This document summarizes a professional development session for teachers on implementing backwards design and project-based learning in the classroom. The goals of the session are to equip teachers to use backwards design, connect classroom instruction to lifelong goals, develop classroom mission statements, and create hands-on learning experiences. Backwards design involves starting with the desired learning outcomes, then planning assessments, and finally lessons and activities. It is presented as a way to make learning more relevant and efficiently use instructional time. The session models backwards design by having teachers plan units using the three stages of backwards design.

1. Backward Design (Enduring Understanding) Part 1 (of 2) Tuesday, January 19, 2010 Presenters: Roberto Gonzalez, Science Department Chair Luis Herrero, Technology Coordinator

2. Something to think about… “ High-stakes testing has radically altered the kind of instruction that is offered in American schools, to the point that ‘teaching to the test’ has become a prominent part of the nation’s educational landscape.” - Alfie Kohn

3. Backwards Planning leads to Project-Based Learning

4. Project Based Learning at Virgil Ms. Goin - School wide plays and performances Ms. Miller - ‘Dare to Care’ Social Service Learning Projects Science Department - Science Fair Mr. Herrero - Mars Rover Project English Department - Library Café Readings 6th Grade - Virgil Recycling Program Proposal Mr. Loftus - Yearbook Class Mr. Feng - Belmont Zone of Choice High School Awareness Project Various teachers - InfoTECH student presentations

5. Have you ever been asked…? Why are we learning this? What can we do with this information? How does this relate to what we already learned? Why does this matter to me? To my friends? How might this information relate to my present and future life?

6. Goals of today’s PD Teachers will 1. Be equipped to implement backwards planning (Understanding by Design) 2. Connect classroom instructional practice to relevant, lifelong goals 3. Develop and articulate a classroom mission statement for promoting student achievement 4. Create engaging, hands-on learning experiences for their students using current instructional frameworks

7. Harvard Mission Statement “ Education at Harvard should liberate students to explore, to create, to challenge, and to lead. The support the College provides to students is a foundation upon which self-reliance and habits of lifelong learning are built: Harvard expects that the scholarship and collegiality it fosters in its students will lead them in their later lives to advance knowledge, to promote understanding, and to serve society.”

8. What is your “Mission Statement” for teaching? Brainstorm in groups of 3-4 responses to the following questions. Be prepared to share out in 5 minutes: a) What is the Mission Statement in your classroom for student achievement? b) What is Virgil Middle School’s Mission Statement? How does it connect back to your classroom practice? c) Why is mission important for achieving teaching and learning goals?

9. Virgil Middle School Mission Statement "The mission of Virgil Middle School is to educate and empower students to become socially responsible and successful members of society” Are we meeting this mission statement through our instructional programs? As individuals? Departments? School wide?

10. Virgil Teacher’s Mission Statement “ Members of my class are not just active, but they are proactive . Our class ideals are governed by two concepts, “Your voice does matter. Speak up, take a stand, do something - and you will be heard” coupled with the concept of “paying it forward.”

11. The challenge of aligning goals, assessments, and lessons

12. Clear goals and mission are important in education Teachers lack consensus about major goals and missions about their enterprise. Many teachers operate in a “cu lture of disbelief” about the abilities of their students to learn. Jeff Howard, “A Nation Still At Risk”

13. Rationale behind “backwards planning” Begin with the end in mind to: a) Efficiently use instructional time b) Select appropriate assessment tools for standard mastery c) Create engaging hands-on projects and performance tasks that make learning relevant

14. 3 Stages of Backward Design 1. Identify Desired Results 2. Determine Acceptable Evidence 3. Plan learning experiences and instruction

15. Enduring Understandings Enduring understandings are statements summarizing important ideas and core processes that are central to a discipline and have lasting value beyond the classroom. They synthesize what students should understand—not just know or do—as a result of studying a particular content area. Moreover, they articulate what students should “revisit” over the course of their lifetimes in relationship to the content area.

16. Secondary Science Enduring Understandings Enduring Understandings Scientists examine cause and effect to see relationships between organisms, places, things, ideas, and events. Essential Questions Why are scientists concerned about cause and effect? How can examining cause and effect help us understand relationships between organisms, places, ideas, and events? To what extent can understanding cause and effect help us solve problems and make decisions?

17. Secondary Social Studies Enduring Understandings Enduring Understandings Social scientists find the connections between events of the past and present to help understand our world. Essential Questions Why should we study the past? How can studying the past help us understand the present world and the future? How can past events shape present and future events? Why should we be concerned about future events?

18. Secondary Math Enduring Understandings Enduring Understandings Mathematical problem solvers apply a variety of strategies and methods to solve problem situations. Essential Questions How do we become good problem solvers? How do we select a strategy(ies) or method(s) to solve problems? How do students apply prior knowledge to solve math problems? How can technology assist in the problem solving process?

19. Secondary Language Arts Enduring Understandings Enduring Understandings Reading expands understanding of the world, its people, and oneself. Essential Questions Why do people read? What do people read? What are the benefits of reading? How does reading affect your life?

20. Backwards Design Stage 1: Desired Results What goals are we trying to accomplish?

22. Stage 1 Practice In department or grade level groups, plan Stage 1 of a unit that you have taught or will teach. Important considerations: What do you want students to come to understand? What do you want students to know and be able to do? How will students come to know what they are learning?

23. Stage 1 Practice

24. Backwards Planning Stage 2: Assessment Evidence How will you check for understanding?

25. Think “photo album” versus “snapshot” Reliable assessment requires multiple sources of evidence, collected over time.

27. Stage 2 Practice In the same department or grade level groups, plan Stage 2 of a unit that you have taught or will teach. Important considerations: What evidence will you collect to determine if students have achieved the desired results?

28. Core Performance Tasks Examples from various fields Crafting your own narrative about what happened, despite conflicting and incomplete accounts Successfully writing to a real audience, to achieve a real purpose Figuring out, on your own, what an author might have meant, and saying why Developing models, based on what you see as a pattern, in realistically messy phenomena Speaking to different audiences and purposes, including highly challenging situations, with poise and polish

29. Stage 2 Practice

30. Share out Backwards Plans Identify one success your group experienced in planning with a backwards design focus? What are challenges you experienced today or anticipate in the future if you adopt this model of teaching?

31. UbD Reflection Choose one prompt to respond to and fill our bucket with your comments about: How can I bring this back to my own classroom? How will I share what I have learned today with my colleagues, whether they are in my department or not? How will I articulate my mission for learning with my students, fellow teachers, and parents?

32. Homework for Session 2 Please come prepared with your Mission Statement for teaching and learning in your classroom. Also, please bring a completed (Stage 1) UbD Unit Plan that we can adapt and modify to include a technology project-based learning component.

33. Questions? Comments? Thank you! If you need to reach us for ideas, questions, comments or support in implementing backwards design in your classroom: Mr. Roberto Gonzalez [email_address] Mr. Luis Herrero [email_address]

34. Tiger Literacy Community (TLC) 1.To unite all the ongoing literacy intervention programs and successful approaches to literacy, which currently work in isolation at Virgil. 2.To strengthen and increase student literacy and support all teachers in becoming confident and capable content-area project-based literacy teachers through the application of enduring understandings. 3. Incorporate student and parent voices in the discussion about literacy, as well as how to bridge the literacy divide between schools and home through the provision of home libraries and parent-student workshops facilitated through the parent center 4. Increase a school wide awareness of free and low-cost literacy resources in the community to promote a cultural shift among all stakeholders of the relevance of literacy approaches in all content areas.