Witty-wig

"If I measure my student's thinking through shallow assessments, I will receive shallow thinking from them; if I measure their thinking through assessments that require deeper thinking, I will recieve deeper thinking from them" (211).

I think that backwards design is something that will only benefit me as a teacher. It makes our lives so much easier! I think that by understanding what we want the final product to be from what we teach will make us more likely to create better lessons that lead students to a particular and speicific area that we want them to reach. By having an ultimate goal in mind, we as teachers will be more focused and I feel like it would help us stay on track and be reminded of where we want to lead our students. One of the things that I enjoyed most when beginning to create my Conceptual Unit was choosing culminating activities. It makes me excited to see the kinds of products that my students would be able to create and know that each lesson will lead them to that point where they can show me what they have learned. I don't want my assessment to just be tests - I want them to be able to express themselves and what they've learned through so many different avenues, and in return, I am able to gain a greater idea if they have reached the place that I've wanted them to reach.