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I am halfway through my first semester of teacher's college as week 6 comes to an end. As we push forward in our development as teachers a common theme continues to arise... lesson planning! This is an essential tool for teachers everywhere who are preparing activities for their students. Why create lesson plans? Why not just have the big picture in your head and show up to class with that in mind? The simple answer is preparation sets up for success. When you are facilitating between 20 and 30 students over the course of a semester or entire year of schooling, planning and preparing is key to their continued development.
Big picture ideas are great but the trick is in the details. If plan A doesn't work you need to be at the ready with plan B. You have to know what areas of the curriculum you are covering, if you're building on the lessons previous, where a particular lesson is intending to take your students, what materials you require and strategies for propelling your students forward. It sounds like a lot and it is! As someone who has yet to put into practice her lesson planning skills, I was nervous.
Finally, my big worries were addressed this past week in my math class when we went through a lesson plan together as a group and thank goodness since I have 3 lesson planning assignments coming up in several classes! There were 3 key things I took away about what I should do as the teacher:
1) Always do the math! (Be sure you are ready and able to complete the problems you're handing out)
2) Ask open ended questions. (You want to prompt your students to find the answers themselves)
3) Check for understanding. (The job is never done. Create an exit ticket or reflection activity to see if what you've taught has been absorbed)
It sounds easy but these are some simple rules that could get overlooked if you weren't completing a lesson plan. Another important thing I learned was that lesson plans are for you, the teacher! Sure, having a good plan in place will benefit your students but it is a tool used to help you stay on track and be the most effective teacher you can be in any given lesson. A lesson plan is also critical in deciding how you will evaluate. You may not use the same evaluation tools each and every lesson. In fact, it is good to evaluate in a variety of ways and so planning your evaluation is just as important as planning the lesson.
Ultimately, as we discussed in class, the goal of any lesson should be for students to make connections and extend their knowledge beyond the classroom. They need time for independent practice and using examples that they can relate to can really help them get engaged in a subject. If my students are able to take the concepts and skills they are learning in my class and extend them beyond into their everyday life I'll know I've done my job. The best way to do my job is to make sure I'm prepared with a great lesson plan!
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