Backwards Design: The Big Picture and Still Wondering...

Since implementing Backward Design planning strategies in my classroom curriculum I’ve helped my students (and myself!) see the bigger picture in all that we do in a day, week, unit and year. Our learning doesn’t seem so segmented as we’re easily able to make connections from one curricular area to the next when we keep our focus “big” before zooming in. It’s also put more of a responsibility on my students as they are starting to see (after a year and a month with the same group) that they are able to drive their own learning and make connections that are meaningful to them. For the first time I’m relinquishing some of that planning (and…dare I say it…control) as I’m beginning new learning with “what do we already know” and “what questions do we have.” This is then allowing me to formulate the enduring understandings and essential questions based on their prior knowledge AND standards (not just the latter!). Backwards Design also ties very nicely into our school’s STEM initiative towards more inquiry based learning so I’m seeing some great connections there too!

Questions I still have:

Do you derive your stage 1 (essential questions, student must know, etc.) from a resource?

Do you find yourself struggling at all to ensure that you’re covering district curriculum, standards, new common core while keeping the learning “big picture’ and student driven? How are you addressing this struggle?