1. Target Audience: Who are your students?

• School setting and demographics

• Grade level(s)

• Content area - single subject, multi-subject, cross-disciplinary

 

2. Prior Knowledge: What do students know about this already?

​Consider students funds of knowledge from:

• Skills and knowledge from previous grade levels

• Skills and knowledge from the current school year 

• Cross-disciplinary connections

• Cultural capital

• Life experiences

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3. Unit Objectives: What do you want students to learn in this unit and the comprising lessons?

• Identify the learning objective(s) - align the learning objectives with standards (state, district, or otherwise appropriate standards for your school setting/grade level).

• Unpack each standard to identify measurable objectives.

• Identify the NOUNS in the standard: What content or concepts need to be covered, the "object" of the learning?

• Identify the VERBS in the standard: What should students be able to do? Use specific, actionable verbs in line with learning objectives:

  • For remember: state, name, list, describe, label, relate, find

  • For understand: explain, interpret, compare, discuss, predict, describe, give an example

  • For apply: solve, show, use, illustrate, complete, classify, compare, design

  • For analyze: analyze, explain, investigate, distinguish, compare, separate

  • For evaluate: judge, select, decide, justify, rate, debate, discuss, recommend

  • For create: create, invent, compose, predict, plan, construct, design

• Combine a VERB with a NOUN for each objective.

• Split out objectives to keep them simple and measurable: each listed objective should cover one measurable element, not combining multiple verbs.

• Use active voice when writing objectives.

• Only include as many objectives as you can assess by the end of the lesson.

• Consider any required texts (readings, textbooks, curriculum-mandated content) that should be used to support the lesson.

(Teaching and Learning Commons, n.d.; Webb & Metha, 2017, p. 376; Krathwohl, 2002, p. 213-14; Reeves, 2011, p. 37)

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Next, using the backward design model, determine what type of assessments will best measure the learning objectives that you have identified.