The Value of Backward Design

 

http://www.sjsu.edu/people/waimei.fang/courses/coursedesign/coursedesign.jpg

     Throughout all of my teaching and education courses this term, the topic of "backward design" has continuously been debated. "Is this an effective lesson planning strategy? Is this a beneficial way of constructing a lesson? Is it wise to design the final activity prior to highlighting the main lesson objectives?" These kinds of questions frequently arose within our university seminar discussions.  From a personal perspective, I tended to enjoy completing an activity using a step by step process. For example, during my physical education lessons, I enjoyed establishing my lesson objectives first and then progressing towards my final activity.  I believe I constructed my lessons in this order simply because I was never introduced to the idea of "backward design"throughout my elementary and secondary school classes.

     I was first introduced to the notion of backward design after I completed a third-year educational gymnastics course with Dr. Maureen Connolly.  Instead of writing a final exam, our class was encouraged to create a final gymnastic sequence.  Within this sequence we would implement various movement forms that were learned throughout the term.  During the construction process of this final sequence, my group members and I were struggling with the order of our sequences.  Under the guidance of Dr. Connolly, we were encouraged to think of the big picture before implementing apparatuses, objects and music into our routine.  After we began to describe the main portion of our sequence, we were then able to work backwards towards the smaller aspects of our sequence.  Through this experience, I learned the true value and purpose of backward design principles.

     Since that third-year class, I am now a strong advocate of backward design.  For every lesson plan I construct, I first start with my final product and work backwards towards my lesson objectives.  I believe that I can implement more effective developmental progressions into my lesson when utilizing backward design concepts.  For example, in regards to my physical education lessons, I now construct my main movement skills first and then work progressively backwards from larger concepts (large movement skills) back to smaller steps and tasks (smaller movement skills).          

     This video, that I have implemented into this blog, perfectly describes the importance of backward design.  In order for an entire group of friends to enjoy their day together backward design needs to be utilized.  As you will see, the student's initial day trip is ruined due to a lack of planning.  Once students group together to create a final activity they can then plan the little steps they will need to implement in order to reach their final goal.                

Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xzi2cm9WTg

     In regards to our future curriculum project, I hope to encourage my group members to utilize the planning strategy of backward design.  Perhaps I will have to share this blog with them in order for them to become more accepting of my non-traditional method of planning. :)    

References

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., Kolohon, W. (2013). Interweaving curriculum and classroom

assessment. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press

The Season of Stress: Lets Remove Assessments "Of" Learning!

     T'is the season to be stressed! For all university students, the end of October and beginning of November symbolize a very busy midterm season.  With five full courses many students can experience writing up to ten midterms (two per class) along with five final exams.  These assessments "of" learning place much fear and anxiety among students as they tend to hinder one's grade average.  Perhaps university life would not be so stressful if our assessments "of" learning were not weighted so high; after four years of experience it becomes clear that the higher the weighting, the more your mark seems to decrease.  Perhaps it would be most beneficial, for both teacher and student, if assessments "of" learning were removed from a class syllabus.  This removal would save teachers from spending numerous hours on marking, and in turn, students would be able to enjoy their post-secondary education stress free.

     As a fourth year student, I believe that students have higher chances of succeeding and receiving the grades they want through assessments "for" learning.  Such assessments allow students to write journals, complete research papers, and/or create collaborative presentations.  Students tend to experience more success through this method of assessment as they are provided with structured choice.  Students are allowed to choose research topics of choice, and are provided with opportunities to create unique presentation lay-outs/ lesson plans.  Students are also given lots of preparation time in comparison to assessments "of" learning as midterms and final examinations all have very short time limits.  From previous experience, it becomes very difficult to create and share ideas in such short time spans.  It also becomes very difficult to write down thoughts in pressured time; many students state that they "ran out of time" and therefore, were not able to write down all of the information that they knew.  

     Throughout the concurrent education program I have been told numerous times that assessment "of" learning does not truly show what a student has learned.  In most cases test averages are low, which indicates that students did not "take in" all of the information their professor has presented them.  With this in mind, I find it very ironic that many of my fourth year courses are utilizing assessments "of" learning.  I was hoping that we, the class of 2016, would have been presented with more assessments "for" and "as" learning; I feel that all syllabus' should reflect the same marking scheme as Professor Drake's.  This particular course is the ONLY education course that is effectively following the guidelines of the pedagogy it is teaching!  Dr. Drake has provided her students with numerous opportunities to learn, explore and make mistakes.  She has also given us the tools to control our own learning by allowing us to create our own unit plans (something we will have to do for our future teaching careers).

