Backward Planning
Center for the Education and
Study of Diverse Populations
Essential Question:
How do we plan engaging, authentic
teaching and learning that is
meaningful to our students?
Guiding Question:
How does high stakes testing, AMOs,
meeting the needs of our EPSS
influence what we have been doing
as we plan teaching and learning?
SWOT
Strengths
Weaknesses
Authentic
Practices
Opportunities
Threats
Ten Common Principles
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10.
Focus on students using their minds well
Less is more (limited # of essential knowledge & skills)
All students achieve in their own time and way
Learning is personalized
Student as worker, teacher as coach
Students demonstrate mastery through performance
Tone of decency with high expectation
Staff as generalists
Commitment to change
Honor democratic diversity
Overview of Backward Planning
1. Where do we want students to go?
2. How will we know they know?
3. How will we help them get there?
Historically, how did we decide what
to teach?
Pair Share with a person you are
sitting beside
Group Share
Your Ideas:
How do you know what’s relevant
or engaging for your students?
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Pair Share
Group Share
Your Ideas
Concepts
How can teachers take what we find is
relevant and meaningful to our
students and use the required
concepts for teaching and learning?
Your Ideas:
Concepts
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Broad
Universal
Timeless
Examples:
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Beauty
Change
Courage
Freedom
Patterns
Happiness
Rights/Responsibilities
Engaging Relevance
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How do you connect topics to
student relevance?
Your Ideas:
START BY BRAINSTORMING WITH
STUDENTS
Essential Questions
What do you think they are?
Share in double pair-share groups.
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Your Ideas:
Essential Questions
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Address the essence of what you
want to teach
Concept based
Require rigorous thinking
Are open ended
Generate personalized interest
Reflect the REAL WORLD of students
Example:
How is the quality of the water where I
live affected by what I do in my
environment?
Your Examples:
Guiding Questions
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Provide part of the answer to the
essential question
Are student focused
Can provide the topic for learning
sections
Require students to acquire
knowledge, skills and understanding
Examples:
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Where does our water come from?
What do I do that is good for water?
What can each of us do to support
our water system?
Standards Based Design
Select grade level benchmarks
connected to the :
*Concept
*Essential question
*Guiding questions
These are the big ideas which we call
essential learnings or learning
targets.
Performance Standards
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Under each Benchmark are the
performances your students can use
for practice to hit the learning
targets.
Assessment
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Based on the learning targets and
relevant performances, how do you
know they know?
Discuss in groups
Your Ideas:
Examples:
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Use real settings
Require students to address an
audience
Base the purpose on the audience
Allow students to personalize the
task
Students know the task, the learning
target and criteria in advance
Authentic Assessments
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Are realistic
Require thinking
Ask students to DO learning
Are complex
Take advantage of learning
opportunities
So how do you get there?
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Discuss in groups
Your ideas:
Possibilities:
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Based on the performance standards,
decide what significant tasks will support
learning of your students
Plan opportunities to practice
Decide how to asses progress (pencil and
paper tests, mini-demonstrations,
observations, self assessment, group
assessment, written responses, etc.)
Where do we go from here?
Action plan
Lesson plan template
Time for planning
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You can lead a horse
to water but you can’t
make them drink. If
the horse becomes
thirsty, however, he
will eat sand from
your hand.