So, recently I was told that I wasn’t very good at
structuring lessons. Let me rephrase that last sentence. Se, recently I was
told that I had shown zero skill at implicating lesson structure. There that is
a better, and a very true/accurate statement. I have no recorded ability of
structuring a lesson. To be more specific I have implicated not a single
structured book reading and discussion in my classroom. Sure, I can make a mean
outline. People come from miles away to get a gander out the outlines I push
out. You need an outline for a unit delivered to your door in one hour? Let’s
make it 20 minutes and what do you say we throw in a few choice assessments
while we’re at it. Yea, I can do that, but structuring single lessons, now that’s
where I draw the line.
I cannot give an exact reason for why I haven’t tried to
structure lesson plans. It probably has to do with the fact that I have an
improvisational thinking pattern and enjoy coming up with information, jokes,
and commentary on the spot. It’s a point of pride for me to be able to have
random facts in my head and being able to spit out an acceptable response. I’m
good enough to get by using my improv skills, and good enough has been a self-label
of mine for many years. I have always been good enough to get decent grades. I
have always been good enough to get the job. And I am essentially okay with
being good enough, but lately I have seen that good enough doesn’t in the
classroom in regards to creating lesson plans. Good enough means the students
didn’t light each other on fire. Good enough means that maybe only five
students fell asleep during your lesson today. Good enough means not
exceptional in any way.
Being good enough has got me to where I am today, but where
might I be if I thought to achieve more that good enough. I can’t bring that
attitude into my classroom because it will become infectious and spread from
teacher to student like the famed virus that had eradicated life on Mars
(Google it). Stepping Stones, a non-profit organization registered in Hong Kong
and Shanghai with a mission to improve the education and general welfare of disadvantaged
children in China, states that there are five parts to structuring a lesson
plan:
1.
Warm Up – Bell Work that might review of
introduce a new topic
2.
Presentation – Plan what is to be taught and how
to teach it
3.
Practice – Students should have fun practicing
or talking about the learned material
4.
Production – Can the students use the material
taught to produce a viable outcome
5.
Conclusion – Discuss or recap what was has been
taught/studied
To be clear, I can do steps 1 and 5 because that is
generally all that is needed to make an outline for a unit/lesson plan, but the
presentation, practice, and production aspects of my lesson planning have been
lacking. Since I was told that my structure is not observable during my lesson,
and in turn my lesson suffered dramatically because I was teaching my lesson as
a formal lecture. My students were zoning out and I wasn’t able to get much out
of them during class discussion. So, I guess you could say that the negative
critique of my work was warranted.
I took the criticism to heart and have since changed up my presentation
aspect. I plan out every question that is going to be asked to students. My
lesson plan has become a living, breathing organism that I will continuously form
in order to get the results I desire. And that result is student comprehension,
participation, and analysis of the reading. By constructing thorough lesson
plans the practice portion of my lesson has progressed and the students are now
having fun during the scheduled activities such as journal entries and class
discussions. This has allowed more students to become involved in classroom
learning and get a better understanding of the material being taught. Production
is the last aspect of my lesson planning I am currently tweaking. In my infancy
of teaching I am still not 100% sure my desired outcome is for every lesson. Is
my outcome participation, gaining written/oral skills, or analysis of literature?
I need to become more concrete on the objective of my production and then I
will feel that I have come leaps and bounds in my approach to lesson planning
and implicating those lesson in the classroom.
In conclusion, I have seen the error of my ways and am now
working on a way to improve one of my biggest weaknesses as a student teacher.
Whoever you are that assessed m
In conclusion, I have seen the error of my ways and am now
working on ways to improve one of my biggest weaknesses as a student teacher.
Whoever you are that assessed my work, saying that it was sub-par, know that I
appreciate your sugar-less feedback, your brutal honesty has pushed me to
create a more structured learning environment for my students. Thank you.
Leigner, A. (2015, February 10). 5 Steps for Structuring Your Lesson Plan. Retrieved February 24, 2016, from http://steppingstoneschina.net/ss-news/7639
Josh,
ReplyDeleteI applaud you for taking feedback to heart! It seems like you took it as a challenge and ran with it. The information you provided was helpful for me too. I am not a "wing-it" thinker, and I have to have a plan. However, I have students and colleagues who don't plan out every moment of their time, so your explanations of your thinking were really helpful in understanding those people. It is commendable that you are working to better your teaching! Good job! Keep structuring and let us know how your teaching continues to go!
-Aleisha
Josh,
ReplyDeleteIt’s so great that you are being so honest and self-reflective. It’s crucial that we recognize our weaknesses now, during our student teaching, so that we can fly as professionals in our own classrooms.
