Backwards Design to Improve Lesson Access for All Learners with 5 Moore Minutes

Welcome to a special series of Tutor Tips brought to you by Literacy Minnesota’s Access Project! Once a month, we’ll be sharing resources and ideas to help enhance access and support learners with disabilities inside and outside of the classroom. 

To kick our series off, this month’s tip highlights a lesson planning approach that can help you plan for accessibility whether you write your own lessons or follow an established curriculum. This approach is called backwards design, and it emphasizes drilling down on the goal of the lesson in order to open up more paths to achieving the goal. Check out this five-minute video about backwards design from Five Moore Minutes! 

Five Moore Minutes is a project by teacher Shelley Moore creating short, colorful videos to explore the ongoing revolution in the field of special education emphasizing supporting students with disabilities to participate as much as possible in general education classrooms and curricula. If you’re interested in learning more about some of the ideas involved, here’s a great playlist to start with: 

1. The Evolution of Inclusion: The past and future of education - YouTube 
2. The End of Average!? Disrupting the green of education! - YouTube
3. Dr. Baked Potato: How can we scaffold complexity? - YouTube
4. Bringing Support TO the Students Just Let them Eat Cake! - YouTube

Feedback or suggestions for this series? Contact Literacy Minnesota Access Coordinator, Emily Fox-Penner, at efoxpenner@literacymn.org.