Spring 2020* Will Always Have an Asterisk

What a spring this has turned out to be.

In any normal year, teachers know the path leading to graduation. They know what a well-completed school year looks like, using previous year-ends as benchmarks.

Yet what results when the current school year shares little in common with the previous school years? What results when there are no final exams, no Senior Prom, no spring concert because the school year as we know it has ceased to exist?

What results is uncertainty. And uncertainty is a destabilizing feeling for all of us, whether in kindergarten or a grandparent of a kindergartener.

In times of uncertainty, it helps to have a clear vision of a desired goal. By creating an attainable goal to strive for at the end of the year, teachers can regain a semblance of control.

The late, great educator Grant Wiggins created a helpful approach toward curriculum development called “Backwards by Design”. Using backward design thinking, the teacher would focus on the learning goal first, and work “backwards”, creating a curricular path leading toward achieving that goal. Teachers could use the same approach to the last 8-10 weeks of school. 

In a recent podcast episode, coach, teacher and podcaster Drew Kugler gives this example of backward design thinking when he says, “Apple CEO Tim Cook states, ‘Here at Apple as we decide to create a product, before we do anything, we meet and we decide, when the product is in the consumer's hand, what is it that we want them to feel? What is the emotion? Is it joy, is it inspiration, is it anything? We craft backwards from that expectation and that goal.’”

If teachers asked themselves, “what does a good end of the school year look like in 2020?”, their answers would likely center more on feelings than facts. I want my students to feel united. I want my sense of possibility to be broadened. I want the students to feel challenged and confident. I want my remote classroom to be a place of safety and security.

Thus, teachers might choose to replace backward design thinking with backward design feeling. Doing so, they can set their end of year goal through an SEL and relational lens. 

Given that emotions rule during this period of time in our world’s history, this is the right new framework. Let’s encourage our teachers to reflect on their goals for the end of the 2020 school year, and to work backwards from them. Using a Backward Design Feeling approach, teachers will regain their sense of control over their unique teaching conditions. Additionally, teachers will relate more closely to their students during this heightened time.