Schooling by Design- Chapters 1 and 2

These two readings provided me with an introduction to the work of Grant Wiggins and Jay McTigue. In their book Understanding by Design (2005) they introduced the concept of "backward curriculum design." The foundation of backward design is beginning with what you want your students to accomplish; the goals you wish to achieve. This innovative and compelling design has directly impacted the structure of curriculum, the development of state standards, and even the manner in which many teachers approach the delivery of their units of study.
Wiggins and McTigue used real-life situations in order to explain backward design in a manner that was clear and easy to understand. They explained how the blueprint or model is what the final product will look like on a construction job. In education the final product could be the goals that are established in the school's mission statement. The building codes on the other hand represent the standards in education. They are rules that need to be met but they are not the purpose of the construction. The construction workers, as do teachers, do their best to honor the codes in their professions, but their goal is to achieve the final product.
Because the backward curriculum design requires you to have foresight and see what the end result should look like, I decided to examine and revisit my own school's mission statement. Here is the mission statement for my K-4 elementary school:

The T. Baldwin Demarest School provides a high quality education to over 470 students in Kindergarten through fourth grade. The teaching staff subscribes to the philosophy that children learn best in a supportive, nurturing learning environment that immerses students in a style of curriculum delivery which reflects the key principles of active participation, cooperative learning, hands-on instruction, and interdisciplinary teaching. The school is continually developing educational programs with the intent of promoting children's academic, social, and emotional development. Educational initiatives in the areas of heterogeneous grouping, cooperative learning, enrichment, technology, multicultural education, literature-based reading, and science have afforded students opportunities for a more in depth exploration of the world in which they live. With the guidance of supportive parents and dedicated educators, the students are destined to become responsible citizens prepared to participate in a constantly changing society.

This mission statement is the building block for much of the learning that exists within my school. It involves all members of the community in the learning process and establishes a goal that all members can work cooperatively to achieve. My goal is to ask more insightful questions of my students this year to see if they can make the connection to their learning. Why are we learning this? What did we do in the past few weeks that relates to this? These articles have presented me with a new way of thinking about curriculum delivery and instruction. I look forward to implementing this design model with my first graders this year!