It's a month into the school year—are you sick of lesson planning yet? Have you pulled any all-nighters to plan lessons for a new text? As author Michelle Bauml notes in this issue, while some teachers love planning, for others, it's a "dreaded chore." It needn't be that way. Articles in this issue look at all aspects of lesson planning—launching a lesson, building in thinking, planning scaffolding, and more—and show ways to enhance your planning process and your product.
Partnering with Published Curriculums?
Janine Remillard ("How to Partner with Your Curriculum") brings up an aspect of lesson planning not always openly talked about—is it just as good for a teacher to use published curriculums and materials created by others or does a good teacher design all his or her own lessons? Remillard believes an unspoken "good teacher doctrine" implies that caring teachers don't use textbooks or pre-packaged materials; they design unique lessons tailored to their kids or at least creatively put together materials from various sources. The downside? This doctrine, Remillard says:
… promotes an image of teachers as solo performers and of curriculum resources as dispensable props. From this perspective, teachers improve by weaning themselves of external supports …. The good-teacher doctrine creates artificial barriers between teachers and potential partners.
- Do you think there's an unspoken agreement that good teachers don't rely on curriculums, textbooks, or packaged materials for lessons? What messages (explicit or implicit) have you received about using such materials to plan and teach? If you've been teaching for a while, have those messages changed over the years?
- Do you think there's validity to the idea that good teachers avoid materials and lessons created by someone? Might this doctrine keep teachers from partnering in helpful ways with others?
- Share in your group how each of you uses preset curriculum materials or textbooks. Do you follow the curriculum or book as presented, just sample bits of it, or "partner" with it in the way Remillard describes, drawing on your expertise and knowledge of your students to adapt the curriculum and materials for your classroom?
For Math Teachers
Remillard notes that most math textbooks in previous years were formulaic and uninspiring, but that newer math materials, influenced by the National Council for Teaching Mathematics' curriculum standards, are more engaging and emphasize problem solving. Do you agree?
The Best-Made Plans
Bryan Goodwin's "Research Matters" column presents findings that indicate access to pre-made lessons plans can help new or struggling teachers–and in some cases raises achievement: Goodwin advises thinking of pre-made plans as a support, not a "teacher-proof curriculum." In contrast, Michelle Bauml's article ("The Promise of Collaboration") implies that being part of a team creating unique lesson plans is more helpful to new teachers long-term than is using plans done by someone else.
- What was your experience planning lessons as a new teacher? Which method do you think would be best for novices—planning on their own or relying on time-tested plans?
- Do you concur with Goodwin's statement that there's value in teachers emulating master planners:
As performance researcher Anders Ericsson and Neil Charness (1994) noted, often, the best way to develop expertise is to copy others' expertise–which, for teachers can come from an online resource, colleagues, or someone kind enough to leave us their professional wisdom in a filing cabinet drawer.
Kim Greene's article on teacher-created lesson materials for sale ("For Sale: Your Lesson Plans") and Andrew Marcinek's piece on openly licensed educational resources (How to #GoOpen) note other ways teachers can get prepared materials for planning. Marcinek notes that many districts, with guidance from the U.S. Department of Education's #GoOpen plan, are making a transition away from traditional textbooks to OERs.
For Principals and Superintendents
Where does your district fall on the continuum from using traditionally purchased resources like textbooks and prepared curriculums to using mainly openly available digital resources? Have you looked into possibilities for using OERS in a coordinated way as school or district? What would be your concerns about such a move?
Planning for Engagement and Thinking
It's the million dollar question, especially as initiatives like Common Core funnel more required content onto teachers' plates: How to plan lessons that address required content yet engage students so they want to learn? Kristina J. Doubet and Jessica A. Hockett ("The Icing or the Cake?") tackle this question. One strategy they promote is helping students look at any content through the lens of concepts—broad, universal ideas that catch kids' interest. Framing material as "a study in ___" (The Civil War as "a study in gain and loss" or fractions as "a study in relationships,") connects the material to something timeless, something students can connect to their lives.
- To try Doubet and Hockett's strategy, schedule one study group as a brainstorming session to help each of you frame an area of content that's dull to students as a broad, interesting concept. What might U.S. Colonial history be "a study in," or verb tenses, or nutrition guidelines? Brainstorm together as many possibilities as you can and pick the best three for each piece of content. Help one another come up with 3–5 essential questions connected to these concepts that might draw students into learning activities
Another tricky element to plan into lessons is higher-order thinking—which Susan M. Brookhart ("Start with Higher-Order Thinking") points out is both fun and tied to engagement. Brookhart describes three elements educators can make part of activities or assessments to ensure real thinking becomes part of anything planned for a class. Read her examples of how a teacher might use these elements in a plan. Commit yourself to working one of these strategies into an upcoming lesson or unit:
- Ask more open-ended questions (perhaps by having students think their answer out loud together or asking follow-up questions)
- Turn a "re-telling" task into a task of interpreting or producing
- Have students self-assess their learning.
Brookhart says that students are used to memorization and drill in school, and may not believe a teacher really wants them to think—so nudging and scaffolding may be in order.
- Consider your current class: do you think they're convinced you truly want them to think, as opposed to memorize or perform to a standard?
- Dig deeper into your students' attitudes about in-school thinking. Notice how kids react when you give assignments that require synthesizing material rather than re-telling. Do you see more engagement? Secondary teachers, Try asking a small group of students how often they find themselves thinking in school—and whether they think teachers want them to think.
Resources for Further Study
These resources will help you perfect your lesson planning.
ASCD Books
A Differentiated Approach to the Common Core: How do I help a broad range of learners succeed with challenging curriculum? (2014) by Carol Ann Tomlinson and Marcia B. Imbeau.
The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, 2nd Edition (2014) by Carol Ann Tomlinson.
Authentic Learning in the Digital Age: Engaging Students through Inquiry (2014) by Larissa Pahomov.
Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World (2010) edited by Heidi Hayes Jacobs.
Where Great Teaching Begins: Planning for Student Thinking and Learning (2011) by Anne R. Reeves.
EL Articles
"What is the Value of Life … and Other Socratic Questions" by Casey Cuny in November 2014 issue on Talking and Listening.
"Teaching Argument Writing to ELLs" by Larry Ferlazzo and Katie Hull-Sypnieski in April 2014 issue on Writing: A Core Skill.
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