Elements in Planning

Instructional Planning: Backwards Design                                       Grade Group:  6
ELEMENTS	GROWING SUCCESS MESSAGE	TEACHER CANDIDATE FRIENDLY LANGUAGE
Achievement Chart Categories	A standard, province-wide guide to be used by teachers to make judgements about student work based on clear performance standards. The categories of knowledge and skills are as follows: • Knowledge and Understanding: Subject-specific content acquired in each grade/course (knowledge), and the comprehension of its meaning and significance (understanding) • Thinking: The use of critical and creative thinking skills and/or processes • Communication: The conveying of meaning through various forms • Application: The use of knowledge and skills to make connections within and between various contexts	Set of guideline to follow when looking at performance standards of the students. These include; Knowledge and understand: do they understand the subject-specific content for each grade and unit? Thinking; are they using skills and/or processes to think critically and creatively? Communication: Are they able to conveying meaning through various forms? Application: Are they able to make connections with the knowledge and skills within and between various contexts?
Learning Skills and Work Habits	The skills and habits that can be demonstrated by a student across all subjects, courses, and grades and in other behaviour at school. These learning skills and work habits promote student achievement of the curriculum expectations. The six skills and habits are: responsibility, organization, independent work, collaboration, initiative, and self-regulation.	There are 6 skills and habits that students need to demonstrate across all subjects, courses and grades that promote student achievement in the curriculum and other school/ life behaviours. They include; responsibility, organization, independent work, collaboration, initiative and self-regulation.
Learning Goals	Learning Goals: brief statements that describe for a student what he or she should know and be able to do by the end of a period of instruction. The goals represent subsets or clusters of knowledge and skills that the student must master to successfully achieve the overall curriculum expectations	Learning goals clearly identify what students are expected to know and be able to do, in language that students can readily understand ·      Teachers develop learning goals based on the curriculum expectations and share them with students at or near the beginning of a cycle of learning ·      Teachers and students come to a common understanding of the learning goals through discussion and clarification during instruction
Purpose and Nature of Assessment	Purpose of Assessment: to improve student learning. Includes assessment for, as and of learning Nature of Assessment: how students are being assessed, based on the purpose of assessment (for/as/of). Can be diagnostic, formative, or summative	Purpose of Assessment: to improve student learning. Includes assessment for, as and of learning Nature of Assessment: how students are being assessed, based on the purpose of assessment (for/as/of). Can be diagnostic, formative, or summative
Success Criteria	Describe in specific terms what successful attainment of the learning goals looks like. The success criteria are used to develop an assessment tool.	An outline of expectations for the student to be successful when the assignment is completed. Success Criteria helps the teacher develop how the project will be assessed.
Assessment Strategies	To elicit information about student learning. These strategies should be triangulated to include observation, student-teacher conversations, and student products	Ways in which teachers evaluate the students. The assessment strategies should include observation of the student, conversations with the student and assignments.
Assessment Tools	The success criteria are used to develop an assessment tool, such as a checklist, a rubric, or an exit card (i.e., a student’s self-assessment of learning)	Tools that are used to assess students such as: rubrics, exit card, checklist, ect.
Differentiated Instruction	An approach to instruction designed to maximize growth by considering the needs of each student at his or her current stage of development and offering that student a learning experience that responds to his or her individual needs. Differentiated instruction recognizes that equity of opportunity is not achieved through equal treatment and takes into account factors such as the student’s readiness, interest, and learning preferences	Instruction based on student’s readiness. Each child is unique and learns at their own individual pace. Teacher’s must be able to accommodate this and adjust lessons where necessary.