Backwards Planning
Learning Outcomes: I can look at my unit goals and assessment to plan strategic and purposeful lessons aligned to mastery.
What kinds of topics are typically included in your curriculum each year? Do you have a favorite theme, activity, or project that excites you as you prepare it? Traditionally, the planning process involves examining an upcoming unit of study, building lessons around the content found in that unit, and then creating an assessment to measure student learning. Backward planning is a student-centered approach to curriculum design that reverses the process and improves the alignment of learning intentions, assessments, and lessons. By shifting our focus away from “covering” a topic, backward planning helps us facilitate student learning that is more enduring and transferable. This presentation will explain how backward planning works and engage participants in applying its principles to their teaching ministry.
Dr. Jennifer Krause served as an elementary teacher in WELS schools for 17 years before accepting a call to Martin Luther College in 2013. After eleven years as a college supervisor of student teachers, she recently moved to a full-time, on-campus teaching role at MLC. Her courses include Curriculum & Instruction and Teaching Reading, and Krause is also the head coach for the women’s tennis team. She has an M.S. in Education from the University of Kansas and a Ph.D. in Literacy Leadership from Concordia University-Chicago. Jennifer enjoys traveling, reading, tennis, spending time with her nieces and nephews, and cheering for the Packers and Jayhawks.