G.Greywall- Module 5: Unit 1: Summary

Gretchen Greywall

Module 5: Unit 1: Activity 4

Blog Post Summary

Backward Mapping:

Backward mapping or backward design is simply a method in which teachers plan lessons starting with the end and moving to the beginning. Teachers do this by creating objectives for students' learning outcomes. From there the teacher can then address how students' will demonstrate their proficiency (performances) as well as how he or she will demonstrate the lesson. This is an important strategy because teachers can design and select assessments and activities that are aimed at a specific goal. The indented goal or end objective of material knowledge is what drives the lesson and does not become an afterthought. Furthermore, because it goal oriented, teachers can explain specific expectations to their students that will aid in their success. Steps I would take to use backward mapping:

First: Read the standard and identify and breakdown the specific areas within the standard that need to be covered and mastered (desired result).

Second: Think about both abstract and concrete (content and skills) that students need to master.

Third: Create an assessment standard like a rubric for me to mark against. Create a performance assessment for the students like a quiz that covers both content and skills that have been addressed on the grading rubric.

Fourth: Based on the assessment and standard create a lesson plan that is engaging to students and is aimed at successfully achieving the pre-determined objective.

Unpacking a standard:

The use of standards are essential to teaching. Almost every governing body has standards that teachers must follow to teach students mastery by the end of the semester, year, etc. It is important to follow standards to make sure that students are learning what they need to and are on par with their peers by following consistent guidelines. It allows teachers to ensure that students are progressing toward being an independent and successful adult and citizen and that their skills and knowledge are transferable across the country. Unpacking a standard is the act of breaking down a certain standard into smaller, more specific detail. First, the teacher must adjust the standard into out-come focused objectives. When teachers do this they should be looking for nouns (content knowledge) and verbs (skills, process) to build objectives that focus on each step of the standard; core elements. After this, teachers must then examine and determine essential questions and problems that the student must be able to answer about the standard. Finally, the teacher must determine an assessment that helps the teacher obtain evidence that the students are learning the material. It is important to unpack a standard because it helps the teacher break down a lengthly standard into key, attainable, and specific objective to ensure that the student learns and understands each element of the standard. It allows for the teacher to break up the standard between content and process skills and determine if the goal is content or process based. In doing this you can structure the lesson appropriately. For example, when unpacking a standard, I would first look for key verbs that indicate the skills the students need to learn and then apply the appropriate skill to the content knowledge that has been listed. To be able to successful master the content area, the skill needs to be mastered first. Therefore, I would first teach the skill and make sure to address the importance of the skill in the backwards mapping model and when creating my lesson objectives.

Writing Lesson Objectives:

After unpacking the standards, teachers have to create learning goals. It is important that these objectives are not abstract. Objectives should follow the SMART model: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and targeted to a level. Specific: The objectives need to be clear and concrete; expressing exactly what students need to know and what the teacher expects them to do with that knowledge. The objective should use active language/verbs and be targeted at a specific group. Measurable: The teacher has to determine how they will measure if the student has achieved the objective. This should not be a vague statement like “students can write a letter'. The language used should be active like identify, inform, persuade, explain. Attainable: The teacher has to make sure that the objective can be successfully completed by students. If it is unrealistic, than it is rendered useless and will only harm students confidence. To make objectives attainable, teachers can break down the objective into manageable parts to help students focus and not become overwhelmed. Relevant: teachers should make objectives that have relevant purpose and skills to life skills, this makes them more credible and encourages students to see the 'why?' in the lesson. Target: make sure the material is appropriate for the level so that the objective is specific to the needs of the student and is attainable. By creating concrete objectives, it is more likely that students will understand and achieve goals as well as make it easier for the teacher to measure and track growth and learning.