Advantages of Backward Design

Backward design begins with the end in mind: What knowledge do I want my students to develop? How will my students demonstrate their understanding when the unit is completed? How will I make sure that students have the skills and understand that is required on the assessment?

These are the questions that teachers pose at the earliest stages of the backward design planning process. By beginning with the end in mind, teachers are able to avoid the common pitfall of planning forward from activity to activity, only to find that some students are prepared for the final assessment while others are not. Using backward design, teaching for understanding, and requiring students to apply and demonstrate their learning are not new concepts. There are many good teachers that have been using this style but not having a name for it.

One huge advantage to this plan is that the teacher knows where they are going before thaey start the lesson. By starting with the end in mind the teacher plan for what is needed to get there. The assessment is already completed before the lesson starts, making it eaisier for the teacher to make sure they cover the important points of a chapter. No mater what we are working on if we have a end result in mind we can make a solid plan on how to get there. Even though we have a set plan we can change our direction if needed, but we then should come back to that set plan just as if we were taking a detour on the road.

In what ways can I influence and support the implementation of the National Education Technology Plan

The National Education Technology Plan is a lengthy plan, but is layed out very well. This plan addreses the needs of education in the near future. this plan not only identifies the needs but goes a step futher and identifies goals and gives recomendations to accomplish these goals. One area they identified was assesments. There is a need to find ways to meaure what matters, diagnose the strngths and weeknesses in the course of learning when there is still time to improve the student's performances. I see students that have found there way around the present assessment styles and continue to move up in grade levels but have failed to reach the necessary goals for that level. By using different types of assessments when i teach i hope to avoide this problem.

Under the Obama administration, education has become an urgent priority driven by two clear goals set by the President:

• By 2020, we will raise the proportion of college graduates from where it now stands
(39%) so that 60% of our population holds a two-year or four-year degree (National
Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, 2008).
• We will close the achievement gap so that all students – regardless of race, income, or
neighborhood – graduate from high school ready to succeed in college and careers.
The Obama administration is on board with the NETP so this gives us as teachers someone to speak out to so we can achieve the goals that have been set in our classroom. I like to push for new ideas. Going into a new school i hope to bring fresh ideas as well as learn new ideas from the current staff.

Backward Design

What are the advantages of Backward Design? How can I use its principles to guide the learning design process?
The biggest advantage is that you know the the desired knowledge you want the student to achieve before you start planing your lesson. Instead of building assessments off of what material you cover in class you build the lessons of of the assessment that has been already designed. By doing this you have a more direct path to the objective you have set for the material to be covered. When you have a goal in mind that is to be achieved you can build the necessary steps to achieve that goal. When I am teaching I will create my objectives for the subject at hand and design my lesson plan to achieve that goal.

How can learning circles benefit my learning throughout this class?

Learning circles are a great resource! When you have a question big or small learning circles give us three more people we can look to for assistance. When a student has a question they feel i dumb it is sometimes difficult to ask the proffessor, so with having the LC'c it may make it easier to find that answer. Learning circles also brings the class together and promotes unity. LC's teach us to work together as a team and this is the way it should be when we start teaching. More material can be covered and and shared amoug the LC's inturn more knowledge can be acuired.