#backward design

One of the unique challenges of my role is that there is no particular curriculum that I must follow. As the only English teacher in a Moroccan elementary school whose goal is not only to teach English but to teach subjects in English (ELA), I'm in my dream position. I have been given the green light to decide on the learning outcomes, I can work within the school's pedagogical framework, and I can build the syllabus and lesson plans from the ground up. It's a lot of flexibility, but that flexibility is also a double-edged sword: if you're not careful, you could become overwhelmed.

In this second half of the school year, I've been consolidating the curriculum and the syllabi I've used this year, along with their lesson plans, and creating a large departmental handbook that can be used in upcoming years by English teachers who join the team. While I'm the only one right now, the school is rapidly growing, and I won't be able to manage all of the grade levels on my own for long. So, this is the best way to centralize the resources, policies, and approaches that I've been using while also providing a framework for new teachers to be able to integrate their own approaches as they come along.

A core pillar of this legacy project is instructional design and curriculum mapping. I'm currently meticulously auditing our learning objectives to bridge the gap between elementary foundations and secondary school learning outcome requirements. Because the school wishes to allow its students the opportunity to continue their middle and high school studies in English, French, or Arabic systems as they please, my job is to make sure that our students are ready for whatever English-language system they may want to go in to, be it American or British (Cambridge, IB, National curriculum, etc.). To that end, I've been using a method called Backward Design to do this (or, as I like to call it, backmapping).

Backmapping is when you take a learning outcome that the students need to reach at a certain point and working backwards to break it down into a sequence of learning objectives they need to reach at each level of their studies. Since I have also been experimenting with spiral curriculum design methods, it's important to note that backward design can also create a framework that strongly supports spiral teaching methodologies.

For example, for English Literature A-Levels, students many need to be able to analyze how a writer uses atmosphere and symbolism to reflect a character's internal feelings.

By backmapping from this learning outcome, I may say that in Grade 6 (Year 7/middle school entry), students need to be able to understand techniques and authorial intent, how authors use metaphor, similes, and personification, and may also need to analyze poetry with a focus on word choice. From there, I can go back to Grades 3-5 to look at what students need in order to get up to those learning outcomes.

At Key Stage 2 (Grades 3-5), the focus shifts toward Inferential Reasoning and the structural mechanics of the PEE (Point, Evidence, Explanation) paragraph. This means they can explain how actions tell us the emotional state of a character, and can write a structured paragraph to present their argument. But what do they need in order to get to that level?

We go back to a Grade 1-2 level, and decide that students will need to have a good understanding of emotion and feeling vocabulary as well as show an understanding of how a story's environment can change as a reflection of a character's emotions (ex: when a character is sad and it's raining). They'll also need to explore a range of different adjectives and understand how adjectives work, grammatically speaking.

This is the general gist of backmapping or Backwards Design. From here, the best thing to do is to create a vertical alignment table where we can clearly see the progression of these competencies from one grade level to the next.

Since I'm working in a trilingual environment, cross-curricular mapping is also important for me here, and it's something I'm trying to fold in. Where are the concepts that the students are learning with me introduced in the Arabic or French lessons? For example, if they're learning about herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores with me in English, when are these introduced in Arabic or French science lessons? If they've already been introduced, then the content knowledge only needs activating, and I can build upon their foundation, and even use translanguaging skills to ensure understanding. If they're introduced first with me in English, then I need to ensure both content knowledge and language acquisition.

In my work providing reference support to library users, whether in the public or academic setting, I did not consider the backwards design process when providing one on one consultation or instruction to visitors. In this line of work, we have RUSA guidelines to walk information staff through the reference interview process. Rather than identifying learning goals appropriate for group instruction, I was merely focused on finding thorough ways to approach users’ questions. 

Through this program, I’m hoping to expand on my skill set and opportunities as an educator in the post secondary sector. Part of the skills’ exploration and development is familiarizing myself with learning theories and models suited to different contexts, and being able to define the most appropriate models to use. Much of the work in the BA ESDT program has me considering using a Backwards Design approach for instructional sessions, either led by myself or other librarians in undergraduate classrooms at my current workplace, OCAD University. I’m also considering backwards design when creating asynchronous tools, such as quick reference guides for various accessibility software I work with, like Kurzweil. 

Prior to the BA ESDT program, I would not have been able to name a learning theory, aside from maybe Behaviorism if my life depended on it. Now, the concept of Backwards Design is a familiar one, having used it to design courses in both Assessment for Learning and Instructional Design. 

For those unfamiliar, Backwards Design is a learning model that plans learning experiences with the final assessment in mind. This is done by designing the lesson plan in these three stages, in the following order:

Identifying Desired Results

Determine Acceptable Evidence of Learning

Design Learning Experiences and Instruction

You can see these steps outlined below:

In Week 9 of our readings for Foundations of Learning, my peers and I were introduced to Stuart E. Dreyfus’s 5-Stage Model of Adult Skill Acquisition. Essentially, this model scores learners’ skill level on a 5 point, chronological and hierarchical level from novice, advanced beginner, competency, proficiency and expertise. Within these levels, instructional designers can define what skills learners should attain, and by what standards. The example given in the readings was learning to drive, and comparing what a competent driver can do comfortably compared to a beginner. 

You can learn more about Dreyfus’s 5-Stage Model for Adult Skill Acquisition here:

In this context, and as a relevant example, I am trying to come up with a one page handout to help students register for Kurzweil with their OCAD U login credentials and get them started with the Kurzweil Read the Web Google Chrome extension. With this extension, users would be able to have text in PDFs or plain HTML included in their Canvas course pages converted from text to speech. Integrating Dreyfus’s 5-Stage Model of Skill Acquisition for Adults, I can see what skills I’d want a new Kurzweil Read the Web user to be familiar with. I can consider which functions within the Chrome extension would be considered advanced. What skills would be better suited for a one on one demonstration with a requestor? What would crowd the handout? 

By incorporating the 5-levels of Learning for Adults, instructional designers are able to create precise learning goals and scaffold activities based on learners’ familiarity with the content. That way, learning goals are set for the duration of instruction, rather than the end of the lesson. 

After Stage 1 and Stage 2, BackWard Design, Stage 3, is the most important part of Backward Design teaching methodology. Teachers plan the most appropriate lessons and learning activities to address the three different types of goals identified in Stage 1: transfer, meaning-making, and acquisition. Teaching for understanding requires that students are given numerous opportunities to draw inferences and make generalizations for themselves (with teacher support). 

One of the most important goals is to make students understand the content. Understanding cannot simply be told; the learner has to actively construct meaning (or misconceptions and forgetfulness will ensue). Teachers should provide learners with ample opportunities to apply their learning to new situations and receive timely feedback on their performance to help them improve. Thus, the teacher’s act as a coach  who needs to constantly give feedback and advice about how to use content effectively

Begin with the End in Mind to Create Memorable Instructional Design

Logic tells us we should start at the beginning, so each component of a project is built upon the information that came before. But what if changing up that expectation could breathe new life and infuse fresh thinking into your instructional design?

Author and inspirational speaker Dr. Stephen Covey popularized this idea in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People. He explains that to…