Backward design is one of the most important aspects that a teacher can implement when creating lessons for their students. Backward design is the idea of creating a lesson backward from the conventional way it has always been done. Often teachers started by thinking about the assessment of a topic, once the assessment was completed they would build the lesson by trying to prepare the students for the assessment that they have created. Backward design is flipping that on its head. The first thing thought about is what the students are supposed to learn, or the learning outcome of the lesson. Once the learning outcomes are identified then the way that the learning outcomes are taught is decided. This could be in the form of a game, simulation, lecture, project, etc. Only then is the assessment thought about, when creating the assessment it is also important to look at it in the context of the lesson. It does not have to be a test or paper, it could be the completion of the game and a reflection on what was done. The assessment could be a showing of growth throughout the lesson. What makes backward design so important is that it creates a focus more on getting the students to learn the learning outcomes that the lessons are focusing on rather than just preparing them for a test. It stops the idea of memorizing straight facts to repeat when they get the test at the end of the lesson. It allows for more flexibility as if the assessment is based on the lesson rather than the lesson based on the assessment it can be more flexible to better reflect the learning that was done. While having an idea of what the assessment is going to look like at the start is important, when doing backward design it can not be the first thing decided as it stops creativity and flexibility in lesson planning.