Backward Design is exactly what it sounds like: you plan the unit by designing the final assessment first (according to the standards), and then craft the unit from there. By beginning with the end in mind, you can assemble a much more meaningful unit where every piece builds on the one before.
It may sound difficult, but most people find backward design to be a more efficient way to plan than the “traditional” beginning-to-end method. Plus, when you’re finished, you will have an entire unit mapped out on a calendar, which means that your plans for the foreseeable future will be basically done!
This leads to a less stressed, more prepared teacher!
When I was in undergrad, I was fortunate enough to learn this unit planning model. From the very inception of my teaching career, I’ve been planning this way. This is how I was taught to do it, and I assumed that this is just how it’s always done. Now, twelve years into my career, I have come to realize that my college experience was exceptional in more ways than one. It took a little while of collaborating with different colleagues to fully register that it’s not a given.
Fast forward to recent years, I’ve had the opportunity to serve in some leadership roles in my school, and one of the best things I’ve done is share the backward design method of planning and implement an inquiry-based backward design unit planning template department-wide.
We’ll go over how to plan a unit from end to end, but first a quick note…
Backward design can be used by teachers of any subject and age group. It can be used by a single teacher, but the real magic happens when units are planned with a collaborative team of teachers. (For these purposes, I define a teacher “team” as a group of teachers who all teach the same grade level and subject matter.)
A team of teachers should (ideally):
- move through the grade/subject standards at approximately the same pace
- implement common formative and summative standards-based assessments so that data can be collected and used for reflection and to drive review and enrichment efforts
- check in with one another regularly to assess the progress of the unit together and make any necessary instructional adjustments on the unit plan and the calendar
- lean on one another to share resources and ideas as often as possible
Alright, so let’s get into it.
- To begin planning a unit using backward design, you’ll need to start by listing the standards on which you intend to focus during the unit and their corresponding skills. Ask yourself: Do you truly understand these standards? What do they mean?
- Once this is nailed down, take a look at your calendar. How long do you anticipate the unit lasting (in weeks or instructional days)? Make a note of the start and end date for the unit.
- Then it’s time to draft the essential question. Think about this unit as a whole. When it’s over, with what larger abstract concept do you want your students to have wrestled? This should be an open-ended, life question without any clear “correct” answer. This will be the common thread that connects all texts and assignments through the entire unit.
Having a strong essential question is the vital piece of inquiry-based learning, which enables you to hit that sweet spot where students start to drive their own learning and make deep, meaningful connections throughout the curriculum. If you’d like to know more about inquiry-based learning, I’ll do a blog post on it soon.
- Once you have your focal standards/skills and essential question, the next step is to plan the large summative assessment. Ask yourself: At the end of the unit, how will you know the students have mastered the focal standards? What should the students be able to do? The final assessment should showcase students’ mastery of the skills and demonstrate their thinking in regards to the essential question.
- Now that you’ve got the large summative assessment in place, you’ll need to break that down into smaller stepping stones, a.k.a. formative assessments. In order to monitor student progress toward mastery, what smaller checkpoint assessments should be present throughout the unit? Each should be centered on one or more of the focal skills and require explanation of some portion of the essential question.
- Finally, it’s time to choose your anchor text! When making this decision, remember that we’re focusing on teaching skills instead of “teaching a book.” so, ask yourself: What text best lends itself to instruction for these standards and exploration of this essential question? Other questions to consider are: Is the target text high rigor? Does the content of the text challenge students? Does it have a lexile at/above the grade level band?
In order for a text to be appropriate for a high-rigor classroom, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a high lexile level, but it does need to have complexity in plot, character, structure, and/or content that will challenge your particular students.
It’s also important that the anchor text encourage the students to lean into the essential question.
NOTE: Sometimes this planning process does not go as linear as it’s laid out here. Most of the time, the planning of the standards, essential question, and anchor text happen simultaneously. Sometimes, you may even start with the anchor text already in mind. Many schools have mandated texts that must be taught in certain grade levels. That’s ok, and it doesn’t mean that you’re doing it wrong.
- Now that you’ve got the anchor text in place, choose at least three texts that support the target text and make it more accessible to the students via background knowledge, extension, enrichment, etc. Each text should assist students in exploring some portion of the essential question.
Note: If possible, include one nontraditional text, examples may include a video, podcast, infographic, newspaper, children’s book, etc.
- Next, plan for any necessary scaffolding. Consider your students. What scaffolding will they need in order to succeed in this unit?
- Finally, it’s time to actually map out the unit. Use a calendar to complete the following things…
- Mark the start date for this unit.
- Decide when the common summative assessment will be given. record it on the calendar (ideally, this should be done with your team.)
- Decide when each of the common formative assessments will be given. record them on the calendar (with your team, if possible).
- Individually (or with your team), sketch out a general plan for the reading and instructional activities you plan to do with this unit.
And you’re done! At this point, you should have your basic plans laid out for the entire unit, leaving you more time and mental bandwidth to spend on other important things.
I mentioned this at the beginning, but I have a FREE pdf template that you are welcome to use to help you learn to plan this way. Or, if you prefer your template on a Google Doc that you can type on, you can find the fully editable version here.