what it’s about, why we need it, and how do school leaders encourage it? working with ruth sutton,...
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‘Backward Planning’What it’s about, why we need it, and how
do school leaders encourage it?Working with Ruth Sutton, October 2013
Understanding the process of ‘backward planning’ in the curriculum
Discovering how ‘instructional leadership’ really works, in this context
Checking out all the available resources Enabling and encouraging teachers to work
collaboratively: Why? How? Developing skills and confidence in your own school:
designing a PD ‘process’, using ‘backward planning’ Sustaining the focus in the longer term Identifying most effective next steps, in school, for
your Division, and for mRLC
Outline for the day
In a small group… Share your understanding of ‘backward
planning’ and how it works Draw a picture, or a diagram, to illustrate it What questions do you, or your teachers,
have about it?
What do we already know?
Fight the urge to plan too much detail too soon
Teachers – and leaders too - step back and take a long look at the curriculum requirements, for a whole grade level
Consider the total of content, skills and approaches expected/required for that year long program
Break the whole into ‘chunks’ and decide their size and order
Planning: from big picture to ‘chunks’
1. Big learning goals: what do we want the students to learn, ie. content knowledge, skills and ‘behaviours’? (Don’t go straight to what the students are going to do)
2. Evidence of learning: what will we look for to show that these expected outcomes have been achieved? How will students be involved in developing and understanding these criteria?
3. Assessment activities: how will students be enabled and encouraged to provide this evidence, and get feedback to decide their next steps? Assessments must be as valid (ie..accurate) and reliable (ie. consistent/fair) as possible (ie. manageable)
4. Teaching: what teaching and learning activities will enable and encourage students to learn and practice the desired skills and content? How will these activities be differentiated?
5. Starting point: how will the students’ prior learning be identified and built upon, and previous misconceptions be rectified?
‘Backward Planning’ for each chunk
More ‘evidence’ doesn’t necessarily mean better evidence: what matters is ‘sufficiency’
The quality – validity and reliability – is more important than the quantity of data about student learning
The question is not ‘How much evidence can we manage?’ but ‘How little evidence do we need?’
Things to consider…
Assessment:the search for balance
Validity(accuracy)
Reliability(fairness)
Manageability and
‘Credibility’
Best fit
1. Teachers need help to design ‘valid’ assessment activities
2. Shared professional judgment is much more important than individual professional judgment
3. Teachers who are unsure of their evidence will try to gather too much
Lessons from experience
Enable and encourage their teachers to share their interpretations of the ‘outcome’. I call this process ‘moderation’.
This process is time-consuming, needs careful management and has a huge payoff for students (greater clarity), teachers (greater confidence) and parents (better information)
Successful school leaders in the current curriculum climate…..
1. Choose some outcomes to focus on2. Share what we think the outcomes mean3. Find ‘neutral’ examples of these outcomes in
practice, at various levels4. Discuss what ‘levels/standards’ the examples
represent5. Design and agree a ‘shared assessment’ around
these outcomes6. Try it out and bring back examples of student
work7. Discuss the outcomes and ‘standards’ in this
work
Moderation in practice
www.mRLC.ca, follow links to Tools
The backward planning template
The ‘essential outcomes’
A sample Science unit
mRLC resources, available on line
From what you know already, and have heard from me, and have seen on the mRLC website…..
Go back and add to the picture/diagram you started with, and add or amend where necessary
What issues and questions still remain?
Reflection and questions…
26 studies, of which 11 were chosen as most useful to decide the leadership activities most associated with improving student learning and achievement
Each activity was identified, and its ‘effect size’ showing how important it was
‘School Leadership and Student Outcomes’
NZ ‘Best Evidence’ Research, Vivianne Robinson, 2007
Decide the priority order for these factors, from least to most influential for improved student learning
o Strategic resourcing o Planning, co-ordinating and evaluating
teaching and the curriculum o Ensuring an orderly and supportive
environment o Promoting and participating in teacher
learning and development o Goal setting
Leadership activities, for improving student learning
o Ensuring an orderly and supportive environment (0.27)
o Strategic resourcing (0.34)o Goal setting (0.35)o Planning, co-ordinating and evaluating
teaching and the curriculum (0.42)o Promoting and participating in teacher
learning and development (0.84)
Leadership activities, in ascending order of significance for improving student learning
What’s the ‘big idea’ and the desired learning outcomes for teachers in your school?
