Chapter 12

In this chapter the use of backwards design is brought to a bigger level. It can be used for more than the creation of units by teachers. Backwards Design can be used to create syllabus or programs for schools or even at the district level. The versatility of Backwards Design can help schools and districts ensure they are teaching with quality and not just covering content. It can even be used to make cross curricular connections.

This chapter was an important chapter to read because it brings together Backwards Design and shows how it can be applied in any circumstance. I am hoping to take my knowledge from reading this unit and create a syllabus for my English classes next year. I believe this will help me make the intentions of my class clear to students, so they are not left wondering “Why am I learning this?” A question that I am often left facing because normally I just follow the curriculum my school provides me with.

It also gives me the confidence to go back and review the “Why am I teaching this?” It allows me to modify the curriculum to make it authentic and meaningful for my students. By doing this I am hoping to create a better relationship with my students, and help foster a positive relationship with the English language and my students. First, I need to break the habit of following my schools curriculum directly. 

Chapter 11 The Desgin Process

In this chapter I learned that lesson plans are not a fixed subject. Yes, they are created and planned out, but in reality teachers sometimes need to Improvise with where the unit goes sometimes to fully teach the understandings and test ideas before and during their use with students. Also they may need to be changed last minute to differentiate material or personalize material to fit the need of the students. Teachers also need to constantly be reflecting on their lessons and what items they may need to change in order to fit their classes.  

Backwards Design helps to check quality of other types of planning. Backwards Design helps teachers focus the purpose of their units. With any method that you use to plan, you can fit it into the Backwards Design template to see if it meets quality standards. The template allows teachers to visualize their unit as a whole and to check to see if they have a clear purpose and focus for students.

I have herd of Backwards Design before this year, but I have never had an opportunity to create units with its design. I would like to use my past units and try to place them in the template for backwards design to see if they are up to a quality standard. It will also help me focus more on why I am teaching what I am teaching. Answering this question will help me create lessons that are meaningful and authentic for my students. 

Chapter 10 Teaching for Understanding

When planning to teach their lessons in backwards design teachers need to keep the following in mind: Do what works in Stage 3 top reach results from stage one. This will help the teacher keep on track to uncover understandings for the unit, and not teaching just to cover content. When teachers have this understood they then need to pick methods that can help their students understand understandings. To do this teachers should create experiences for their students to actually have using the content.  When students have experience with understandings it is easier to activate learning.

Teachers need to consider when lesson planning is how the text book is used in class. Textbooks are often used as the backbone of a course, but teachers should not be using them like this. Textbooks normally focus on teaching the facts and not actually focus on understanding the facts. In backward design teachers need to use the textbook as a resource to help them teach the understandings and goal of the unit. To use backwards design successfully, teachers need to break the habit of relying on the textbook, and start using it to support their teaching.

Teachers can use different methods of instruction: Direct instruction, facilitative methods, and coaching. They all play a part in lesson planning. To use each method successfully teachers need to look at their understandings and check to see which knowledge is best used with which type of method.

After reading this chapter, I am reminded that I need to focus on giving my students experiences with the knowledge and understandings in order for them to successfully learn them. I often just teach content and do not give students an opportunity to manipulate the content and question it. The charts organizing the types of instructional methods will greatly help when I am organizing my future lessons and deciding how to teach. 

Chapter 9:Rethinking lessons

Stage three in backward design is when teachers start creating their learning plans for their classes. The most important thing teachers need to keep in mind when creating a lesson plan is student engagement and effectiveness of the lessons. They need to create activities and lessons that keep students involved in the learning process. Hands on activities, group work, problem solving are different ways teachers can get their students engaged in the class. Effectiveness can be seen through lessons by keeping the lesson goals clear to students and when students show they understand the purpose for learning.  

To do this teachers can follow the WHERETO model. First they need to keep clear the what the students are learning and why are they learning it. They need to hook student interest in the subject. Teachers should plan lessons that equip students with the necessary abilities to obtain the goal. Reflection and providing opportunities to rethink keep student engagement in the classroom too. Students should also get a chance to evaluate the learning process so they can keep check their understanding. Lessons should also be tailored to what the students need to help achieve the unit goal. Also the unit should be organized in a way that helps students achieve a deeper meaning of the goal and not just memorizing information.

Keeping engagement and effectiveness is very difficult in my lessons. I work with 8^th graders and they have the language ability to communicate in English, but a lot of them are starting to pick up a teenage attitude and not put effort into their work. To counter this I need to focus on creating engaging and effective lessons. I can use the WHERETO introduce in the book to help me put lessons together that my students would be interested in. This chapter has really helped me to view lesson planning in a different way. 

Chapter 8: Criteria and Validity

Criteria and Validity are important concepts to understand when creating an assessment for a unit. Before teachers can give out an assessment to students they need to make sure they have the criteria clear. These criteria will be the guideline for teachers as they correct assessments. It helps to ensure that the teachers are checking work with a clear consistent non-judgmental manner. To help teachers check criteria, rubrics are usually created that list levels of how the criteria should be met.

Besides just created assessments, teachers need to create valid and reliable assessments. Teachers should ask themselves if the assessment aligns to the understandings that they are trying to teach in the unit. If it does not, then there is a significant chance that the task is not valid for the unit. Also reliability comes into play when creating assessments. To make sure that students understand the knowledge form the unit they need to have multiple assessments throughout the unit. This will help give the teacher a bigger picture view of the students’ learning process.

This has made me reflect on my teaching practices and how I create assessments. I need to improve my rubric making skills to make sure they help me properly assess criteria for an assignment. Sometimes I find myself grading the amount of time students speak during an oral presentation just to push them to think deeper. Instead of doing this I should look into the task and make sure this is authentic. Maybe the task is not very engaging to my students.  

Chapter 7. Thinking like an assessor

According to the chapter the main question teachers need to answer when creating assessments is “What evidence can show my students have achieved the desired results?” This question is important because it helps teachers focus on the purpose for teaching their unit. Backwards design also helps teachers to not skip ahead and create lessons before they know what evidence they will use to show student achievement. This helps keeps the lessons authentic and related to the unit that is being taught. Another important idea from this chapter is that teachers need to use multiple assessments to show student growth and development, and these assessments do not need to be all formal assessments.

To design a proper assessment, teachers should think more about problems that students can solve with the knowledge they have learned in the unit. This problem solving method can help students show that they can transfer the knowledge they have learned to another life situation. It goes beyond just memorizing facts and answering questions. Problem-solving type assessments give students a chance to practice using what they have learned in an authentic situation.

This chapter has really helped me reflect on what I can do with my own assessment creation in my own school. I often end up creating my unit evaluations as a traditional paper test that do not challenge students thinking to the fullest. However, lately I have been thinking about applying the backward design to my lesson planning. I believe that this will help me create authentic assessments that challenge my students’ abilities. I think I would get better results from these authentic assessments as well because they will be relatable, interactive, and give students the opportunity to explain why they did what they did on a test. With traditional tests you do not get the opportunity to see the student thought process which makes grading and reflecting upon improvements in lessons harder.