Relection on Unpacking Standards and Backwards Mapping

Reflection on Unpacking Standards

and Backwards Mapping

In this unit, we’ve learned about two interesting concepts—unpacking standards and backwards mapping.  Here are brief summaries of both:

Unpacking standards helps teachers to translate standards into lessons.  To unpack a standard, teachers identify the verbs.  This helps teachers to identify what the standards what students to be able to DO to meet the standard.  Teachers must also identify the nouns in a standard.  This helps them to be able to identify the CONTENT students should be learning.

Backwards mapping is a process teachers use to build assessments and teaching activities to help students meet goals or standards.  The teacher starts by identifying the skill he or she wants students to master and then planning assessments and activities accordingly.  This process ensures that chosen activities and assessments are working toward that identified end goal.

The two strategies have their strengths and weaknesses. Both require the teacher to look at the “Big Idea” standards are covering—a definite strength. Another strength is that both strategies ensure that teachers thoroughly know all the proficiencies hidden in the standards. Weaknesses of both strategies include an initial appearance of teaching to the test, and both add more time to the planning process because of their counterintuitiveness.

I have to say that when we first were introduced to the process of unpacking standards, I was skeptical. How could identifying nouns and verbs help me to teach better? It seemed like a time waster to me.  However, after playing with it for a few days, I can see how the activity is beneficial.  It helps you to really focus on the skills you are teaching and what students are expected to be able to do with those skills.

Unpacking a standard can also reveal several hidden proficiencies.  The standard I chose to discuss in Activity 2 asks students to be able to tell stories based on real or imagined events.  This verbiage needs to be translated to the academic speech of fiction versus nonfiction.  Before I go any further in the lessons, I need to make sure that my students know the difference between those two concepts. Another example would be when I’ve taught my students the importance of dialogue in a story, I often must back up and make sure they know what the word dialogue is.  As teachers, we can’t assume the building blocks are there.  All too often, we need to go and firm up concepts that should be foundational.

Backwards mapping is something that I’ve been doing when planning my units without having a name to it.  I only see my students three days a week for 45 minutes.  I don’t have time for minutes to not be purposeful. To this end, I’ve always started backward from the goal. I’ve been taking the goal then figuring out the activities that will help students reach that goal. The last thing I would do was plan assessments.  This was an interesting exercise for me because it made me stop and think about how I was using formative and summary assessments (and if I wasn’t using enough of them in general). Planning activities last helped me to see how all the cogs in the machine work perfectly together.

Overall, I think both exercises will help me better understand the standards I teach.  They will also help me to be mindful to not forget any hidden proficiencies hidden within the standards.