Understanding by Design: Backwards Design

Based on my reading of…

The chapters in the Understanding by Design textbook, I now have a firmer understanding of the backwards design, and how I see it at school now, and how I have seen it before throughout my career. I have never heard, or if I did, did not recognize that this was what backwards design was.

Backward design is the act of crafting the educational curriculum by setting goals before choosing instructional methods and forms of assessment. From my understanding, backward design typically involves three steps: identifying the results you desire, determining acceptable levels of evidence supporting the desired results, and designing activities that will make desired results happen.

I thought/ I remember….

I am just thinking to myself when reading this, “yeah, pretty much… keeping them on track, avoiding trailing off, and getting the important stuff on lock”

In the field…

I have definitely seen this executed in the classroom on multiple occasions. A good example of this is when an educator is teaching the expectations at the beginning of the year. They probe with questions and scenarios that will generate the answers they was to hear.

I believe…

That backwards design challenges the traditional method. I believe that it really involves taking a step back, and looking at the big picture. Traditionally, a list of content that will be taught is created and selected. But rather with this design, the educator starts with goals, creates or plans out assessments and finally makes lesson plans.

A connection I can make is…

The connection I make with this seems too simple. With this curriculum design, the destination is chosen first and the trip and adventure of learning is destined for a specific place. Comparatively, with traditional curriculum planning there is no formal destination identified before the journey begins.