Plan Backwards to Move Forwards by Teresa Troyer

Teresa Troyer
ELF, Colombia
2015-16
Planning backwards to move
your students forward

 21 years of teaching experience- and
only 2 grey hairs!
 EFL -Peace Corps in Slovakia – Velmi
dobry!
 ESL - K-12 in NYC and Ohio
 ESL at University level in Ohio (USA),
China and Indonesia
 BA in Creative Writing and in Art History
(Italia!!)
 MA in Composition and TESOL
 MA in Education – Teacher Leadership
Hello! i`m teresa

OHIO
Hello! Thanks for joining us!

Reflect on one goal you have met in real life
and how you
“planned backwards”to meet it.
(for example: we wanted to eat
dinner at 6 pm, so we went to the store in the
morning before going to the park, and then
started cooking at 4 pm)
Motivator: Open-ended

Planning
backwards
to move your
students
forward

Raise your hand if you have experience
with:
1.Essential Questions
2.Project-based learning
3.Content objectives for a lesson
4.Language objectives for a lesson
5.Formative assessments
Background - Question 1: hands up

Webinar Objectives:
Participants will be able to
1.Identify a good Essential Question
2.Understand the value of collaborative projects for authentic
assessment, and
3.Practice writing Content and Language Objectives
with the support of a graphic organizer for thematic planning, a project
assessment map, and sample lesson plans and objectives.
Planning backwards
WHAT?
HOW?

Sample
Lesson
Standards: Colombian Ministry of Education standards, grade
9, Conversation strand.
Topic: Gender stereotypes (Women`s Month)
Objectives: Students will give opinions and use adjectives
Plan:
10 minutes – students put an adjective on the board – on a line
from feminine to masculine
10 minutes – students agree or disagree with
adjectives`placement by moving to a side of the room for «agree»
or «disagree». Talk to a partner.
10 minutes – watch video clip from The Hunger Games and ask
students how they would describe the main characters
10 minutes – students write about a female they look up to and
describe her.

Was the SAMPLE a good lesson plan?
A.Yes
B.No
C.It has some pieces of a lesson plan
Planning backwards
Question 2: poll

Planning backwards
Student-
Centered
Teacher-Centered

Sample
Lesson
Topic: Gender stereotypes (Women`s Month)
Plan:
10 minutes – students put an adjective on the board – on a line
from feminine to masculine
10 minutes – students agree or disagree with
adjectives`placement by moving to a side of the room for «agree»
or «disagree». Talk to a partner.
10 minutes – watch video clip from The Hunger Games and ask
students how they would describe the main characters
10 minutes – students write about a female they look up to and
describe her.
List of Activities
Throw in an assessment- how will this be measured?
Input more than Ouput
Limited interaction

Start with a
BIG idea–
an Essential
Question
that connects to
something that
already
motivates
students
Planning backwards
Thematic Unit Graphic Organizer
Wong-Fillmore, Cucchiara, and Fillmore, 2011

Which of the following is a better Essential
Question?
A.Is “brave” a masculine or feminine trait?
B.Why are stereotypes helpful or harmful?
C.How are males and females seen differently
in different settings?
Essential questions
Question 3: Poll

Planning backwards
Essential questions
Ask BIG
questions
Higher order thinking! Engage students here!
Lookatthoseverbs!

√Start with an
Essential
Question
Develop the
Assessment
before the daily
assignments
Planning backwards
Project-based Outcomes
www.bie.org
Group
Video Character traits-
adjectives
Justify
conclusions

Sample
Lesson
Essential Question: Why are stereotypes helpful
or harmful?
Final Product (Summative Assessment): A small
group video, skit, or lesson that examines
findings on varied opinions about male/female
characteristics.
Plan:
10 minutes – students put an adjective on the board – on a line from feminine to masculine
10 minutes – students agree or disagree with adjectives`placement by moving to a side of the
room for «agree» or «disagree». Talk to a partner.
10 minutes – watch video clip from The Hunger Games and ask students how they would
describe the main characters
10 minutes – students write about a female they look up to and describe her.
Imagine the opportunities for building
language skills - Speaking, Listening, Reading,
and Writing – to answer a real question for a
real audience

Give one example of a Project that
you have used in your class or that you
have seen used successfully for student
learning.
Project-based outcomes
Question 4: Open-ended

Webinar Objectives:
Participants will be able to
1.√ Identify a good Essential Question
2.√ Understand the value of collaborative projects for
authentic assessment, and
3.Practice writing Content and Language Objectives
with the support of a graphic organizer for thematic planning, a project
assessment map, and sample lesson plans and objectives.
Midpoint check-in:
Planning backwards
WHAT?
Content
HOW?
Language

