thinkbrit

mrsjdr:

When you are planning a long-term project for your students where do you start and what things do you think about?

I’m trying to plan out my state/regions thematic project which will encompass writing, reading, and art under the umbrella of the SS theme.  I have lots of ideas but am sitting here frozen not knowing where to start. I really miss having an awesome teammate to collaborate with in times like these, because I’ve been so lucky to have that in past years.

Any help, tips, ideas, or resources are welcome!

I know we talked yesterday, but for anyone else’s reference: I have come to the side of the backwards planning and I love it. I have trouble thinking about a unit or a lesson in another way these days.

I start by asking myself what I want students to understand, know, and be able to do.

• What are the things I want them to remember/understand when they’re 40 that can be achieved in this lesson (enduring understandings)? Typically, there is one… maybe two. 
• What are the Blooms-type learning targets I want students to reach by the end of the unit (focus these around the tip of the Bloom’s triangle - the higher-level thinking skills)? This is where I look at the standards.
• What skills will students be able to demonstrate proficiency in by the end of the unit?

Then, I start thinking about how I’ll know if students will be able to demonstrate these things.

• What kinds of formative assessment can I use to drive my instruction throughout the unit? What will I look for and what will demonstrate proficiency?
• What kind of summative assessment will I have at the end of the unit? What will I look for and what will demonstrate mastery?

Then, and only then, do I start thinking about learning experiences.

• What do I need to teach these students to get to my planned ends?
• What order do I need to teach it in so that it makes sense?
• What are the smaller learning targets I will have along the way to help guide our learning and fine-tune my instruction?
• Where will the assessments fit into my instructional plan?

I find that planning this way really makes my instructional goals clearer, and therefore my instruction (most of the time…). I cannot recommend The Understanding by Design Guide to Creating High-Quality Units highly enough. You probably need to have a background in UbD to follow it, but it is a useful tool to help frame your thinking into a backwards plan.