MCCESC Teaching & Learning
October 2022: Effective Classroom Planning
Why is Lesson Planning important?
- enhance student learning,
- allow you, the teacher, to make future changes to lessons,
- allow for efficient use of time,
- build in time for intervention/enrichment activities,
- provide you, the teacher, a plan if you need to be away,
- and provide an overall less stressful classroom.
Who am I teaching?
If you are reusing lessons from previous years--either that you created or that are scripted from a textbook--how are you ensuring that the lesson is the best fit for the students you currently have?
ReachOut Australia (2022) shares the three types of intelligences that can help you in learning more about the students within your classroom:
- Practical - "This is also called ‘street smarts’. Students who are high in practical intelligence will have plenty of commonsense and be able to adapt quickly to changing environments. These students like to play to their strengths and minimise their weaknesses. They are the students who get the job done and like to be involved in tasks."
- Creative - "Students who are high in creative intelligence excel at tasks that require invention, creativity, discovery and imagination. These students are great at offering thought-provoking ideas and participating in classroom discussions."
- Analytical - "Students who are high in analytical intelligence are great at tasks that require planning, critical thinking and analysis. These students are gifted in terms of their logic and information-processing ability. They are often more studious than they are imaginative, and love to digest new information."
So how can you learn more about your students and their abilities and needs?
- Content assessments (benchmark assessments/pre-tests)
- Student surveys (that address their learning styles, preferences, and interests)
- Family surveys (that give you insight from the caretaker perspective)
- Talk to previous years' teachers (including support specialists such as intervention specialists, speech language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists) to find out more about each students' strengths and areas of concern.
What am I teaching?
Using the recommended format of The Teacher Clarity Playbook (2020) by Fisher, Frey, Amador and Assof, take a deeper dive into your content standards beyond what they just say. Their team suggests breaking content standards into learning progressions, which are more of the bite-sized nuggets of learning that happen in a lesson.
It is critical for you to fully understand what students are expected to learn so that you can teach it to the expected level. Consider spending time looking more closely at the model curricula provided by the Ohio Department of Education:
How will I teach it?
This is where thoroughly understanding the expectation of each content standard is necessary so that you can select strategies/activities that support the intended rigor.
Do you need to learn more about rigor and complexity? This quick, 4-minute video provides a great overview of both.
Are you interesting in seeing how to increase complexity within your content area? Dr. Karin Hess has created FREE Cognitive Rigor Matrices for the following content areas: Reading & Listening, Math & Science, Written & Oral Communication, Social Studies & Humanities, Fine Arts, Health & PE, World Languages & ELL, and Career & Tech Education.
How do I know if they get it?
Tales from Outside the Classroom (2022) shares "5 Ways Success Criteria Can Transform Your Classroom":
- Provides a focus for your lessons
- Reduces anxiety
- Fosters student motivation
- Encourages self-assessment
- Builds confidence
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