By Dr. Salika Lawrence
When I started using Understanding by Design (UbD), I thought it was about better assessments. But what it really taught me was to get out of the way.
In a First Amendment unit, I began with the performance task: students would host a public forum on free speech and censorship. From there, we identified the skills, content, and habits of thinking they’d need to get there. Suddenly, the unit wasn’t mine anymore—it was theirs. They took ownership because they understood the purpose from the start.
Backward planning doesn’t mean giving students less structure—it means giving them more meaningful structure. When students see where they’re headed, they’re more willing to chart the course with you. In order to help students to see where they are headed, the teacher needs a clear vision. The issue is often having a clear vision of the outcomes. What do I expect my students to know and be able to do by the time we are done with this lesson or unit? What skills and processes and mindsets do I want them to bring to this experience?
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