
Process of Backward Planning
- Write down the ultimate goal. ...
- Next, it is important to think over what all needs to be completed to accomplish the ultimate goal. ...
- Work backward some more. ...
- Work backward some more to decide what needs to be done to make sure the previous goal is achieved. ...
- Continue to work backward until you come to a stage where you have reached the first milestone. ...
What are the three steps to backward design planning?
There are three important steps to backward design planning: Teachers begin with the end in mind: What are the desired results for the lesson, unit, or exercise? Identifying the specific content knowledge or skill set teachers expect from students helps to narrow focus.
What is backwards or reverse planning?
In recent years, however, a method known as backwards or reverse planning has been receiving a lot of attention, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. When you plan in reverse, you start with your end goal and then work your way backwards from there to develop a plan of action.
What is backward planning in teaching?
In backward planning, teachers focus their attention on: (1) knowing the curriculum standards; (2) creating formative and summative (in-class) assessments and reviewing and analyzing state- and district-required assessments to meet the needs of all students; and then (3) designing lessons that integrate these standards and assessments.
How do you use backwards planning in a sentence?
We simply then mentally walked our way backwards, putting time points at each important step. For example, if time on target was at 11pm, than we needed to do a final reconnaissance of the target an hour beforehand. Given backward planning, our time there would be at 10pm.

What is the first step in backwards planning?
Backward design begins with the objectives of a unit or course—what students are expected to learn and be able to do—and then proceeds “backward” to create lessons that achieve those desired goals.
How do you do a backwards Army plan?
The U.S. Army, which makes extensive use of backward planning, describes the process in its Troop Leading Procedures as, “Reverse planning involves starting with the operation's end state and working backward in time. Leaders begin by identifying the last step, the next-to-last step, and so on.
How do you write a backward lesson plan?
Step 1: Identify a topic or chunk of content that needs to be covered. Step 2: Plan a sequence of lessons to teach that content. Step 3: Create an assessment to measure the learning that should have taken place in those lessons. Notice that in this approach, the assessment is created after the lessons are planned.
Is backwards planning effective?
It continually encourages the instructor to establish the purpose of doing something before implementing it into the curriculum. Therefore, backward design is an effective way of providing guidance for instruction and designing lessons, units, and courses.
What is an example of backwards planning?
When you plan in reverse, you start with your end goal and then work your way backwards from there to develop a plan of action. For example, if you have a paper to write, rather than focusing on the first steps, you would start by looking at the paper's due date and identifying the last action you would need to take.
What is backwards lesson planning?
This type of lesson planning is called Backwards Design, a method of lesson planning that is derived from student-centric learning objectives rather than solely focusing on state and national standards.
Why should teachers use backward design?
Using backwards design when planning allows you to be intentional with your activities and assessments. Backwards design ensures that you establish a purpose for doing something before implementing it into your unit. Planning with the end in mind can be used when planning an entire course, unit, or even a lesson.
What are the 3 stages of backward design?
18) structured backward design in three sequential stages: (1) Identify desired results, (2) determine acceptable evidence, and (3) plan learning experiences and instruction.
What are the benefits of backwards planning?
Backward Design helps instructors determine what material is necessary for students to meet the stated learning objectives. This makes it easier to decide what content to include and what is not as important. It is more efficient as well.
What are some disadvantages of backwards design?
CriticismsDifficulties in dealing with issues of validity and reliability.Textbooks and content standards do not always explicitly highlight the key concepts that students should learn.This approach provides teachers with little support about how to enhance understanding of their students and the way people learn.More items...
What is backwards design in teaching?
Backward design is the process to design a lesson, unit, or course by first determining what the final outcomes are and then planning assessment strategies and finally determining methods of instruction and assignments. It allows instructors to plan lessons and courses with a focus on student learning.
How does traditional lesson plan differ from backward lesson plan?
In traditional curriculum planning, a list of content that will be taught is created and/or selected. In backward design, the educator starts with goals, creates or plans out assessments and finally makes lesson plans.
How do you create a lesson plan?
Listed below are 6 steps for preparing your lesson plan before your class.Identify the learning objectives. ... Plan the specific learning activities. ... Plan to assess student understanding. ... Plan to sequence the lesson in an engaging and meaningful manner. ... Create a realistic timeline. ... Plan for a lesson closure.
