Thanksgiving Unit

Using a Backwards Design Approach

I created a twelve day unit about Thanksgiving (click here to see Lesson Plans) after learning an effective and innovative approach to designing curricula and assessing students’ learning.

I was introduced to this approach through one of my courses in the Masters of Education Program.

For the years that I taught in the classroom, I picked the subject matter to teach, wrote lessons in my lesson plan book, and delivered the information through a series of lessons and activities.

I never stopped to think about the bigger picture of what I wanted the students to walk away with and carry with them the rest of their lives. I only thought about the facts I wanted the students to obtain.

For many years, I was providing facts and means to obtain those facts, but missing important components--that of the bigger picture or the Big Ideas behind what I was teaching.

Before I studied this backwards design approach, I planned my teachings around several lessons under a specific and narrow theme.

For example I once planned activities and lessons about the pilgrims and Native Americans to teach facts about Thanksgiving. This was the time my first grade students designed and created outfits, dressed up as pilgrims and Native Americans and sat down for a Thanksgiving feast together.

I realize now, after reflection, that the Thanksgiving lessons I taught my first grade students were not only missing a clear goal but were also disjointed and void of relevance and real life application.

Furthermore, I did not have an accurate assessment in place to evaluate student learning. After further research, I even discovered that the actual facts I was teaching were historically inaccurate.

In contrast, in using this backwards design approach, I learned to build the curriculum around Big Ideas first, without thinking about the lessons I was going to eventually implement.

Thinking about Big Ideas led to cohesive lessons with real-life applications and an effective means of evaluating learning.

Big Ideas are questions that help the students make good sense about what they are learning and help them apply the learning horizontally to a variety of academic subjects and vertically into the past and future.

When finding your own Big Ideas think of an idea that has the following qualities:

• Broad and abstract in scope
• Universal in application
• Timeless theme
• Applies across subject areas

Examples of the Big Ideas I used in planning my unit Uncovering Truths include:
1) History books can portray incomplete truths and mistruths.
2) Primary sources contain different historical insights and viewpoints than those found in history textbooks.
3) Cultural stereotypes and myths result from inaccurate sources and inaccurate retellings.

The backwards design approach follows a specific set of steps that lead from the Big Ideas to Enduring Outcomes or what students need to recall, know or do to demonstrate understanding of the Big Idea.

Here is one example of an Enduring Outcome I used in planning my unit Uncovering Truths: "Demonstrate how the author of a primary source is affected by his/her environment and culture."

For the unit I developed I had three Big Ideas and nine Enduring Outcomes (three outcomes for each Big Idea).

By following this backwards design approach, I found the priorities within what I was teaching. As a result of this method, the students see what is important, how everything connects, and where to place their attention. This approach also gives a much neededfocus.

Through this backwards design process the student understands what is worth knowing and obtains meaningful information which will remain with him or her throughout adulthood. Building a unit of study through the lens of Big Ideas and Enduring Outcomes opens up many avenues for learning, and helps the me, the instructor, to include creative and inventive lessons and unique academic resources.

This is a general introduction to the backwards design process for more information please see my complete unit study
The following books were used in developing my unit:

Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe

Teaching the Science Class You Never Had by David Jelinek (to be published by Allyn & Bacon in 2010)

Additional Resources at Spectrum Homeschool