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Backcasting to the Future

10/4/2012

3 Comments

 
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A few months ago I visited an independent school in Ontario that defined its curriculum in terms of pre-packaged “programmes”. There was a math programme, a spelling programme, a reading programme and even a remediation programme. Teaching, for some of the staff members, was a bit like cooking. The students were the ingredients, the recipe for learning was the programme; and the results were “guaranteed” no matter what the quality of the chef. The desired end result was straightforward – students had to complete the programme. Consequently, disruptions like field trips or drama productions or sports competitions or special assemblies were seen as irritants that interfered with “real” learning and led to complaints that with so many interruptions, the students would never get to the last chapter of the textbook.

But good schools are not fast food franchises, and good educators are not chefs. Schools must be studios of creative learning experiences and the staff must be artists in residence. Artists who have a vision of the future for their students and seek to create the means to have them realize it.

Some do it intuitively but the best do it deliberately. They are the “backcasters” in our midst.

What is a backcaster? Well, to begin with, you might think that it is just the opposite of a forecaster, in other words, a predictor of future events. But that would mean that teachers are only good at predicting past events, as in “I taught it, but they didn’t learn it” (Assuredly not a really useful skill!)

In actual fact, “backcasting” takes “forecasting” to a new level. Where forecasting looks at current trends and tries to analyze what they mean for future conditions (like a weather forecast); backcasting looks at a possible future and then works backwards to determine what factors or interventions will be necessary to construct the future that we desire.

Environmentalists use both methods, constructing models of future degradation based upon business as usual and contrasting that with the preferred future and determining the actions that society needs to take to get there.

In a “macro” educational environment, that is called “backwards curriculum design”. You identify desired outcomes and then work backwards to create assessments, develop resources, and determine teaching strategies that will get your students where you want them to go.

At Kenneth Gordon we also engage in “micro” curriculum design through developing individual education plans (IEPs) for each of our students. We “backcast” from where we want them to be, through reverse steps, back to where they are now. Along the way we establish benchmarks and assessment criteria to measure progress (and help with mid-course corrections) and then when it is all in place, we reverse direction and begin to move forward to our preferred future for each child.

Not surprisingly, this is more complex and challenging than simply implementing a packaged programme or slavishly following one single methodology for teaching and learning. It requires continuous training, reflection, and reinvention as we continuously adjust to an ever-changing learning pathway.

When we accept students into our school, we don’t compartmentalize them according to a “diagnosis” or label. We backcast. We know our desired outcomes, we understand the child’s current strengths and weaknesses and we decide whether or not we can build an individualized programme that can get her or him from where they are, to where they need to be. If the answer is yes, then we welcome them with open arms, regardless of what label someone else might affix to them.

Ironically then, an effective backcast is the most effective and proactive forecast of student growth and achievement. So next time you see us looking over our shoulders – you know where we are coming from – and where we are going!


3 Comments
Susan McKenzie
10/4/2012 11:58:37 am

I find this inspiring, and would like to go on the journey too. I want to learn the lingua franca enough to be the advocate my student needs when we leave and enter other learning contexts. I need some tools!

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Domenica link
10/22/2012 09:26:32 am

Isn’t “Backcasting” similar to parenting? Or what parenting should be? We want our children to become happy, independent, confident contributors to society. We want are children to grow up into adults that can think for themselves, so we parent accordingly. We try to….without much support from society. Most parents (like the schools that have “pre-packages programmes”) live by their bag of rules and consequences. They….we treat our children like tabula rasa (blank slates) and try to mold them into people we want them to be instead of treating them like individuals, with their own traits and characteristics, and helping them become the best people they can be.

I’m just suggesting that societies protocols (on what to do when raising children) haven’t yet caught up to the current research on child development. It’s just easier to fall back on the “book of rules” or the “re-packaged programmes”. We all want that guide on how to raise our children, the one that starts with “Step 1” and then moves us through our children’s lives with ease; answers for every difficulty encountered on the way. But think of what this attitude is doing to our children….turning them into people who can not think for themselves…creativity is lost or thought of as defiance….stop thinking for yourself….do what I say…or else….they’ll be consequences!

Very often, I find myself thinking, “Why don’t my children just listen to me?”. And then I remember the answer one of my mentors gave me to this question, “because they’re children. You don’t want children that just listen to you.” No I don’t. I want children that can think for themselves. But it is my job to guide my children and I do this best through example. So when I’m wondering, “why don’t they listen?” I need to stop and listen to them.

A school that is continuously changing and adapting to its children’s needs teaches children that they are important. When they have recovered their self-esteem and confidence we can help them learn how to meet their own needs. And then we send them back to the world that will probably not accommodate them, but that’s okay. Because, hopefully, by then we would have taught them not to be victims….that they can take education into their own hands. All schools can offer them something. Parents can help their children discover what a school can offer and then help them develop strategies to fill in the blanks. Instead of focusing on what doesn’t work, let’s figure out what will work for them.

And all of this (parenting) takes time…..there isn’t an easy solution….there isn’t a manual or guide…we just have to take it one step at a time….(or one problem at a time!)

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vaneza streamate link
10/22/2013 02:34:34 pm

Hello

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    Dr. Jim Christopher is the Head of Kenneth Gordon Maplewood School and Maplewood Alternative High School in North Vancouver. A parent, author and long-time teacher, and educational administrator across Canada, he has been actively involved in the drive to differentiate learning experiences to meet the needs of all learners.

    View my profile on LinkedIn

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