"If you learn how to plan in units, your teaching will have continuity and purpose for students. You will also relieve yourself of the burden of planning day to day. If your lessons are well planned and interrelated, you will be able to focus on other aspects of teaching in your daily instruction. If you do not plan ahead, each night will require you to think of something new to do for each class the next day, perhaps till after midnight. Not my idea of a good time." (Smagorinsky, xi)
That's not really my idea of a good time, either, Smagorinsky. As some of you may know, I am a planner. I will go over a plan numerous times to make sure that it is more than just adequate. However, I have such nerves when it comes to beginning my career as a teacher. Up until now, our 100 hours of observation (or however much it has been) has been so erratic and intermittent that we have not had to plan a full lesson and watch it play out in front of students. Though I am aware that we will experience this in our student teaching semester, is anyone else worried about the process of becoming a great lesson planner? Maybe we were all natural born teachers and this will come to us naturally, but what if it doesn't?
Now, moving on.. I was particularly interested in Smagorinsky's reminder that there are different kinds of learners in the classroom. I always tend to forget that when budget cuts occur, the things that are often taken out are classes such as art and music. This leaves students with the requirement to sit still all day except running between classes. This often gives students the urge to ditch the beginning of class in order to walk around and talk to their friends. This does not mean that students don't care about what is being taught in the classroom, but rather that they have different needs than participating in just the standard lecture-discussion classroom. Our middle-and-high-schoolers will have lots of energy! It is important to keep them engaged and moving! It is really easy for us, as teachers, to get carried away with discussions and asking students questions about the class readings, for that is what we love. However, we need to keep in mind the importance of projects and movement for students. After this reminder, I believe that I will set a goal for my own classroom to have the students move around and have a "fun activity" at least twice a week. This sort of classroom fun will allow the students to be motivated and look forward to come to class.
Side note: I am excited about this semester!
- Alexandra K. Wiesyk
I can definitely relate to you in your second paragraph. As we kind of discussed in 330 today, I'm absolutely terrified that I won't be a great curriculum or lesson planner. Sure, in our methods courses we have been given general guidelines, but it's not the same thing as being the head of our own classroom.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, Sam! After the 330-chat, I totally wanted to write a couple more paragraphs about curriculum development, instruction fears, etc. Hopefully we talk more about this in 330 and 481!
DeleteI've been re-reading some of these entries, and when I read yours again I thought about the demonstration and lesson series we're doing right now! Especially the one about discussion, which is relevant to your point at the end of this piece. What does it mean for a teacher to create questions that work in an *activity* that still focus on the students and their learning? The teacher's interest is always still there, and still at the start--nothing is every objective or apolitical--what's this all look like? I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone explores this in their planning.
ReplyDelete