When I was in teacher-school, I was always so annoyed when I was told that I had to “plan backwards.” Then, when I entered the classroom for the first time, I heard the same thing from my administration: plan backwards.
It felt like a “duh” moment. In my head, I knew what the students were to accomplish. What difference did it make if I knew the exact assessment they would complete? I’d get there.
Now, this far in to my career, I understand: I need to know my ultimate goals and plan backwards.
This same basic tenet makes sense and applies no matter how or what you teach. Elementary, college, online, face-to-face — you need to know where you’re going so you can make the plan to get there.
Teachers, especially those new to the career or a content-area, tend to get caught up in the HOW rather than the WHY. This can be really overwhelming. If we let ourselves worry too much about a new technique, we can fall down a wormhole and get lost. So much pretty! So much cool!
In those moments, we lose focus of our end goal, and now we’re back at square one: wondering what to do and why we’re doing it.
Let’s take a simple goal and break down how we might get to a full plan.
Goal: write an effective and concise thesis statement
We know we want the students to write an effective and concise statement that will function as a thesis for an argumentative paper. We know that to get to that point, they’ll have needed to:
- choose a topic
- do some research
- consider the opposition
- determine their position
Now, what will it take to get them to a clear understanding of how to write the statement as well as to gather the materials needed to do so?
Some things that come to mind:
- read successful arguments
- analyze the methods used by successful arguments and writers
- formulate an opinion and determine support for that opinion
- research and investigate support as well as opposition
- evaluate sources for validity
There are other pieces we could add to this puzzle, but the bottom line is that we have sketched out a skeleton. Now we know the elements needed in a unit on writing a thesis (or building toward a full argument paper).
NOW is the time we can start to really consider the fancy things that need to be done. We know our goal, and we know the stepping stones to reach it.
When feeling overwhelmed about planning, this is how I take things step by step. Map out the major goals (sometimes, they’re called – gasp – standards!) and then determine the HOW later.
How do you plan for your school year or semester?