Unit Planning:

Backwards Design

By: Imran Malik

 Mapping Your Route
DESIRED RESULT
I arrive at the corner of Fassina and Valley
St.

HOW DO I GET THERE?

Locate Final Destination
Anticipate any issues that may arise on your
route to destination. Plan to avoid them
Map out best route to destination
Assess whether or not there are better
routes
 Learning to Swim
Desired Result(s)
I CAN SWIM ONE FULL LAP ON MY
OWN
Learning Goals
I can float
I can swim 20m with a floatation device
I can doggy paddle
I can tread water for 30 seconds
I can swim 20m without any help
I CAN SWIM ONE FULL LAP ON MY
OWN
 Backwards Design
1) BIG IDEAS
What are the essential learnings for this
unit?
What is/are the most important point(s)
that students will take home with them
from this unit?
Thought-provoking question
 Backwards Design
2) Planning
A) Learning task selection
Prioritize learning goals
B) Identify students learning needs
C) Anticipating
Potential Issues
Strategies to avoid those issues
D) Groupings
Whole class
Small groups
Pairings
E) Activation
How are you going to motivate the students?
 Backwards Design
3) Instruction and Monitoring
A) Rich Task Design
Scaffolding
Relating to personal experiences
Relating to the bigger picture
B) Observation
Whos struggling?
Where are they struggling?
What is working, what isnt?
 Backwards Design
C) Descriptive Feedback
What theyre doing well
What needs improvement
How to improve
D) Questioning
To develop understanding
To evaluate learning
E) Adapting to students learning needs
Changes to fit the class
 Backwards Design
4) Effective Consolidation
A) Explain, justify, evaluate
Teach students how to do these for their own
work
B) Make connections
To other subjects
To bigger picture
C) Descriptive feedback
Written and verbal comments, as opposed to
marks
D) Questioning
What am I doing well? What am I struggling
 Backwards Design
5) Independent Practice
A) Application of learning
Practical application of learning
B) Opportunities to practice
Practice, practice, practice
C) Feedback
As learning
D) Informs next planning
Where do they go from here?
QUESTIONS???