Backward Design Process

I’m finding the backward design idea very beneficial to my instruction and focus. I am able to clearly state my learning goals at the beginning of every lesson and tie it back to our big idea. In social studies being able to come back to the essential question of adaptation has helped the students be more focused. In our first unit it was hard for the students to think that big about our reading on American Indians. The next chapter they were able to use the same big idea and were better able to come up with ideas on their own because we did it the first unit. Knowing where I need my students to be at the end of the unit has helped me focus on the important learning. I’ve been trying to implement more questions into my teaching so the students have to articulate their learning or be able to think deeper about the big idea. Instead of me just telling them, the discussion is put back on them. It has been a big struggle this year to fully implement the BD structure since I am learning a new curriculum. I think once you’ve taught the curriculum you know where the students should be headed.

Questions I still have:

Are there good resources for creating good essential questions?

How do you find a good balance for using the curriculum and activities vs creating your own to fit the desired results?