Backward design, backward planning, backward mapping—regardless of what you call it, this highly-effective planning process (created by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe) provides teachers with a unique tool for reaching specific learning goals. Encourage your teachers to begin with the objectives of each course (see Standards), then work “backward” to create lessons that will achieve those goals.
The idea behind backward design is that if you start with the end goal, rather than starting with the first lesson chronologically, you can design a sequence of lessons, problems, projects, presentations, assignments, and assessments that will greatly improve the alignment between instruction and curriculum goals … that is, the student will actually be learning what he/she is supposed to learn!
Here’s Wiggins and McTighe’s description of Backward Design.
Here’s Jay McTighe’s homepage.
Here’s an excellent overview of the UbD Framework from ASCD.
And here’s Vanderbilt University’s guide to Backward Design.
You should strongly encouraged your teachers to use this evidence-based approach when creating any instructional materials … from long-range strategies to topical units to lesson plans.
