Thinking Backward to

Move Forward



You will learn to use Backward
Design as a tool to motivate
students and make evaluation
meaningful.
Objective for today
Traditional Planning
Choose
page in the
book
Create
Activities
Create
Tests
Re-think Planning
Imagine that you want to go on
vacation to the Galapagos Islands.
Now answer these questions:
What is my goal?

How will I know I have
achieved my goal?

What do I need to do to get
there?
How can we apply this
process to teaching?





Learning Goals
(What will students be able to do?)

Assessment
(How will I know that they have accomplished
the goal?)

Activities
(What activities will prepare students to achieve
the goal?)
Backward Design is a
planning process in which we
think about the goal and
evaluation (assessment)
before we plan class
activities.
Backward Design is
learning with
purpose!
Lets look at an example.
1
Learning Goals
What do I want my
students to be able to do?
Students will be able to :


say the date correctly in English;

identify different floors of a building;

and write ordinal numbers with the
correct spelling.
2
Assessment
How will I know if the
students have accomplished
the learning goal?
Acceptable evidence
Students will draw various dates out of
a hat and verbally say the date.

Students will take a quiz identifying
various floors in a skyscraper.

Students will write ordinal numbers
according to number on a set of dice.



3
Activities
What practice activities
will students do in class?
Practice activities

Listen and repeat ordinal numbers:
students line up in the order of their birthdays.

Match cardinal and ordinal numbers:
students plan a shopping trip in a multi-story
mall.

Label finishing places of runners in a race.

Write personal and classmates birthday
information