Messy Minutes Assessment Edition Special Proficiency Scale Series Episode 1 - There's no place like backward design

The Embrace the Messy Podcast with Shannon Schinkel

TRANSCRIPT:

Hey everyone, welcome to Messy Minutes: Assessment Edition Episode 1: There’s no place like backward design! I’m your host, Shannon Schinkel, from the Embrace the Messy Podcast. Today, we’re kicking off a new series on Proficiency Scale Design—and where better to start than by embracing the messy reality of Backward Design? It’s time to let go of old habits and embrace a new way of thinking about lesson planning. Trust me—it’s worth it. There’s simply “no place like backward design…no place like back design…”
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Here’s the Issue: Many teachers still plan lessons by focusing on content first. They think teaching means covering units, chapters, and textbook sections in a specific order. The more they cover, the better, right? Wrong. This approach is called forward design, where the focus is on moving through material, hoping students learn what they need along the way. Where did this come from?

Forward design was historically embraced by educators because it aligned with traditional educational practices. Teachers were used to creating lessons around familiar topics or textbooks, with assessments added afterward. Since early educational models prioritized delivering content, learning was seen primarily as acquiring knowledge through lectures and materials. This made forward design feel straightforward and flexible, allowing teachers to plan engaging activities first and fit assessments around them. Moreover, during the industrial age, schools operated like factories—teaching was the input, and learning was the expected output—reinforcing the step-by-step logic of forward design. With few detailed assessment frameworks available, teachers naturally focused on delivering lessons and evaluating learning afterward, making backward design less practical at the time.

But here’s the challenge: If students don’t fully grasp the essential learning targets, what was the point of covering all that material? Checking off topics, assigning quizzes, and grading papers might show progress on the surface, but deeper learning happens when lessons are purposefully designed with clear goals in mind. Forward design emphasizes completion, while meaningful learning requires planning with mastery as the destination.
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Let’s Break It Down: Let’s talk about what Backward Design really means. It’s a planning process where you start with the end in mind—the learning goals or standards—and then work backward to decide what activities, lessons, and assessments will help students reach those goals.

With backward design, consider these reflective questions:
• What skills and knowledge should students have by the end of the course?
• How will you know students have learned these skills?
• What learning experiences will support their growth?

Note that the learning opportunities come last, not first. Content is still important, but it’s the path, not the destination.

Many teachers fall into the unit coverage trap. They feel pressure to cover every topic and every chapter, often falling into the 'inch deep, mile wide' trap where they may rush through numerous units without ensuring deep understanding of essential skills. But here’s the reality: Coverage isn’t learning.

Beginning with the units often means:
• Rushing from unit to unit with the idea that students need to get through all units regardless of whether they have mastered a skill
• Giving assessments which tend to focus on content or are a mishmash of skills all rolled into unit assessments rather than skill-specific assessment
• Checking off curriculum boxes without ensuring students mastered anything meaningful
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Backward design frees you from that pressure. When you plan with the standard as the destination, you can be selective about what content really matters. Educators can still follow the linear progression of units but should focus on the skills students need to develop, ensuring each unit meaningfully supports those skills rather than simply covering topics in order. You prioritize depth over breadth and ensure that what students learn sticks.

This approach focuses on teaching skills, not just topics, ensuring that learning is intentional, purposeful, and aligned with meaningful outcomes.

Backward design isn’t about throwing out your favorite lessons—it’s about making sure they fit the goal. Consider refining or replacing lessons that don’t help students reach the standard. Well-designed learning opportunities can still follow a familiar sequence, provided they build the skills students need. Revisiting and refining favorite lessons can ensure they serve a clear, intentional purpose.

So, shifting from forward design to backward design can feel uncomfortable at first, especially if you’re used to planning around units. But remember: It’s not about teaching less—it’s about teaching better.
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Visualize This Scenario:
Imagine you are on a hiking trip as part of the course Hiking 101. The guide grabs a trail map and chooses a random path, with the only firm goal being to finish the hike and move on to the next one. Along the way, the guide checks your progress by seeing how far you’ve walked and whether you seem engaged. You might struggle, but the guide has only so much time to complete the hike and get ready for the next one, leaving little room for learning essential hiking skills like navigation, pacing, and managing trail challenges. While you covered ground and enjoyed the journey, taking in beautiful scenery, there was no clear purpose beyond completing the route, knowing there’s another hike tomorrow.
That’s Forward Design: The guide’s main objective was simply finishing the hike to move on to the next one.

Now, consider a different hiking trip. This time, the guide sets three clear goals: assessing the impact of warm-ups and accurately reading trail markers. Before the hike, the guide has you practice these two skills. The hike itself becomes the assessment, with the guide checking how well you apply those skills along the way, offering focused feedback, and giving multiple opportunities to demonstrate improvement based on specific learning targets.

You still explore, enjoy the scenery, and take breaks, but every stop serves a purpose: assessing the impact of warm-ups and accurately reading trail markers. Finishing the summit is a rewarding outcome, but the real goal is developing the skills needed for the journey. And the focus of these two skills doesn’t end with the hiking trip; the guide tells you that you will be able to focus on what went well and not well on the next hike.

The difference? Backward Design sets the skill goals first, ensuring that every step along the way is intentional.
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Let’s Recap: Backward design means shifting from content-first planning to goal-first planning. It’s about focusing on what students need to learn, not just what teachers need to cover. When you start with the standard—the summit—you can design lessons that make every step count.
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Closing: So now you are ready to embrace the messiness of backward design. Grab a standard and see you next Friday for the second in our series called This is the start of a beautiful proficiency scale.

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