‘Backward Planning’What it’s about, why we need it, and how do

school leaders encourage it?Working with Ruth Sutton, October 2013

Understanding the process of ‘backward planning’ in the curriculum

Discovering how ‘instructional leadership’ really works, in this context

Checking out all the available resources Enabling and encouraging teachers to work

collaboratively: Why? How? Developing skills and confidence in your own school:

designing a PD ‘process’, using ‘backward planning’ Sustaining the focus in the longer term Identifying most effective next steps, in school, for

your Division, and for mRLC

Outline for the day

In a small group… Share your understanding of ‘backward

planning’ and how it works Draw a picture, or a diagram, to illustrate it What questions do you, or your teachers,

have about it?

What do we already know?

Fight the urge to plan too much detail too soon

Teachers – and leaders too - step back and take a long look at the curriculum requirements, for a whole grade level

Consider the total of content, skills and approaches expected/required for that year long program

Break the whole into ‘chunks’ and decide their size and order

Planning: from big picture to ‘chunks’

1. Big learning goals: what do we want the students to learn, ie. content knowledge, skills and ‘behaviours’? (Don’t go straight to what the students are going to do)

2. Evidence of learning: what will we look for to show that these expected outcomes have been achieved? How will students be involved in developing and understanding these criteria?

3. Assessment activities: how will students be enabled and encouraged to provide this evidence, and get feedback to decide their next steps? Assessments must be as valid (ie..accurate) and reliable (ie. consistent/fair) as possible (ie. manageable)

4. Teaching: what teaching and learning activities will enable and encourage students to learn and practice the desired skills and content? How will these activities be differentiated?

5. Starting point: how will the students’ prior learning be identified and built upon, and previous misconceptions be rectified?

‘Backward Planning’ for each chunk

More ‘evidence’ doesn’t necessarily mean better evidence: what matters is ‘sufficiency’

The quality – validity and reliability – is more important than the quantity of data about student learning

The question is not ‘How much evidence can we manage?’ but ‘How little evidence do we need?’

Things to consider…

Assessment:the search for balance

Validity(accuracy)

Reliability(fairness)

Manageability and

‘Credibility’

Best fit

1. Teachers need help to design ‘valid’ assessment activities

2. Shared professional judgment is much more important than individual professional judgment

3. Teachers who are unsure of their evidence will try to gather too much

Lessons from experience

Enable and encourage their teachers to share their interpretations of the ‘outcome’. I call this process ‘moderation’.

This process is time-consuming, needs careful management and has a huge payoff for students (greater clarity), teachers (greater confidence) and parents (better information)

Successful school leaders in the current curriculum climate…..

1. Choose some outcomes to focus on2. Share what we think the outcomes mean3. Find ‘neutral’ examples of these outcomes in

practice, at various levels4. Discuss what ‘levels/standards’ the examples

represent5. Design and agree a ‘shared assessment’ around

these outcomes6. Try it out and bring back examples of student

work7. Discuss the outcomes and ‘standards’ in this work

Moderation in practice

www.mRLC.ca, follow links to Tools

The backward planning template

The ‘essential outcomes’

A sample Science unit

mRLC resources, available on line

From what you know already, and have heard from me, and have seen on the mRLC website…..

Go back and add to the picture/diagram you started with, and add or amend where necessary

What issues and questions still remain?

Reflection and questions…

26 studies, of which 11 were chosen as most useful to decide the leadership activities most associated with improving student learning and achievement

Each activity was identified, and its ‘effect size’ showing how important it was

‘School Leadership and Student Outcomes’

NZ ‘Best Evidence’ Research, Vivianne Robinson, 2007

Decide the priority order for these factors, from least to most influential for improved student learning

o Strategic resourcing o Planning, co-ordinating and evaluating

teaching and the curriculum o Ensuring an orderly and supportive

environment o Promoting and participating in teacher

learning and development o Goal setting

Leadership activities, for improving student learning

o Ensuring an orderly and supportive environment (0.27)

o Strategic resourcing (0.34)o Goal setting (0.35)o Planning, co-ordinating and evaluating

teaching and the curriculum (0.42)o Promoting and participating in teacher

learning and development (0.84)

Leadership activities, in ascending order of significance for improving student learning

What’s the ‘big idea’ and the desired learning outcomes for teachers in your school?