Raise your hand if you agree that these
are good examples of learning objectives:
1.Students will study how to give opinions
2.Students will verbally give their opinion about
gender stereotypes using sentence starters
3.Present adjectives to describe feminine and
masculine characteristics
Learning Objectives
Question 5: hands up

1. Students will study how to give opinions
(How could I measure this? What is the student OUTPUT?)
2. Students will verbally give their opinion about gender
stereotypes using sentence starters
3. Present adjectives to describe feminine and masculine
characteristics
(This is what the teacher might do… but how?
And why?)
Planning backwards
content and language objectives
Content
Language

Planning backwards
formative assessments
Teachers also do not wait until the Final Product to assess student progress on
Content and Language Objectives.
The assessment along the way is called Formative Assessment.

Which of the following is an example of a
formative assessment:
A.Exit ticket
B.A 10- point, fill-in-the blank quiz
C.A rubric for the final project
Formative assessment
Question 6: Poll

Formative assessments are NOT graded.
Formative assessments DO:
Help students really understand the learning goals
Show the teacher and students evidence of learning
Allow for feedback between teachers and students
Help students be responsible for their own learning
Help students learn from each other
Inform the teacher’s instructional decisions
Planning backwards
formative assessment
Which of the following is an example of a formative assessment:
A.“Exit ticket” 3-2-1 (3 things you learned, 2 things you knew, 1 thing you didn`t understand)
B.A 10- point, fill-in-the blank quiz
C.A rubric for the final project

Planning
backwards to
move your
students
forward
SUMMARY
SAMPLE Lesson Plan
Topic: Sports
Learning Objective: ?
Task 1: I will show to the students 5 pictures related to different sports
then I will ask them some questions such as:
What sport is it?
What elements (equipment) do you need to practice it?
Is it indoors or outdoors? (10 min)
Task 2: Students will listen to people talking about the exercise they
prefer to practice. They will choose the best option for each. (10 min)
Task 3: The students will select a sport mentioned and write 5
sentences related to the sport (easy to play, fun, etc). Some students
read their sentences (20 min)
Task 4: Students will read about Parkour and answer some questions
about the text (10 min)

Reflect on the SAMPLE lesson plan I just
showed about “sports”
 In one word, what was the goal of the
lesson?
SUMMARY - Question 7: Open-ended

Which would be a better Essential Question to
start planning from?
A.What sport is most popular?
B.Why are athletes paid more than teachers?
C.How can sports change a community?
Summary - Question 8: poll
Now, think about how the topic of “sports” could be re-imagined in
a thematic unit.

Let’s choose option C as a group: How
can sports change a community?
Now, imagine Final Projects that your
students might really like to do.
Type in 1 or 2 words to describe your
ideas
(example: mini-documentary)
Summary - Question 9: open-ended

√ Fill in the learning objective for one specific content
and language piece you might teach for
How can sports change a community?
Students will be able to ________(verb)
_________(content) using ____________(strategy
or support)
Example:
(Students will be able to form questions about what sports
mean to other people using models from documentary film
clips)
Summary - Question 10: open-ended

 Sample
backwards
planning map
developed by
teachers in
Manizales,
Colombia after
we
brainstormed
BIG Questions
together
Example- Planning backwards

Example
Lessons
Essential Question: Why are stereotypes helpful
or harmful?
Final Product (Summative Assessment): A small
group video, skit, or lesson that examines
findings on varied opinions about male/female
characteristics.
Objectives:
Find my completed “stereotype”
lesson
plans for beginners and intermediate
students
in the materials for the webinar!
These lessons were great fun
and students DEFINITELY had
OPINIONS to express!

Thank you!
Credit also to
Lilia Fernando Rocha of the Centro Colombo
Americano in Bogotá for the use of her ideas about
lesson objectives.
Teacher Resources:
The SIOP Model – lesson planning
http://www.cal.org/siop/
http://siop.pearson.com/about-siop/index.html
The Buck Institute for Education
(Project-Based Learning)
http://bie.org/
MORE information:
Lesson Planning 101 – American English at
State Webinar by Katie Bain (ELF)
http://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/lesso
n_planning_101-pre-recording.pdf
Planning Backwards Takes Thinking Ahead
Edutopia blog:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/backwards-planning-thinking-
ahead-rebecca-alber
A Ten-Step Process for Developing Teaching
Units. English Teaching, Forum, Vol. 53,
No.3.
Authors: Geoffrey Butler, Simon Heslup, and
Lara Kurth
http://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/english-
teaching-forum-volume-53-number-3#child-1982
Planning backwards

Plan Backwards to Move Forwards by Teresa Troyer

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