Retrieved From: http://assessing-learning.wikispaces.com/file/view/assessment.jpg.jpg/397804834/401x279/assessment.jpg.jpg

References

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., Kolohon, W. (2013). Interweaving curriculum and classroom

assessment. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press

The KDB Umbrella

     The know, the do, and the be are also known as knowledge, action and spiritual wellbeing.  After reading Drake, Reid, and Kolohon's "Know your curriculum documents and know your students" chapter, it becomes evident that all three of these umbrella terms are vital for all teaching lessons.  According to Drake et. al. (2014) the Know consists of factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge that is gained throughout a child's educational journey.  The Do component of the KDB Umbrella consists of various skills that are learned in the classroom.  Such skills may include: dancing, shooting, running, kicking, jumping, adjusting a microscope lens, etc.  This area of the umbrella seems to be more physical in comparison to the Know and Be.  The Be strongly relates to a student's inner spirit.  While observing one's Be portion of the KDB, an educator may begin to see unique characteristics (such as patience, kindness, thoughtfulness, ambition) and genuine personalities shine through their students (Drake et. al., 2014).    

The Know:

Teachers should be positively fostering student knowledge through questioning, presenting, and assessments of learning.  By asking students questions, teachers will be able to discover if their students are grasping and understanding classroom topics.  Providing students with opportunities to research and present topics of interest to their classmates will also enhance student knowledge; both the researching student and the listening student will learn and attain new knowledge during presentations.  Assessments of learning such as final examinations will also provide teachers with quantitative data that will portray student curriculum knowledge. 

The Do:

     In order to enhance action (the do) in one’s classroom, teachers can make stronger efforts to incorporate physical activity into their lessons.  For science classes, perhaps students can take nature walks outside.  During French classes, students could walk to a local French café.  Even math questions can be demonstrated and solved through movement!  Adding and subtracting students to and from small groups around the classroom can teach them important mathematical rules regarding addition and subtraction.  Students need to be active in their classrooms in order to remain engaged and interested in the topic that they are learning. 

The Be:

     After analyzing my personal elementary and secondary school experiences, it becomes evident that the value of student wellbeing (the be) was not held in a high regard.  Many of my previous teachers did not make efforts to assess or positively enhance their student’s spiritual health; many assessments were designed to measure knowledge, thinking/inquiry, comprehension and application.  In order to foster wellbeing, students need to be presented with both creativity and choice.  Students should be offered opportunities to portray their inner-self and unique personality through assignments that do not need to be marked.  Perhaps such spiritual assignments could be used to enhance a student’s overall class grade.  For every spiritual assignment submitted (maximum 5 assignments throughout the term), students could receive an automatic 100%.  I feel that we cannot grade such spiritual assignments as student perspectives, ideas, and beliefs cannot be titled or labeled as “wrong”.  By writing music, creating personalized emotional poems, and participating in new activities or hobbies such as yoga or ti-chi (spiritual fitness activities), student wellbeing can be positively nurtured through the classroom.

(Drake, October 2nd lecture, 2014)

References

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., Kolohon, W. (2013). Interweaving curriculum and classroom

assessment. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press

Learning Through Experience

     Project-Based Learning... does this term sound familiar?  If you are lucky enough to become one of my future students you will definitely be provided with numerous project-based learning opportunities that will allow you to learn through experience.  I strongly believe that in order to fully understand curriculum (both informal and formal), students must learn by doing; by participating in scientific experiments, researching new global issues, and "skyping" (communicating through online video) with other students of the world, our future students can discover a true love for learning.

     If you were presented with an extremely large textbook, would you read it?  Perhaps this would depend on the topic or the title of the book; however, what if you were handed such a novel for your more interactive classes such as French, Art, or Physical Education?  From a kinesthetic "hands on" learning point of view (my personal method of learning), trying to reading this particular textbook would become a huge motivational challenge.  Give me some action!  In order to fully grasp another language, capture unique artistic perspectives, and/or perform new movement skills I would learn best from an experience found outside of a traditional classroom.  Such real world experience would also inspire other students to take control of their own learning.  From personal experiences, I believe that field trips and community visits provided me with more beneficial information in comparison to prehistoric textbooks that were featured by my "old story" (Drake, Reid & Kolhon, 2014) teachers.
  