What would/could the evidence of teachers’ learning be? How, when and by whom would this ‘evidence’ be gathered

and assessed? What will teachers need to learn and practice to be able to

demonstrate this evidence? How will you differentiate? What about the resources you

might need, groupings etc? What about ‘structure’ for this PD? How will you check teachers’ prior learning and experience? How will you engage and motivate the teachers throughout

this process?

Be prepared to present this plan another group!

Using a backward planning process, plan a 5 hour adult learning PD experience in your school on ‘Backward Planning’: work with people you don’t normally work with

Backward planning is not an ‘initiative’ : it raises questions all the stages of teaching…

How teachers plan their ‘units’ How they ‘differentiate’ and include as many

students as they can How they engage and motivate their students How they find and judge the evidence of

learning How they ‘record’ their assessments How they describe and report student

achievement

SUSTAINABILITY

‘Initiatives’ sound and feel different from year to year

Teachers and Principals complain about ‘initiative overload’, lose sight of the big picture, and what’s fundamentally important

SO..What other school priorities do you have? What’s on your ‘front burners’?

How do these priorities link together? Do they have ‘indicators’ in common?

How might these ‘overlaps’ make your implementation plans more effective or efficient?

Short-term ‘initiative’ or long-term school focus

Aspect of teaching……..

…………………

……………….. ………………

‘initiative’ Planning with the end in mind

Teacher collaboration

Classroom assessment

Developing student resilience

Implementing new curriculum

Backward planning

Sharing the work

More ‘reliable’ and consistent

Focus on learning skills

Differentiation3 level planning

Sharing resources

More accurate diagnosis

Supporting vulnerable learners

Year to year continuity

Well-designed appropriate assessment

developing student ‘growth mindset’

From ‘initiatives’ to ‘fundamentals’

Teaching and leading are both hard-wired habits

We learn to teach mainly through experience

Our teaching and leadership styles reflect our personal approach: what we do is a reflection of who we are

Habits are notoriously hard to change

The 3 part brain The neo-cortex:

useful for academic assignments

The reptilian brain: useful for basic instincts

The limbic brain: useful for changing habits

From ‘knowing’ to ‘doing’ The practices of

teaching, schooling and leadership are deeply ingrained or ‘hard-wired’

Habits are formed and changed in the limbic brain not the neo-cortex

They can only be changed through the limbic brain

Changing habits – according to ‘Addiction Theory’ (Proshaska) Pre-contemplation Contemplation First step Discomfort and

floundering Practice Confidence New habit Coach someone else

The Weightwatchers Model

The Weight-watchers model for improving teaching, and leadership, involves:

Big, important, agreed goalsSmall steps and continual feedbackPerseveranceCollegial support and accountabilityRecognition of success

Think about your own school/role1. What have we already achieved in

implementing the outcomes - based curriculum in our classrooms?

2. What’s still to do?3. What will be the ‘indicators’ of progress?4. What are your one or two next steps – no more

– between now and the end of this term?5. Who needs to do what, with whom and by

when?

Planning next steps: individual reflection

Have a Learning Conversations with someone from outside your Division

Explain why you’ve made these choices and decisions

Ask and answer good questions about these decisions

Be prepared to amend and improve

Very careful listening

Open questions designed to make the other person reflect, not just to seek information

Clear achievable next steps

Share what you’re planning to do.

Consider – what might help us achieve these changes?

What might be the barriers to these changes? What could get in your way? How might you deal with these potential roadblocks?

Consider - what you will need more help with, in the January session, and in March

Back in your ‘Division’ group

Keep in touch. If I can help, I wil

Email exit slips to lorimtighe@gmail.com

Sutton.ruth@gmail.com

Twitter: @ruthsutton

www.ruthsutton.co.uk

Thanks for your work