Be all that you can be. Find your future--as a teacher.

Musings of a second-year teacher.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

A Bump in the Road

I'm in the middle of planning my third lesson out of four for a unit in the spring. I needed to take a break, so I decided to write a bit in my blog. These first two lesson plans have been slightly discouraging. I know I didn't put full effort into the first one, but I thought my second one was really good. Never the less, when I got them back from my professor, my grade was horrible for both of them. I know that I'm still learning and I realize my mistakes once they were pointed out, but it's still discouraging.

Is lesson planning something that gets easier the longer you teach? I sure hope so. And I hope it doesn't take too long to catch on because right now it takes me about 5 times longer to create a lesson plan than it does to actually teach the same lesson.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Meg,

Yes it does! Sometimes it becomes second nature after years and years! For me, though coming up with creative ideas and carefully scaffolding student learning was always time consuming. I often did lots of that during the summer.

I found I used a written type of short hand (I knew what it all meant) for lessons that were really laid out in perfect detail in my mind once I had had lots of practice.

Since I've not seen the format that you are using, it's hard to suggest any tips. I wonder if you have read and are using Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe "Understanding by Design"? Their template is helpful in ensuring that standards, assessment and learning activities are aligned.

I am thinking you are aware of the four domains of teaching from PRAXIS as I see that Virginia uses the PRAXIS assessments for licensure. Planning to me is the most difficult area. I often refer to teaching as a complex activity and in the planning you are synthesizing content and pedagogy, evaluating student progress, accounting for individual differences, aligning experiences to state standards --Whew! And what did I leave out?

Don't be discouraged- the road to accomplished teaching is full of bumps in the road but it's also full of grand landscapes that bring lots of joy!

I wonder if you can identify one area of the planning which challenges you the most and focus on that? Might that be of value?

Best,
Lani

10:05 AM  

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