Backwards Planning: Chapter 1 Reflection

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After reading the first chapter of Backwards Planning: Building Enduring Understanding Through Instructional Design, the concept "backwards planning" made so much more sense to me. Especially when teaching complex and broad subjects, keeping the whole picture in mind and looking at the intended outcome in order to decide the next step is such a brilliant idea. While reading, I was able to connect how I would incorporate this practice into my lesson planning and teaching. I’ve chosen two questions to reflect on my reading:

1) What are three or four “big ideas” at the heart of a subject or topic that you teach? How can first determining the “big ideas” help you plan your instruction for enduring understanding?

I can relate this method of teaching to my older students (middle school) and the subject of science/biology (my minor). If I were to be teaching about ecosystems, I would first have to break down what outcomes my students would need to meet in order to be successful in their understanding. Some major concepts when considering ecosystems are living/nonliving organisms, energy transfer, and landscape and topography. Having these big concepts in mind, I can tailor my teaching to target each specific area of learning about the ecosystem and make sure they’re intertwined in the big picture of learning about ecosystems. Because I broke down the large concept of “ecosystems” into individual components, I’m able to better understand what I need to cover, what my students need to learn in order to be successful, and put together meaningful lessons that will further their understanding.

4) How can you make your assignments relevant and authentic?

I believe strongly in teaching the whole student, mind, body, spirit, interests, personality, and all. Students won’t want to learn if they don’t feel heard or wanted. With every lesson, I like to incorporate at least some interesting fact, inquiry question, or relatable content that each student can connect to in some way. This takes time, as you have to get to know your students interests, activities, learning styles, etc. but will certainly pay off in the long run. I also believe that each assignment / assessment should have more than one way of displaying and demonstrating students’ work. While I can’t give every student the perfect test or assignment, I can make it so they are able to express their understanding in a way that makes sense to them and also shows me (the teacher) that they grasp the concept.

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