Understanding and applying standards

As an inexperienced teacher who never heard about backward design and who was struggling with understanding the requirements of the CIE curriculum used by the international school I started working at, I was not confident about the quality of my lessons. Similar to any other "traditional" teacher, I was concerned about the materials I needed to use, the way to teach the topics and how to assess what I thaught them. After attending professional development workshops and gaining more experience in curriculum development, I was able to identify the main steps of the process of unpacking a standard, and the key principles of the backward design. I understood the importance of constructing the lessons with keeping the goals in mind. This week materials and demonstration were very simple and easy to understand, and they helped me review the main directions of the process and consider some improvements in my subject's curriculum documentation.

So, what is backward design about? The logic of the backward design is: if there is a given result to be achieved, how do we get there? Instead of randomly using learning activities we find convenient at the moment, the model requires us to plan and design the learning experience that will activate those skills/knowledge our students need to have as a result. In other words: "A goal without the plan is just a wish!"

This whole process starts with unpacking the standards which are provided by the school or the state. Unpacking a standard simply means looking for clues in the language used in order to identify the knowledge and the skills students need to have in order to reach the standard. While nouns are suggesting which concepts students need to understand and help direct the teacher/student towards to knowledge section, the verbs are referring to the skills students will adopt.

It is crucial to understand the standard well so it can be unpacked and the skills and knowledge to be targeted in the lesson plans. No mistake should be made in this first step if we wish to ensure successful outcomes. However, I've learned that many bilingual schools here in China do not have their own curriculum, and they tend to follow very vague directions/standards of the international institutions whose program they follow. Many friends of mine who started working here faced difficulties in trying to understand the skills and content the students need to master for their CIE exams. If no prior experience and no standards developed in the school curriculum, this process is very time consuming and stressful for the new teachers.

Once the standard is analyzed, and the skills and knowledge are identified, learning activities and assessment start playing the main part. I truly believe that this is the phase of the unpacking that makes a whole difference in the learning experience for the students and their success. I find formative assessments to be crucial in directing students towards the desired results. Having many different forms of formative assessments that target the desired skills and knowledge, and, at the same time, make the learning experience rich and exciting, is what distinguishes outstanding teachers from the good ones. In my Economics class, this method helps me develop the assessments and activities that shape the skills in the most efficient and fun way, and I am able to see the difference in the quality of the assessments I used to use at the very beginning of my teaching career when compared to those I employ these days. 

The fact that the assessment is designed before planning the lesson ensures that learning activities are directing the students to what they need to know. In addition to the backward design approach, Wiggins and McTighe (2008) also developed the "WHERE" approach which should be used during the assessment stage of the process:

W - students knowing where they are heading, why they are heading there, what they know, where they might go wrong in the process, and what is required of them
H - hooking the students on the topic
E - students exploring and experiencing ideas and being equipped with the necessary understanding so they can reach the defined outcome
R - providing opportunities for students to rehearse, revise, and refine their work.
E - student evaluation
I find this model very successful in my teaching practice, and all of these steps are adding the value in scaffolding and mastering the big ideas (which are very complex at A2 level) step by step.

However, there are many challenges in this process. In practice, mistakes do happen and the teachers can misinterpret the standards. I can see this happening in my school that is following CIE program, and the issue we have with international examinations is that, even when the official standards and big ideas are not changing, at least one exam question tends to be surprising/not covered by the standard every single term. It leads to confusion and questions the clarity of the official program. Some teachers end up teaching the concepts much deeper ("just in case") which can reduce the time available for covering the important big ideas, while the others just follow their instinct and accept that "it's not possible to predict" how far the examiners can go and what are all the skills/content the students have to master.

In addition, if we aim to use the best of the backward design approach, we need to make sure that our teachers are trained and supported with teaching activities and effective assessments which will ensure that the objectives are reached. They also need to consider special needs of the students, especially in terms of ESL, learning disabilities, as well as a social and cultural background. Cho and Trent (2005) argue that desired results might be below the potential of a student. We have to keep in mind that each child has different potential, and our planning has to involve differentiation. 

Finally, we as educators need to recognize the value of this process. Unfortunately, many teachers see curriculum development as a paperwork, and after having many lessons, meetings, extracurricular clubs, their focus and dedication to the planning process suffer. I believe that the schools need to make sure that there is enough time for proper planning based on the principle of backward design and that all of us can use it in our daily practice, without seeing it as additional paperwork to be completed. 

References:

Cho, J., & Trent, A. (2005). "Backward" Curriculum Design and Assessment: What Goes Around Comes Around, or Haven't We Seen This Before?. Taboo: The Journal of Culture and Education, 9(2), 105-122.

McTighe, J., & Thomas, R.S. (2003). Backward design for forward action. Educational Leadership, 60(5), 52–55.

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (2008). Put understanding first. Educational Leadership, 65(8), 36-41.

Wiggins, G. & McTighe, J. (1998). "What is backward design?" In Understanding by Design. (1 ed., pp. 7–19). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.