Analysis Of Jay Mctighe 's Backwards Design Model

Prior taking this RETELL class I thought differentiating meant “dummying down” work. I struggled with the concept of differentiating strategies because I thought it help students to be all they can be. Taking the class have given a clear understanding the meaning and the usage of differentiating teaching, matter of fact, some the strategies I use in class are similar to some of the strategies taught in the RETELL class. I realized that Differentiated instruction is about using teaching strategies that connect with individual student's learning strategies. The ultimate goal is to provide a learning environment that will maximize the potential for student success. The important thing to remember is to hold on to the effective teaching strategies that lead students to positive learning outcomes and to make adjustments when necessary. It's about being flexible and open to change. It's also about taking risks and trying teaching and learning strategies that you would have otherwise ignored. It's about managing instructional time in a way that meets the standards and also provides motivating, challenging, and meaningful experiences for school age

Chapter one “Defining How Differentiation Looks in Today’s Classroom,” is an outstanding way to introduce this Best Practice book because

In all three of these artifacts, I have developed relevant, integrative, challenging, and exploratory units of study. The “Preserving the Past” unit incorporates all four core subjects as well as a service learning opportunity. My interdisciplinary unit on geography connects Language Arts with Social Studies with visual art mixed in, and the Greek mythology ELA unit was taught in conjunction with a Social Studies class (1). The Civil War unit and NC geography unit I have created incorporate Common Core standards as well as NC Essential standards. Lesson plans and assessments in all of these units were created using backwards design in which I started by looking at the standards and objectives students would be expected to reach and based my assessment based on those objectives (2,10).

I want improve upon my understanding and ability to create purposeful, contextually-relevant lesson and unit plans which are Backwards Designed, well scaffolded, and have meaningful formative and summative assessments (Goal 5).

Today’s education system is challenged with creating and incorporating the most effective and meaningful methodological and conceptual curriculum designs to date. One of the key challenges is to design curriculums that facilitate understanding, retention, and generalization (Bulgren, Deshler, & Lenz, 2007, p. 121-122). However, there is no single way to overcome these challenges due to the variances and complexities within each content area. These, along with the demands of meeting high stakes testing, and the endless revolving door of performance standards, places teachers in a constant state of turmoil as they seek to create coexistence between student achievement and rigorous and challenging standards. One strategy being implemented

“Backward Design” is the name of a technique used by teachers when designing curriculum. The concept

I anticipate backwards design will be successful because it allows me to analyze the standards and match our materials to them. It will allow me to have a scope and sequence that will outline the content that will be taught in every lesson and it allow me to expose the students to different activities to meet the different standards. By using backwards curriculum design I will keep the standards in mind when designing assessments and planning lessons and will not expose the students to unnecessary material that is not relevant for first grade. This design has strengths that make ideal for this setting. It allows teachers to keep the goals in mind when teaching and assessing students. This helps students achieve their academic goals and teachers

The upcoming changes taking place in my district provide an excellent opportunity for me to facilitate opportunities for differentiation in other classrooms. As the "owner" of English 11, I plan to focus on creating many different differentiated activities for the upcoming school year; this is the first step in my action plan. This will allow two other teachers to witness and implement these activities in their own classrooms. As Tomblinson and Imbeau (2010) explain, the barrier from some teachers in creating a differentiated classroom is the thought that they just do not have enough time (pg. 2458). My work developing differentiated instruction activities into the English 11 curriculum will allow other teachers to sample differentiated activities and decide what works for them without having to do all of the planning themselves. This will also open up dialogue between teachers to discuss how we can modify activities and assessments. To ensure materials are available to teachers, I will create a shared Google folder that contains directions and sample work. As a leader, I will also make sure to speak with teachers who are sharing English 11 to discuss differentiated activities and make possible modifications. As we work through the year, I will ask other teachers of English 11 for increasing input and ideas for differentiated activities. Chapter 4 of Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom suggests that inviting colleagues to be a part of the planning process incorporates each teacher's strengths and allows educators to learn from each other (pg. 1310). Furthermore, I will engage our special education teacher in designing activities that will best meet the needs of her students. Tomblinson and Imbeau further explain that co-planning enriches the repertoire of each teacher and forges teams

Within my setting, the Backwards model can be useful in the beginning of my teaching career. With the school providing the curriculum, I can make sure that the appropriate material is used in the classroom. By eliminating unnecessary material, the curriculum will meet all requirements that are given by the administration. The goal is set, then I can begin to plan

As I started to comprehend more about the principles of Universal Design for Learning, it illuminated me that I had taken the term “UDL” more literally compare to what I should have. Understanding by Design and Universal Design for learning are effective tools that benefits teachers and schools in order to design lessons, critique, peer-review, share and improve their lessons and assessments. Understanding is a worthy educational goal that needs to be addressed in early stages of learning from preschools to higher education and educators need to clarity the meaning of understanding in order to maintain a successful teaching outcome. In Understanding by Design, McTighe explains the nature of understanding and also propose that understanding

After examining the Understanding by Design framework by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, I have learned how to develop a unit by working backwards. The development of a unit is multi-layered in its focus on curriculum, instruction, and assessment. In planning I need to first assess what the big ideas are that I want my students to learn and why they are so important. In our study of Mesopotamia, we look at how our world began with the first civilization and the achievements that led to advances throughout history. The big ideas framed as understandings that I want my students to know are that the locations of civilizations and city-states in relation to specific landforms affects development and technology achievements can benefit society in a variety of areas. Then I look at what essential questions are raised and what I want students to know and be able to do. The framework looks to deepen student understanding and transfer that understanding of knowledge and skill into a performance task and other evidence of formative and summative assessments.

Teaching with purpose to have a desired outcome is one perspective to examine Dr. Robert Marzano’s book The Art and Science of Teaching. The instructional situation that I am familiar with is elementary. As I examine Marzano’s ten instructional design questions, that represent a logical planning sequence for effective instructional design, I will use elementary lenses.

When teachers develop differentiated instruction strategies for students they provide several different avenues for the student to achieve the same learning goal regardless of which path they choose. Student choice in which avenue they ultimately select creates a sense of ownership with the students and actively engages them in the lesson. The different avenues all lead to the same learning goal just as many roads might lead to one destination. Differentiated thinking empowers teachers to be responsive rather than reactive to the unique and individual personalities,

By using the Backward Design approach, my assessment practices have also been positively affected. Now that I know exactly how I am assessing my students before I teach a unit, I am able to address misunderstandings in advance and provide students with rubrics and assessment materials before they start a project or assignment, so they know exactly what is expected of them. I have found that students perform better and are more engaged when they know my expectations in advance. I have also discovered that students are more conscientious about their grade or performance when they are able to look at my assessment tool and ask questions or check off the tasks they have completed.

As classrooms are complex and at times unpredictable, unit planning is important to ensure a roadmap for focused teaching and learning with flexible engaging lessons. This unit was tailored for a rural setting to meet Australian Curriculum requirements using the backwards design model (Wiggins & McTighe 2005). Desired outcomes were planned in consultation with the Australian Curriculum, then acceptable evidence of learning and assessment determined. Learning experiences were then designed to utilise engaging and genuine real-world activities to relate shape and area to students’ lives outside school. Finally, the instruction was scaffolded to the students’ numeracy skills and zone of proximal development [ZPD]. The unit fits with my own personal pedagogical philosophy of a student-centred classroom, where students learn through in a positive classroom with social constructivism.