So, I’ve been subbing with The Substitute Teacher Service for a few weeks now and trying to use  my downtime usefully.  While sitting in other peoples’ classrooms during prep periods I’ve been thinking a lot about backward curriculum design (See Understanding By Design by Wiggins and McTighe for the low-down on backward design).    Backward curriculum design hinges on the idea that teachers should design instruction while always keeping the “end” in mind, through the formulation of essential questions and goals.  I won’t focus on the whole framework here, but to outline it briefly:

Backward design in a few simple steps:

1. Formulate essential questions and enduring understandings.  What would you like your students to be able to do and understand by the end of your unit/semester/program?  These are not meant to be super content-specific, but, rather, long-ranging “deep” ideas that should undergird your entire instructional program.  These can be specific to your unit or much more general.  Further, there can (should) be essential questions/enduring understandings at the lesson level, unit level, and curriculum level.  Think of those nested Matryoshka dolls: your goals at each level should fit within one another.
2. Assessment: How will you be able to tell that your students have reached these enduring understandings?  How can you measure/assess authentic understanding?
3. Activities/Tasks: What tasks and activities can prepare your students to demonstrate mastery/authentic understanding? (Importantly, backward design is usually not based on content first, but, instead, skills and general, deep ideas that emanate from study in your discipline.)
4. Differentiation: How can you tailor your activities to meet the needs of and engage your particular group of learners?

So, I began to think about my goals as an English teacher.  It’s interesting that without specific content/literature to ground these goals, I’ve been able to think more broadly, about how English works as a discipline.  What do I want my students to understand about English literature from their experiences in my classroom?

I came up with lots of general goals, which I grouped into three categories: academic goals, behavioral/social goals, and “metacognitive” goals.  Again, like the Russian nesting dolls, these goals fit within one another.

• Academic goals (THE “WHAT”) are the most content-based goals.  I would define these generally as the practices of the discipline and content-based knowledge that equip students to think about and work with literature specifically.SOME OF THESE GOALS: process writing, grammar, literature content knowledge, vocabulary fluency, literary movements, important figures, patterns, and cultural movements
• Behavioral/social goals (THE “HOW”) are the “dispositions” and behaviors that enable students to be successful learners.SOME OF THESE GOALS: cooperation, groupwork, empathy, speaking, listening, presentation, thinking critically, inquiry, questioning, social responsibility
• “Metacognitive” goals (THE “WHY”) are the self-regulation and reflection skills that enable students to understand themselves as learners, set their own goals, and create and use strategies for success.SOME OF THESE GOALS: goal setting, self-assessment, self-regulation, reflection on progress, identifying mistakes, teaching others, understanding learning processes, identifying/evaluating strategies for problem-solving

When I think about my goals, I try to always keep in mind that I want my students to walk away from my classroom with skills that they can apply in other circumstances.  I want them to have grown as learners and to have a “toolkit” of strategies and, most of all, to understand what these strategies mean and how they work.  Academic goals are the “smallest” goals in terms of scope, and I think that these are the ones that kids most quickly forget after they leave the classroom.  I remember reading The Great Gatsby in high school, for example, and I remember what it’s about, but I’m not sure that our study really gave me anything to take away.

My point in writing this post is not to pretend that I have all of the answers (or even most of them).  My point is that I think it’s hugely important for teachers to keep the “end” and the big picture in mind at all times.  And the first step along that path is to figure out what the big picture is in the first place.  It’s a crime to forget to leave time to reflect and consider your place in the grand old scheme of things.  In the thick of planning and surviving your every day life, this can feel next to impossible.  But take the time–it’s worth it.  And it will help you to keep your teaching focused toward lasting skills for your students.