What would/could the evidence of teachers’ learning be? How, when and by whom would this ‘evidence’ be gathered
and assessed? What will teachers need to learn and practice to be able to
demonstrate this evidence? How will you differentiate? What about the resources you
might need, groupings etc? What about ‘structure’ for this PD? How will you check teachers’ prior learning and experience? How will you engage and motivate the teachers throughout
this process?
Be prepared to present this plan another group!
Using a backward planning process, plan a 5 hour adult learning PD experience in your school on ‘Backward Planning’: work with people you don’t normally work with
Backward planning is not an ‘initiative’ : it raises questions all the stages of teaching…
How teachers plan their ‘units’ How they ‘differentiate’ and include as many
students as they can How they engage and motivate their students How they find and judge the evidence of
learning How they ‘record’ their assessments How they describe and report student
achievement
SUSTAINABILITY
‘Initiatives’ sound and feel different from year to year
Teachers and Principals complain about ‘initiative overload’, lose sight of the big picture, and what’s fundamentally important
SO..What other school priorities do you have? What’s on your ‘front burners’?
How do these priorities link together? Do they have ‘indicators’ in common?
How might these ‘overlaps’ make your implementation plans more effective or efficient?
Short-term ‘initiative’ or long-term school focus
Aspect of teaching……..
…………………
……………….. ………………
‘initiative’ Planning with the end in mind
Teacher collaboration
Classroom assessment
Developing student resilience
Implementing new curriculum
Backward planning
Sharing the work
More ‘reliable’ and consistent
Focus on learning skills
Differentiation3 level planning
Sharing resources
More accurate diagnosis
Supporting vulnerable learners
Year to year continuity
Well-designed appropriate assessment
developing student ‘growth mindset’
From ‘initiatives’ to ‘fundamentals’
Teaching and leading are both hard-wired habits
We learn to teach mainly through experience
Our teaching and leadership styles reflect our personal approach: what we do is a reflection of who we are
Habits are notoriously hard to change
The 3 part brain
The neo-cortex: useful for academic assignments
The reptilian brain: useful for basic instincts
The limbic brain: useful for changing habits
From ‘knowing’ to ‘doing’
The practices of teaching, schooling and leadership are deeply ingrained or ‘hard-wired’
Habits are formed and changed in the limbic brain not the neo-cortex
They can only be changed through the limbic brain
Changing habits – according to ‘Addiction Theory’ (Proshaska) Pre-contemplation Contemplation First step Discomfort and
floundering Practice Confidence New habit Coach someone else
The Weightwatchers Model
The Weight-watchers model for improving teaching, and leadership, involves:
Big, important, agreed goalsSmall steps and continual feedbackPerseveranceCollegial support and accountabilityRecognition of success
Think about your own school/role1. What have we already achieved in
implementing the outcomes - based curriculum in our classrooms?
2. What’s still to do?3. What will be the ‘indicators’ of progress?4. What are your one or two next steps – no
more – between now and the end of this term?
5. Who needs to do what, with whom and by when?
Planning next steps: individual reflection
Have a Learning Conversations with someone from outside your Division
Explain why you’ve made these choices and decisions
Ask and answer good questions about these decisions
Be prepared to amend and improve
Very careful listening
Open questions designed to make the other person reflect, not just to seek information
Clear achievable next steps
Share what you’re planning to do.
Consider – what might help us achieve these changes?
What might be the barriers to these changes? What could get in your way? How might you deal with these potential roadblocks?
Consider - what you will need more help with, in the January session, and in March
Back in your ‘Division’ group
Keep in touch. If I can help, I wil
Email exit slips to [email protected]
Twitter: @ruthsutton
www.ruthsutton.co.uk
Thanks for your work