Stage 1
Identify Desired Results
The first stage of backward design is identifying what knowledge and understanding students must obtain by the end of the unit. Teachers must first decide which content is priority to teach to students since sometimes it is not possible to teach everything in the curriculum (McTighe & Wiggins, 1998, p. 8). Wiggins and McTighe (1998) provided an illustration (to the right) on how we can decide which curricular content is most important.
The most important of the three rings is the smallest ring, "enduring" understanding. This is the information you want students to remember beyond the details. The middle ring includes the facts and skills that are important to a course; without these elements, student learning would be considered insufficient. The largest ring consists of information students should be familiar with. (McTighe & Wiggins, 1998, p. 9)