Alex on Lesson Planning...

Lesson Planning… Dun-dun-dun.

There is no way that every single person that has ever had to create a lesson plan hasn't felt overwhelmed for one reason or another. Whether it is because it is their first time creating a discussion lesson that can be applied to a real classroom or because there are constantly new methods being introduced that teachers are being asked to implement in the classroom, there is always a lot on a teacher’s plate. I thought all this lesson planning would come natural to me since I have been preparing for this my entire college career. 

Now, I have realized, that it isn't always that easy to just do it (yes, Nike’s motto has failed me here).

As I sit here, pen in hand, brainstorming ideas for discussion questions and topics for my ninth graders, I realize, this is a lot of work. Don’t get me wrong, I never expected to walk into a classroom and have a glorious “aha, it all makes sense now” moment upon working with a student on the first day.. However, I did think that I would know what I was to do a little more. Now, I hope I am not incriminating myself here by saying all this, but there is a lot I still have to learn.

I have always believed that a teacher is a forever learner. I have often even wished that I would never have to find a job that turned into a career (not because I don’t have a good work ethic, because trust me, I love working) because I could live off a tree that magically produced money-fruit, and would in turn allow me to stay in school forever and keep learning. Teaching is definitely the closest career choice to this unattainable life plan that I dream of. Every day I enter the classroom, I expect to teach my students something and in turn for them to teach me something. I have watched my mentor teacher plan her lessons and realize them in the classroom, and that was my real “aha, it all makes sense now” moment. Not because I now know everything that I am supposed to do, but because I have attained the knowledge that I don’t know everything. Every time I open a methods text, I will keep learning. As I sit here thinking of guiding questions to use in my lesson plan and ideas to use in the classroom, I am in fact teaching myself.

Regards fellow learners, with all the corniness in the world…

Alexandra K. Wiesyk