Backward Design Lesson Plan Template

Backward Design (Understanding by Design) starts with the end in mind: you define what students should understand, then design assessments, and finally plan learning activities that build toward those goals.

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When to use this template

  • Designing units or multi-day lessons where alignment between goals and assessment matters
  • When you want to ensure activities serve a clear purpose
  • For performance-based or project-based assessments
  • When planning around essential questions and enduring understandings

Template sections

Define enduring understandings, essential questions, and knowledge/skills students will develop.

Enduring Understanding: Students will understand that...

Essential Question(s): ...

Students will know: ...

Students will be able to: ...

Design performance tasks and other evidence that will demonstrate student understanding. Plan these before activities.

Performance Task: Students will demonstrate understanding by...

Other Evidence: quizzes, observations, homework, journal entries...

Design learning experiences and instruction that will equip students to achieve the desired results and succeed on the assessments.

What sequence of learning activities will build toward the performance task?

W = Where/Why | H = Hook/Hold | E = Explore/Equip | R = Rethink/Reflect | E = Evaluate | T = Tailor | O = Organize

List all materials, texts, technology, and resources needed.

What materials and resources will students and teacher need?

The Flip Perspective

Backward Design ensures that every activity serves a clear, long-term purpose by starting with the desired results. This intentionality prevents the common trap of planning activities for their own sake. Flip's AI assists by aligning your assessments and learning plans directly with your state standards and big ideas.

See what our AI builds

Adapting this Template

For All Subjects

Apply Backward Design by adapting the phase timings and prompts to fit All Subjects's unique content demands.

About the Backward Design framework

Backward Design, also known as Understanding by Design (UbD), was developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. It flips the traditional lesson planning process: instead of starting with activities and hoping they lead to learning, you start by defining what students must understand, then work backward to design assessments and instruction.

The three stages of Backward Design:

Stage 1, Identify Desired Results: What should students understand and be able to do? This goes beyond surface knowledge to focus on enduring understandings and essential questions that transfer across contexts.

Stage 2, Determine Acceptable Evidence: How will you know students have achieved understanding? Design performance tasks and other assessment evidence before planning activities.

Stage 3, Plan Learning Experiences: What activities, instruction, and resources will help students develop understanding and perform well on the assessments?

Why Backward Design works: Traditional planning often starts with "What activity should I do?" and ends with a test that may not align with instruction. Backward Design ensures tight alignment between goals, assessments, and instruction.

The power of essential questions: Essential questions are at the heart of Backward Design. These are provocative, open-ended questions that recur throughout a unit and push students toward deeper thinking. "What makes a story worth telling?" is an essential question; "What are the parts of a story?" is not.

Transfer goals: The ultimate aim of Backward Design is transfer: students should be able to apply understanding to new, unfamiliar situations. This means designing for deep understanding rather than mere recall.

This template guides you through all three stages with structured prompts, helping you design lessons where every activity serves a clear purpose and assessment authentically measures understanding.

Pair with these methodologies

Problem-Based Learning

Tackle open-ended problems without predetermined solutions

Case Study Analysis

Deep dive into a real-world case with structured analysis

Project-Based Learning

Extended projects with real-world deliverables

Socratic Seminar

Deep discussion in inner/outer circles

5E Model

The 5E Model structures lessons through five phases (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate), guiding students from curiosity to deep understanding through inquiry-based learning.

Simple

A clean, no-fuss lesson plan template with just the essentials: objective, materials, procedure, and assessment. Perfect for quick planning or teachers who prefer minimal structure.

High School

Designed for grades 9–12 with deeper analysis, Socratic discussion, independent research, and assessment preparation. Built to support college and career readiness.

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Frequently asked questions

Backward Design is a planning framework where you start by defining learning goals, then design assessments to measure those goals, and finally plan activities that prepare students for the assessments. It ensures alignment between what you want students to learn, how you measure it, and how you teach it.
The three stages are: Stage 1, Identify Desired Results (enduring understandings and essential questions); Stage 2, Determine Acceptable Evidence (performance tasks and assessments); and Stage 3, Plan Learning Experiences (activities and instruction).
Traditional planning starts with activities and adds a test at the end. Backward Design starts with outcomes, then designs assessments, and finally plans activities that build toward those assessments. This ensures tight alignment and purposeful instruction.
Backward Design tells you what students need to learn and how you will measure it. Active learning tells you how students will actually experience the lesson. The two pair naturally: use Backward Design to define your enduring understandings and performance tasks, then use Flip to generate the hands-on mission (a debate, simulation, or investigation) that gets students there.
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