Backward+Design+Model

Group B: Cindy Harrison
 * Backward Design for Forward Action:**
 * McTighe, J., & Thomas, R. S**. (2003). Backward design for forward action. Educational Leadership, 60(5), 52–55.

Backward design is a method of designing curriculum by setting goals before choosing activities or content to teach. The idea is to teach towards those goals, which ensures that the contenttaught remains focused and organized, promoting a better understanding forstudents.

Backward design challenges the traditional methods of curriculum planning. In traditional curriculum planning,the first thing the teacher does is write down the list of content that will be taught. In backward design, the teacher starts with goals, then assessments and finally lesson plans. A metaphor used by advocates of backward design is a roadmap: with backward design, one chooses the destination first and then follows the map to go directly there. With traditional curriculum planning, one just hits the road hoping to reach the final destination.

**Three stage backward design** Interpret assessment data utilizing the following questions: “What does this work reveal about student learning and performance? What patterns or changes do we see over time? Are there any surprises – What results are unexpected – What anomalies exist?, Is there evidence of improvement or decline – If so, what might have caused the changes?, What questions do these data raise?, Are these results consistent with other achievement data?, Are there alternative explanations for these results?, By what criteria are we evaluating student work?, What is the performance standard?, What is the performance standard – How good is good enough?, How do our results compare to those of similar schools?” Reflection and Write Data Summaries.
 * Identify desired results: content standards by the state, i.e, specific facts, concepts, and skills; state standardized test results, county benchmark test assessments
 * Analyze multiple sources of data: state standardized assessment data, county benchmark assessment data, student work portfolio, i.e., utilizing questions such as “What learning goals do the various assessment measure, What kinds of thinking do the assessments require – recall, interpretation, evaluation or problem solving?, What strengths and weaknesses in student performance do the different data sources reveal? Are these the results we expected – Why or why not?, In what areas did the students perform best – What weaknesses are evident? How are different population groups performing on the various assessments?”


 * Determine appropriate action plans: Plan learning experiences based on assessment data and guiding questions.

I have had experience working with this approach, as my district is driven by teaching according to the state content standards – state mandated testing. One of the benefits is the state has laid out thorough content standards for each subject area. I feel they are the standards that should be taught. One of the challenges is so many teachers get caught under the pressure of teaching to the test, that creativity and higher order skills often get left out. When implementing this approach, curriculum leaders should look at content standards, but should also consider ways to implement the content with creative approaches that include higher order thinking skills and always consider how to best motivate all learners.

**Strategies and Ideas for Implementation**

Below is a set of examples that has been adapted for the implemenation in a learning environment:


 * 1) Decide on the themes, enduring understandings and essential questions for the unit.
 * 2) Design a summative for the end of the unit.
 * 3) Align the unit with the Standards and choose outcomes, strategies and best practices to teach them.
 * 4) Choose resources to create a rich and engaging multi-genre thematically-linked unit.
 * 5) Weave back and forth across the curriculum map to make revisions and refinements