Backwards Design Group Activity
Week 6: Backward Design Lesson Planning
Why This Matters
- Planning reduces stress because you’re not improvising under pressure.
- Backward design helps you plan with the end in mind: outcome → evidence → experiences.
- Collaboration matters because strong lesson planning improves with feedback and shared thinking.
Focus (Plain Language)
This activity helps us practice thinking like designers.
We will build one small learning episode using backward design and leave class with a clean, structured mini-lesson plan that can be reused later.
Core Concepts
Key terms (quick definitions)
- Lesson plan: a structured plan for what students will do, learn, and demonstrate.
- Learning outcome: what students should be able to do by the end (measurable).
- Learning episode: one specific chunk of learning inside a larger unit.
- Sub plan: instructions for a substitute teacher for a specific day.
- Emergency sub plan: ready-to-go plan used when you’re out unexpectedly.
- Traditional design: starts with content to cover (often teacher-centered).
- Backward design: starts with outcomes, then evidence, then activities (student-centered).
Traditional vs Backward design (simple comparison)
Traditional Lesson Design
- Starts with content to cover
- Plans activities first
- Assessment often comes later
- Often “for the teacher”
Backward Design
- Starts with what students should be able to do
- Builds evidence/assessment next
- Then builds activities that prepare students to succeed
- Student-centered
Backward design in 90 seconds (example)
Step 1 - Outcome: By the end of this lesson, students will know the definition of a mixed number.
Step 2 - Evidence: Students will be assessed orally.
Step 3 - Activities: Students will use hand gestures while saying the definition of a mixed number.
Today’s Workflow (What You Do In Order)
- Read the key terms + design comparison above.
-
Watch the short video and notice: outcome → evidence → activities.
What to Notice: What is planned first? What is planned second? What is planned last?
- Collaboratively complete the builder below with your team.
- Individually copy/paste and submit your own report to Canvas for points.
- (Optional) Email yourself your report so you can keep it.
Boundary: The goal is clarity, not perfection. Keep your outcome measurable and your assessment aligned.
Consider These Reflections as You Work
- What part of planning felt easiest for you: outcome, evidence, or activities?
- What did your group do well that helped collaboration work?
- Where does your personality show up in group planning?
Looking Ahead: Next week we keep building planning skills by designing more engaging, student-centered learning experiences.
Use this space to generate a clean report you can copy, print, or email to yourself. Nothing is saved.
One section at a time is the goal. Build a report when you’re ready.
Session info
Title (optional)
Course / Section (optional)
Group roster
Names + roles help you practice collaboration on purpose (not by accident).
Group name
Your name (for your own points)
Group members (one per line). Add roles if you want.
Collaboration norms (no wrong answers)
How we made decisions
Choose a Bloom focus
This helps you match the task to the cognitive level.
Learning episode
One small, teachable chunk inside a larger unit.
What is a learning episode? (click to open)
A unit might last several days or weeks.
A learning episode is one focused skill, concept, or objective students can reasonably practice and demonstrate in a single lesson.
Example (Math Unit: Fractions)
- Unit: Understanding fractions
- Learning episode: Identifying and defining a mixed number
Example (ELA Unit: Argument Writing)
- Unit: Writing persuasive essays
- Learning episode: Writing a clear thesis statement
If it feels too big to assess in one class period, it is probably still a unit - not a learning episode.
🔹 Learning Episode
What is being learned.
The topic or skill focus for that day.
It answers:
“What is today about?”
Backward design (3 steps)
Outcome → Assessment → Activities.
Click to open: quick help + examples
Clean difference: Learning episode = the topic/chunk you’re teaching. Learning outcome = what students can do with that chunk by the end.
Fast example (same episode, different outcomes)
- Episode: Mixed numbers
- Outcome A: Identify mixed numbers in 5 examples
- Outcome B: Convert mixed numbers to improper fractions
1) Outcome
- Use a measurable verb (identify, explain, compare, solve, write).
- You can see/hear students do it.
Template: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to…
2) Evidence
- Exit ticket, oral check, quick write, short task.
- Alignment rule: measures the same verb as the outcome.
Example: “Label 4/5 examples correctly.”
3) Activities
- I do → We do → You do
- Checks for understanding before independent work
- Cut test: if it doesn’t prep for the evidence, remove it.
Example: model 2 → guided 3 → partner sort → exit ticket
Step 1 - Learning outcome
Step 2 - Assessment / evidence
Step 3 - Activities
Team planning connection
Notice what helped your group work well.
What roles showed up naturally?
Where did we get stuck?
Build / copy / email (no data stored)
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