Teaching Point:
Some of you have been in the classroom for quite some time while others may be stepping into the profession from another line of work. What is going to ring true is that you are going to be developing scads of lesson plans and hundreds of unit plans. This has been going on since the New England Primer.
In this class, we are not going to make the unit plan and how it plays out during this class the all-consuming entity because it isn't. The process is what is important. The focus is to develop a process that is reliable and fits within the constraints of the day. So standards, MCAs, rubrics, formative and summative assessments are included in your plans. In the past, the terms were unit goals, performance objectives, activities, quizzes, tests and so on.
As eluded to, I have developed in my science classes hundreds of lesson and unit plans. Like every teacher, I must admit that I have also gone into class w/o any idea of what was going on that day...truly scary. What has been amazing is that some of my best plans did not work at all and some of impromptu moves worked very well. I have likened it to skiing...you look pretty darn good at the top of the hill but who knows what shape you will be in at the bottom of the hill.
I have also found that a plan starts wherever it starts and, through tweaking, morphs into a better and better plan each year. Usually, after three years, I had good units and, after five years, I had great units. Formative assessment strategies will play an important role in your success. Our text book is an excellent source of information regarding these strategies. How you find out where your kids are at and the techniques employed will be major factors in your success.
To keep fresh in my profession, I would discard my units and start over periodically...say every 5-6 years.
So work effectively in this class and establish the process you are going to utilize to develop an excellent classroom for your students.
Mark A.
Some of you have been in the classroom for quite some time while others may be stepping into the profession from another line of work. What is going to ring true is that you are going to be developing scads of lesson plans and hundreds of unit plans. This has been going on since the New England Primer.
In this class, we are not going to make the unit plan and how it plays out during this class the all-consuming entity because it isn't. The process is what is important. The focus is to develop a process that is reliable and fits within the constraints of the day. So standards, MCAs, rubrics, formative and summative assessments are included in your plans. In the past, the terms were unit goals, performance objectives, activities, quizzes, tests and so on.
As eluded to, I have developed in my science classes hundreds of lesson and unit plans. Like every teacher, I must admit that I have also gone into class w/o any idea of what was going on that day...truly scary. What has been amazing is that some of my best plans did not work at all and some of impromptu moves worked very well. I have likened it to skiing...you look pretty darn good at the top of the hill but who knows what shape you will be in at the bottom of the hill.
I have also found that a plan starts wherever it starts and, through tweaking, morphs into a better and better plan each year. Usually, after three years, I had good units and, after five years, I had great units. Formative assessment strategies will play an important role in your success. Our text book is an excellent source of information regarding these strategies. How you find out where your kids are at and the techniques employed will be major factors in your success.
To keep fresh in my profession, I would discard my units and start over periodically...say every 5-6 years.
So work effectively in this class and establish the process you are going to utilize to develop an excellent classroom for your students.
Mark A.
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