The line that struck me most in your blog post was “I can’t bring that attitude [of embracing “good enough”] into my classroom because it will become infectious and spread from teacher to student...” Apathy stands as a direct foil to enthusiasm, and if we expect our students to engage and learn, we must announce the importance of our content through our demonstrated excitement for it. One surefire way to model this excitement is to take pride in thoughtful and intentional lesson planning.
I’m glad to see that you have started keeping a stock of questions to pose during class discussions. I like to reread the text that we are going to discuss in class the night before and fill it with sticky notes that bear questions to raise and think alouds to interject. Then the text is really fresh in my mind, and while I’m not obliged to use all the stickies, I at least have some talking points to help guide our discussion.
Regarding the “practice” portion of your lessons, you might try the “I do/we do/you do” model when introducing new skills that you would like students to practice. First you model how to do it (I am a big fan of the document camera for modeling skills such as text annotation or writing composition), then you take on the task as a class (you could ask them to tell you what to annotate or write), and then you provide workshop time for paired or independent practice. This simple form of scaffolding, in my experience, helps students to build some confidence before they are set loose on their own.
Thank you as always for sharing, and best of luck.
-Mary
Hi Mr. West. I read your blog, and I am a bit perplexed by your message. I take it that you are at the end of your teacher education and may be entering the work force to be full time in the classroom where "good enough" just doesn't cut it and someone has told you a way for you (sugarlessly so) to improve in order to become great.
ReplyDeleteI am sorry that you feel that you have not had the education you needed in order for you to create structured lesson plans. I think that a veteran teacher is perhaps more likely able to go into a classroom after having taught the same subjects year after year and can flip the green light to teach whatever is needed. That is not recommended, of course, but I can see that happening. The honest opinion is that we do not need "good enough" in the classrooms. Kids deserve better. Good enough may have been okay for grades for a transcript, but when it comes to teaching kids, they deserve the very best of you every time they have you. Kudos if you can structure a lesson AND come up with your awesome sense of humor at the same. I do believe that you can achieve much more than you give yourself credit for if you strive for more than good enough. Whoever gave you the review does deserve the appreciation you gave them, because he or she cares about the kids you taught at that point, and because this person is looking out for you and your career and your success within this career.
I would also like to say that I am so glad that you reflected on this critic's comments and that you now essentially have a game plan, because I felt with your irreverent tone (but I could be wrong!) that you were having feelings of undeserved criticism. I hope that you have a built-in community to help you with the issues that you are having as a young teacher.
As far as your outcomes within the classroom, WICOR is a good place: Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading. That helps me tremendously. Analyzing a piece of text is the backbone of an English classroom, whether fiction or nonfiction. Creating argument through theme or solving the author's message like it is a puzzle is another way we can get kids to learn through language. The other piece that helps me is knowing that I do not have 30 kids in my classroom. My team is 90 people per class--assuming that I am attaching both a female and a male caregiver to each child. The expectations for our kids and for ourselves need to be raised if we have the ability to raise them, and I think you do.
Good luck to you!
Thank you for joining this conversation with such a thoughtful post, Tracy! Your perspective and ideas are invaluable, as is your encouragement! Please feel free to share your thoughts on any of the blogs from our class of English student teachers: http://wsu2015-2016.blogspot.com/. Thanks again!
Delete-Katie
Mr. West,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, it is awesome that you are such a reflective practitioner and so willing to immediately address the concerns expressed during your evaluation. This, to me, is one of the biggest boons of our time spent as student teachers - we have the opportunity to learn and grow thanks to our mentors and our field supervisors.
"My lesson plan has become a living, breathing organism that I will continuously form in order to get the results I desire." This is how I view my lesson plans as well. I like the structure, but give myself and my students the freedom to move within that framework too. Maybe we dive more deeply into one piece that is really engaging the students or I tweak an activity to better suit the mood of the class in the moment - but in the end, the class typically meets or exceeds the goal of the lesson. Given your strength in improv and outlining, I suspect that with some practice you are going to really shine in planning structured daily lessons and your students will be the biggest benefactors of that!
I would say that while the supervisor pointed out a weakness in your lesson planning, one of your biggest strengths has to be in your ability to assess and find ways to address that weakness. :)
Thank you for sharing and I hope you and your students are enjoying your new plan for lesson planning.
--Mrs. Tolbert
Mr. West, thanks for your thoughtful and humorous post! I'm so pleased you have taken the "sugarless" feedback to heart and that you are taking specific steps to improve the delivery of your lesson, so that students will be more likely to engage and demonstrate deep understanding of texts and literacies in your ELA classroom. Good for you for stepping up to the challenge! I look forward to my next visit to your class.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that you have taken a possible negative and turned it into a positive. I'm glad to hear you are using this to motivate yourself to create some inspiring lessons. I'm anxious to see this in action when I observe your teaching later this month.
ReplyDelete