What are the parts of traditional lesson plan?
The most effective lesson plans have six key parts:Lesson Objectives.Related Requirements.Lesson Materials.Lesson Procedure.Assessment Method.Lesson Reflection.
How to do a goal in reverse order?
Identify the date by which your goal should be completed. Identify the last step you must do before the goal’s due date. Identify the next to the last step; the third to the last, and continue until you finish putting all the steps in reverse order. You may need to move things around a bit until you finalize the plan.
What is the first step in career planning?
In all cases, research shows that great career decisions and solid plans come to fruition faster with the same first step: a comprehensive career assessment that includes aptitudes and interests, with career recommendations that are a best fit.
How to create a timeline?
Create a deadline-driven timeline by committing your plan to paper and calendar by assigning specific due dates to each major goal and supporting steps. It is much easier to create your calendar by working backwards – keeping the end in mind. Identify the date by which your goal should be completed. Identify the last step you must do ...
How to identify a career goal?
For instance, before getting hired for the desired position, they might have to, in reverse order, 7) complete an internship, 6) take the required courses at a university or community college, 5) get accepted into the program, 4) apply to schools, 3) research schools that have the academic program desired, 2) job shadow a few individuals working in the desired job, and 1) conduct informational interviews with people working in the desired job or career field.
What is backward planning?
Backward planning lets you know when you need to get started, and also gives you timing points along the way to let you know if you need to adjust your plan in order to get ‘er done when you need to. For example, if we ran late on the planning for the mission above, we might skip eating or cut down on equipment prep time.
Why is backward planning important?
Backward planning will help you with anything that has a deadline or a “time on target.” In the Special Forces, we were known for our focus on being on time, which kept us on track and on schedule. In combat, arriving too early might leave you exposed without air cover. Arriving too late at an ambush might mean that you missed your target. Either way was failure.
Is it good to have a game plan for a week?
Not only will you be more productive , but achieving each goal will come much easier, and you will soon appreciate this all-important factor in your success.
Is Ranger School backward planning?
While some might say that for a lot people, Ranger School was spent in a daze of confusion, hunger and fatigue, backward planning does not mean that you have to plan in confused or awkward manner.
What are the steps to doing backward planning?
MindTools has identified 5 steps to backward planning. I’ll give my own descriptors for how to do those steps.
What is backward planning?
Unlike forward planning, which is more task-focused, backward planning is more milestone-focused. Backward planning starts with milestones listed in reverse chronological order, along with their associated tasks.
What is backward planning?
Using a backward planning approach to enhance teaching and learning is a renewed approach that challenges the traditional methods of curriculum planning. In traditional lesson planning, teachers begin with looking at what needs to be taught. They plan lessons, choose activities and teach the material and then give the assessment.
When did Wiggins and McTighe introduce the backward planning approach to curriculum design?
In 1998, Wiggins & McTighe introduced the backward planning approach to curriculum design where the destination is designated before mapping the route to be taken. This approach also is used in other disciplines, such as in one of the “habits of highly effective people” by Stephen Covey (2004) – “Begin with the end in mind.”
What is lesson planning?
The first is direct teaching, which includes connecting and engaging students to the lesson objective that leads to the essential question, exploring students’ background knowledge and presenting an explanation of the concepts of the lesson being taught.
What should leaders assure during classroom observations?
During classroom observations, leaders also should assure that what was discussed in PLCs is implemented during the instructional period. If not, feedback, support and coaching also can assist teachers to enhance their practices.
What is it?
Backwards design is a specific process of creating units and lesson plans. The methodology entails starting with the overall learning objectives. This is followed by formulating a final assessment that encompasses all of the learning objectives. Finally, each lesson in the unit is planned to address at least one of the culminating objectives.
Materials Needed
My dad, a carpenter, always used to say that any job was easy if you had the right tools. When sitting down to chart out your unit plan and a map of your lessons it’s useful to have a few tools of the trade handy.
Step 1 – Identify the Desired Results
Brainstorm the overall objectives that you as a teacher want to achieve during the unit. This will include both content and skills. Objectives are specific goals you aim to reach with the students. Here are the questions to ask yourself:
Step 2 – Create an Assessment
Now that you’ve given deep consideration to exactly what it is that you want students to get from your unit it’s time to formulate an assessment that utilizes, hopefully all, of the desired results. This can be tough the first couple of times.