     Learning topics such as culture, history, and physics would be easier and more enjoyable for every type of learner if the lessons were more engaging!  Volunteering at local food banks, planting trees around a community, and visiting roller coaster parks can all enhance one's love for learning.  We should be offering students more interactive classrooms rather than forcing them into small desks that face a blank chalkboard; an outdoors and "real world" classroom will provide students with stronger and more meaningful learning opportunities.  Students should be enjoying fresh air, movement, and most importantly experience!  Project-based learning opportunities will provide students with the power to further develop their social communication, financial, and even leadership skills.  If students were provided with more leadership opportunities within their communities they could also further enhance their focus for future inventions, roles in politics, and careers.

     After attending Professor Drake's previous lecture, I have discovered that Hugh McDonald's "Genius Hour" perfectly suits my learning through experience teaching philosophy.  I truly believe that this is an amazing project-based learning movement as students are fully engaged and are excited to create questions and discover answers (Drake et. al., 2014).  While observing Hugh's "Genius Hour" video, it was incredible to see that some of today's students were actually provided with numerous opportunities to "turn their passion into action."  As a future educator, I strongly believe that new story education should be moving towards this particular movement.  Students should be learning about topics that interest them; they should not be forced to sit through our old and inactive "banking models" (Drake et. al., 2014) of education.

     

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMFQUtHsWhc

Video retrieved from www.youtube.com

References

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., Kolohon, W. (2013). Interweaving curriculum and classroom

assessment. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press

       

My "New Story"

     Before I take my first step into a classroom of my own, my desire is to construct a personalized educational pedagogy.  This particular pedagogy will become my unique "pot of gold," which will be very similar to Canada's historical multiculturalism; I shall take bits and pieces of philosophies that have captivated my imagination to create an "Evans Educational" pedagogy.

     During my undergraduate degree program, I have been presented with an array of diverse educational philosophies.  Such philosophies range from Ancient Greek notions of idealism and the importance of dialogue (Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato) to John Dewey's ideas of democracy in the classroom.  After studying Paulo Freire's pedagogy of the oppressed and Carl Jung's philosophies regarding persona and societal "masks," I have slowly begun to piece together my own educational pedagogy.

     While analyzing my previous elementary and secondary school years, it becomes evident that many of my previous teachers presented their students with ancient ways of education.  They always told me to complete readings from my textbook, copy notes from the black board, and to never talk during class time.  Many students, including myself, never once questioned these strict and limiting teaching methods; we simply completed the tasks we were assigned.  

     After reviewing various chapters regarding old and new story methods of education (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014) I have now realized that I was pushed though an "old story" educational system.  My personal experiences in "old story" classrooms prove that critical thinking, student creativity, collaboration, and diverse learning strategies were neglected by my educators.  My "old story" educational experience closely resembled a conveyor belt factory, as students were all taught and forced from grade to grade by the same teaching method.  Many of my teachers continued to use one specific method of teaching throughout their careers.  This is most likely because they believed that their particular method was the most efficient way to teach their students.

     By combining meaningful and inspiring ideas provided by historical educators and philosophers, I can ensure that my personalized "Evans Educational" pedagogy will enhance "new story" education within my classroom.  My pedagogy will ensure that I always attempt to provide my future students with an inclusive, engaging, innovative, equal, and positive learning environment.  My "new story" pedagogy will enhance my student's love for learning though the powers of dialogue, collaboration, experience, and participation.  My pedagogy will encourage me to develop diverse teaching methods so that I can provide all of my students with visual, auditory, and hands-on learning opportunities.  I feel that the usage of diverse teaching methods is extremely important, in regards to the field of education, as every student learns differently.

Personal Photograph

References

Drake, S. M., Reid, J. L., Kolohon, W. (2013). Interweaving curriculum and classroom

assessment. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press

First Day Back To Class!

     After enjoying a long summer full of breezy beach days and crazy work hours, it is great to be back in the classroom!  I truly missed the friendly lecture setting and wonderful learning environment that Brock U has offered me for the past three years.  Seeing old classmates, listening to brilliant minds, and engaging in new classroom dynamics, definitely made my first day back amazing!  I am very excited to begin participating in numerous educational presentations and placements this school year; I love my classes already!  I am also very eager to discover new classroom management techniques and teaching strategies that will help me provide my future students with engaging lessons.  I hope this school year will further develop my love for more inclusive and holistic educational philosophies and pedagogies; it is astonishing to finally see all of my undergraduate course themes such as physical literacy, inclusion, and whole child approaches to learning uniting.  I am looking forward to achieving greater teaching inspiration through Professor Drake's "New Story" education class!

        

Personal Photograph