Do you think any of your science teachers used Backward Design to plan instruction? Why or why not?
I'll be honest I have the worst memory when it comes to my past learning experiences but I will do my best to reflect on what I remember from my science school days. I think when I was in high school my anatomy teacher used backward design because she would give us a "study guide" on the first day of our unit so that we knew what vocabulary and "big ideas" as all the websites from this week have spoken about were so that we knew what to expect and she knew what was needed to prepare us for the assessment at the end. I don't think that my biology teacher felt the same way. I felt as though when the test came around that there were concepts on the test that I had never heard of before. This being said she obviously didn't do many of the backward design 101 concepts when it came to assessment. We only ever had end of unit assessments, wasn't used to inform instruction, and they were typically multiple choice which doesn't assess in multiple ways. Whereas in my anatomy class we would have quizzes throughout the unit, some constructed response portions, experimental quizzes, and then some multiple choice work. Looking back at these two courses, I loved my anatomy class and hated my biology class. I am sure much of my opinion had to do with the fact that I achieved much higher in the anatomy class due to the teaching being of a higher quality. I couldn't tell you what my teachers in elementary school did when it came to instruction and how well prepared I felt at the end of a unit. I think that backwards design is very important for teachers because it prepares them for the "Whereto" as Grant Wiggins explained and gives the teacher a guideline as to what do I need to do to get my students to learn and remember this content to the fullest extent. Teachers can't just teach what they want along the way and hope that the students will learn the "big ideas" through osmosis. Teachers must have a purpose when it comes to designing a lesson to make a learning goal. I know there are great teachers out there that start with the end in mind before writing their lesson plans for the unit. I think it's very important to reflect on our past experiences that were good and bad to help guide our own teaching. As the you tube video states "as teachers we want to make sure that all students succeed" and this should be what guides our work every hour of every day.
http://www.schooltube.com/video/9648a7ef1382477fae85/Backward-Design
http://www.arps.org/users/ms/coaches/backward%20design%20101.htm
http://www.grantwiggins.org/documents/UbDQuikvue1005.pd
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI also have thought a lot about my learning experiences as a guide to what works. My own children also have told me about what they loved and hated about teachers' styles, and overwhelmingly, the teachers who gave notes and then a multiple choice test, got the worst reviews. Both my sons loved the classes that gave them choices and a chance to explore. I try to remeber these things when planning lessons.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteLike you and I said in our blogs, it is our utmost goal to have our students succeed. With this in mind, how do we get there? I think a big part of teaching the standard correctly and fully is planning with a mind of backwards design (thinking with the end in mind). This allows us to make sure we teach everything we need to, to help our students be successful on the end assessment. I can relate to you when you speak about your Antatomy teacher. I also took Anatomy, in which this teacher got an "A" in my book. He too, gave out an overview of each unit prior to teaching it. This let me know he knew what he wanted to teach in order for us to be successful on the exam.
In regards to the post you left on my blog, I am jealous that your school pushes curriculum maps. This sounds like a great tool to use throughtout the year. I am very interested in seeing one of the maps your team created to get a better understanding of them.
Thanks for sharing!