence of backward design & alignment
Begin with the end in mind
As Alice made her way through the adventures of standardsland, she asked for directions from the Cheshire Cat. “Would you please tell me which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t care much where,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

21. Stage 2 - Assessment Evidence
Is set in a scenario that replicates or stimulates the ways in which a person’s knowledge and abilities are tested in real-world situations?
Requires judgment and innovation. Will the students use their understanding and skills to solve a problem?
Asks students to “do” the subject instead of reciting, restating, or replicating through demonstration what he/she was taught or already knows.
It’s the game not the drill.

22. Assessment types Traditional Worth being quizzes& tests Familiar with
paper/pencil
selected-response
constructed response
Performance tasks
& projects
open-ended
complex
authentic
Worth being
Familiar with
Important to
know& do
Big Ideas
Worth
understanding

23. Developing Authentic Tasks
You are a …..(adult role, professional)
….who must successfully (perform, produce)
….for (audience, client)
….thus, accomplishing (purpose, result)
….which reveals and understanding of (big ideas, standards)
….and skill at…..

24. Examples of Authentic Tasks
Research how Global Warming might affect Antarctica
Write a briefing book to the president on the war in Iraq
Create a manuscript to let future generations know what life is like on a Feudal Manor
Analyze the task for the skills, knowledge, concepts students need to successfully complete the assessment.

25. Develop Rubrics
Purpose: To provide clear descriptors about how performance is judged.
Must be used with UbD assessment since there is no one right answer.
Should measure the quality of the student understanding, application, or analysis.
In standards-based rubrics, the standards = the criteria.
The performance levels become the observable actions that give us the evidence they have met the standards.

26. Peer Consultation Gallery Walk: Each team presents their Stage 2
Consultants listen and jot dot questions and ideas
Consultants share questions and ideas
Presenters listen and jot down ideas
Presenters share their final thoughts
Share his/her commitment to improve their unit

27. Homework Deconstruct your performance assessment for:
Declarative knowledge
Procedural knowledge (skills)

28. 3 Stages of “Backward” Design
Identify desired results
Determine acceptable evidence
Plan learning experiences & instruction.
Then and only then

29. Stage 3-Plan learning experience and instruction
Purpose: To align the curriculum with each of the standards/benchmark they are using
Making connections - very high quality planning
Plan instructional strategies - how will they teach the standard? Coop learning? Think-pair-share/ Jigsaw? Lecture?
How will you prepare students for the product or performance?

30. Organize by W.H.E.R.E.
W = Where are we headed? and why? (from the student’s perspective)
H = How will the student be ‘hooked’?
E = What opportunities will there be to be equipped and explore key ideas.
R = How will we provide opportunities to rethink, rehearse, refine and revise?
E = How will students evaluate (so as to improve) their own performance?

31. Backwards Design
“To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to where you are going so that you better understand where you are now so that the step you take are always in the right direction.”
Stephen Covey
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People