TIME, what a valuable commidity that ther is NEVER enough of. In college obtaining my undergraduate degree many of my subject centered education courses focused on making lesson plans or unit plans for different topics. This was important and a valuable learning experience, however since leaving college unless it has been for another conintuing Ed course I have never made another. I post lesson plans weekly during the school year, and I have found myself sitting down with a blank calender to prepare for two maternity leaves and laying out the information to be covered worksheets to be used etc. but never have I sat down and planned all out goals objectives, the whole works a lesson.
Please understand I think the taxonomy and the learning styles discussed in the chapters are important to my teaching and I think I need to work harder to take these into account when preparing for the week, but cannot honestly say that I will be changing my habbits enough to write out in depth lesson plans. This all comes back to time. I need time to study keep up on the standards and to meet with collegues and prepare for state testing, and to correct assignments, and and and, the list goes on and on.
Are my students better or worse off for this lack of "formal" planning? I don't know the answer, but I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
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We, as educators must have a desire to teach all children in a way they will understand by planning our lesson before delivering instructions. Although there is extra time in planning and it is time consuming, but it requires dedication from teachers to make sure that our students receive the education they need. We as educators need to have the interest of all students at heart and we need to do everything possible to reach them .We must have positive attitudes toward our work and go extra miles n making sure that our students succeed.
ReplyDeleteI understand your dilemma. I have been there. I find that most curriculum developers have a scope and sequence of skills planned out for us, most have the objectives laid out in plain sight, and some use comprehension strategies/skill teaching methods that are reflective of taxonomy of thought. I don't think it's about re-writing comprehensive painstaking, time consuming lessons. It's about knowing where we are going. If we have a clear path defined (objectives) we as teachers are respobille for finding the various avenues our students may need to take to arrive at the end of that path.
ReplyDeleteReflecting on lessons has been the best teaching tool for me. I know I can improve on a lesson each year, I will jot down notes...it's amazing from year to year how I can remember what I taught, how I taught it, and what I wanted to change if I take the time to reflect. Even discussing the lesson with another teacher helps me to remember the good and bad elements so that I can go about improving them for next year.
Time...is a big issue. All of the extravagant ideas I have that I know my students would enjoy/benefit from take it... time. I learned I cannot do them all. Find one topic in each unit that students often struggle with and find ways to develop it further and teach it better. After a few years you will be surprised at how many well developed lessons you have at your finger tips!
Maria,
ReplyDeleteI do not have planned out lesson plans for every lesson I teach every day. I know what I want my students to accomplish that particular day and I know where each lesson is leading. Part of being an educator is being flexible and grabbing hold of the teachable moments that arise in the classroom.
It does not make you a poor teacher because you do not have formal lesson plans for each lesson. You love the students and you want the best for each of them; that makes you a good educator.
Chad
I think that I am in the same boat as you are. I have not sat down and wrote many lesson plans outside of classes that I have been taking. The situation that I run into is that when I first started teaching I used those plans but now I know what I want to do and I just do it. Most of my classes are nine weeks courses and so even though I am only in my fifth year, I have taught most of my classes over 50 times (3 per quarter times 4 quarters times 5 years). Now instead of lesson planning, I just make notes to myself on my suplies lists and follow that. I do not believe that this takes away from my students but it does put me in a difficult situation if I ever need to leave my class for extended period of time. I have also taken leave for the birth of my two kids (not as much a my wife) but a week for each of them.
ReplyDeleteWriting lesson plan is very important especially ahead of time as it will make you to incorporate some activity into your class lesson. It is an essential stage as it help to enhance the success of your lesson. If you plan ahead , then there is no way your lesson will not make sense to your students and you will be able to reach many of them and help them to be successful. It also gives you structure and focus so that you will not get off track and waste a lot of time doing irrelevant stuff. It also help you to have differentiated activity for your struggle students. Try to develop the habit of doing it even if it is partial lesson plan.
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