Backwards Design Planning: Long Term Unit Planning
(A synthesis of Understanding by Design by Wiggins and McTighe, plus some smart thinking about
keys to motivation and engagement, assessment FOR learning practices that drive student motivation
and engagement, and ideas from teachers ACTUALLY planning, instructing, and assessing for
UNDERSTANDING on a daily basis.)
When planning, you have to consider the “Big 4”…at first in order, but as you complete each step it
informs the step before and the step after, so it becomes an iterative process.
1. Determine WHAT will you teach and WHY it matters. What do students need to know, be
able to do, and understand at the end of your unit? Figure out a CONTEXT or CASE STUDY to
ground the content knowledge and skill development in some sort of story. It will stick to
students’ brains that way! (Ideas for texts and experiences will bubble up during this step—
keep a list!)
2. Write learning-targets and brainstorm matched assessments. Determine WHAT students
will know, do, and understand and then what they will CREATE (along the way, and at the
end) to demonstrate their understanding. Aim for a real-world product/project with a realworld purpose and audience. Write learning targets for BOTH the final product and the
assessments along the way. (Ideas for texts and experiences will bubble up during this step
too—add to your list!)
3. Put the product due date on a CALENDAR and plan backwards. Plan backwards from the due
date to figure out scaffolding both ‘the what’ and ‘the how’ of the unit.
Write/refine/prioritize/delete learning targets and matched assessments when you get the
reality check of TIME. (You’ll hopefully figure out which texts and experiences are most
relevant and important in this step… you can’t do it all, so keep the best and throw out the
rest!)
4. DO YOUR OWN ASSIGNMENT and revise/refine/prioritize/delete learning targets and
matched assessments when you see the process/thinking your assignments truly entail. (This
step will also help you add/delete possible texts and experiences from your resource list!)
From Plan Backwards for Student Engagement, a Digital Library online article by Meg Lemke. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
© 2016 Digital Campus/Heinemann.
Backwards Planning on a Daily Basis: Questions to Consider
Sam Bennett
1. Determine the PURPOSE for the lesson based on a number of factors (Determine the
learning target): What long-term target are we going after? What daily target will help us get
to the long-term target? How will I help them get a clear and understandable vision of the
learning target? What did I learn about my kids yesterday that can help me teach them better
today—patterns of understanding or patterns of confusion I noticed during worktime? What
do they need to get smarter tomorrow?
2. What will my students DO tomorrow to get smarter? (Plan the worktime): What will they
read? What will they write? What will they talk about? What will they create as concrete
evidence of their getting smarter? (Formative assessments: annotations, reflections, concept
map, etc..) How will today’s reading, writing, and/or talk get them closer to the long term
target? How will what they create today get them closer to the goals and/or completion of the
summative assessment?
3. What will they need from me to work with more depth and stamina than they would alone?
(Plan the minilesson): What models of both product and process might they need to do the
work? (Think-aloud, model annotation, model productive talk, scientific dialogue, how to
attack a complex text, how to brainstorm first steps of an idea, essay, concept map….etc.)
4. Anticipate possible confusion or loss of stamina/direction. Where might my learners get
stuck? What do they need to KEEP working? (Plan possible “catches” and conferring
patterns during worktime): Invitational minilessons for differentiation, wider range of
accessible texts, additional models, etc.) What is my plan for conferring with individuals? Who
should I meet with first? Who have I not checked in with for a while? Who do I need to learn
more about? How can I structure groups/pairings so I’m not the only teacher in the room?
5. How will we share and synthesize what we’ve learned? (Plan the debrief): What did students
accomplish? How did they get smarter? What do they need next?
From Plan Backwards for Student Engagement, a Digital Library online article by Meg Lemke. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
© 2016 Digital Campus/Heinemann.