Week 2 – FCE1 Curriculum Design and Development” Assignment 3 – “Understanding by Design”

Backward Design

Week 2 – FCE1 Curriculum Design and Development” Assignment 3 – “Understanding by Design”

Backward design is a way to establish a goal and then teach to reach that goal.  I didn’t intend for the “teach to reach” to rhyme but it is sort of the theme and essence of “Backward Design”.  Some teachers have a vague idea of what they want their students to have learned at the end of lesson or series of lessons.  However, what the students actually retain and learn from the lesson(s) may not exactly be on the mark of what the teacher intended. What the students learned might still be considered satisfactory but “Backward Design” is designed to reach more of the entire goal, if not the entire goal, for which the teacher set out.  It also forces the teacher to not be so vague about outcomes and goals and instead be more exact about what students take away from lessons taught.    Backward design also helps teachers differentiate the difference between content and what you would like students to do with the content being taught.  

According to Grant Wiggins  “Backward Design” there’s a misalignment between short term plans and actions and longtime goals”.   Short term goals of a teacher would be what the teacher wants the student to retain, at least, long enough to pass the exam I’ve created on this topic.  “Backward Design” allows the teacher to focus on longtime goals, that is, how the student can use what they’ve received from the lesson, now and throughout their lifetime.