Part 3 – Plan the Instruction
Once you have the assessment task created planning lessons is easy. You need to scaffold, step-by-step the skills and content knowledge needed to complete the final assessment. There will be many mini-assessments, aka formative assessments, along the way to measure student readiness for the final task.
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What does it mean to follow the UBD steps?
Following the UbD steps means that rather than abandoning lessons, I’m able to revisit and tweak them to realign the work toward my educational goals. These clearly articulated end-goals mean it is significantly easier to see where a learning activity may have derailed and then how to fix it. It also reduces my time at the podium and reminds students that their ability to understand, contextualize, explain, and apply content is the true goal of their education.
What is the final step in a lesson?
An important final step can be reflection. After the individual lessons or the unit as a whole, it is incredibly important to revisit that first step and measure how effectively the individual learning experiences aligned with the overall goals.
How to use UBD?
Using Understanding by Design’s framework (UbD) can help ensure that curriculum, content, and assessment are aligned with the specific outcomes and transferable skills we seek to impart to our students. UbD is a process of backward curriculum design. There are three important steps to backward design planning: 1 Identifying the desired outcome 2 Determining assessment evidence 3 Planning learning experiences and instruction
Why do backwards and forwards plans look similar?
Instead, it seems to be the process of reverse planning that can increase motivation and goal expectancy.
Why is it important to work backwards?
As counterintuitive as it may seem, working backwards in this way can give you a much clearer picture of what and how much must be accomplished during each phase of a project. It can also help you identify and avoid unnecessary activities.
What is reverse planning?
In recent years, however, a method known as backwards or reverse planning has been receiving a lot of attention, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. When you plan in reverse, you start with your end goal and then work your way backwards from there to develop a plan of action.
How does future retrospection help us?
Future retrospection can help increase our anticipation of pleasure from achieving our goal, which brings about goal-directed behaviours.
Why is reverse planning so effective?
Part of the reason reverse planning is so effective for complex goals is that it helps you focus on the outcome rather than on all the things that might go wrong along the way.
How to plan in reverse chronological order?
1. Start with the end goal. Before you start constructing your plan, look at the end goal.
Why is it important to focus on the end goal?
One reason for this is that focusing on the end goal allows us to use our imagination to think of future events as if they already happened, which makes it easier for us to visualize the steps we will need to take. The researchers refer to this as “future retrospection.”
What is backwards planning?
Backwards planning also provides a time frame for when you must accomplish critical sub-goals, and allows you to consider and plan for required resources, financing, support, or materials at the right time. Backwards planning also offers checkpoints to ascertain if you are making progress, or are on schedule, or to consider changing your plans ...
Why is it important to choose your small and large goals wisely?
Success in life comes from achieving many small goals successively, that will lead to a higher objective, therefore it is important to choose your small and large goals wisely to focus your effort and make progress that sustains your motivation. Using Backwards Planning can help prioritize the most important or essential tasks to spend your time and energy on.
What is the Pareto principle?
This model suggest that approximately 80% of productive results can be attributed to 20% of one’s efforts, or that choosing the most important 20% of your sub-goals will have the greatest result. Thus you can eliminate, ignore, or delegate the least productive sub-tasks. Or, alternatively focusing 80% of your available time and effort on the most important 20% of your sub-tasks will move you faster and more effectively to your desired end-state.
Why is prioritization important in planning?
In any planning or goal setting process, you will come up with multiple sub-goals or tasks that must be accomplished along the way to reaching for the big desired end state, this can become overwhelming and lead to distraction of focus or even immobilization, so prioritization is crucial to success .
What does "beginning with the end in mind" mean?
Covey states, “To begin with the end in mind means to start with a clear understanding of your destination. It means to know where you’re going so that you better understand where you are now so that the steps you take are always in the right direction.”.
Who is Roger Sherrin?
Roger Sherrin is an Executive and Global Professional Coach, ACC, BCC, CSC, Coach A Global Coach, and E.I. Coach, and U.S. Army Major, retired. If you have any questions on this process or your personal strategic planning, contact me at [email protected].
