Standard 3-Planning Instruction
Planning, I believe, is one of the most important keys to being a successful teacher. Being well organized and prepared allows the teacher to focus on classroom management and student learning during a lesson.
I have four years of experience in designing units including lesson plans, learning activities, laboratory experiments, informal assessments, and formal assessments. I have also been able to practice adjusting my plans during each unit in response to student needs and formative assessments.
Beginning a unit plan starts with determining goals for what the students will know and be able to do as a result of each unit. These learning goals should be aligned with content standards and the individual needs of students. I must then ask myself how students will show that they have met these learning goals. (i.e. How will they be assessed?). Finally, I must design learning activities and lesson plans that build upon each other to help students reach these goals.
I have four years of experience in designing units including lesson plans, learning activities, laboratory experiments, informal assessments, and formal assessments. I have also been able to practice adjusting my plans during each unit in response to student needs and formative assessments.
Beginning a unit plan starts with determining goals for what the students will know and be able to do as a result of each unit. These learning goals should be aligned with content standards and the individual needs of students. I must then ask myself how students will show that they have met these learning goals. (i.e. How will they be assessed?). Finally, I must design learning activities and lesson plans that build upon each other to help students reach these goals.
Proficiency Scales
Proficiency scales are a helpful tool for making sure that instruction and assessment are aligned to standards. Each scale focuses on a single standard. Making a proficiency scale requires the teacher to think about what it looks like (in terms of student performance) to be proficient and non-proficient. Although I have not yet done standards-based grading, proficiency scales are very a useful planning tool. Below is a proficiency scale that I created on plate tectonics.
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Muscular and Skeletal System Lesson Plans
The artifacts below are for a short unit on the skeletal and muscular systems that was created during the summer of 2012 to practice planning lessons. The detailed lesson plans include teacher talk, something that is important to think about as a brand new teacher (as it is not yet an unconscious effort). This unit includes an “anticipatory guide” to activate student’s prior knowledge, the use of asking questions as a reading strategy to increase student’s understanding of the text they are reading. The final assessment for this unit involves students planning and performing a commercial for the skeletal or muscular system.
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TPA Planning Commentary (Teacher Performance Assessment)The commentary below includes in-depth reasoning behind my design of learning activities and lesson plans for a short unit on membrane transport (see jigsaw lab here-standard 4, artifact 1). This was completed as a part of the TPA requirements. For more information on the TPA see this website. In this document, I describe what I know about student’s current knowledge, cultural assets, interest, and social development. I then explain how the understanding of my students guides my choice of learning tasks and identify key language demands.
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Synthesis
The huge chuck of a teacher’s non-teaching time is spent planning. Thorough planning is the best way to ensure successful lessons. It ensures that I am focused and that class time is used efficiently. Planning a unit always begins with clear learning objectives. From there, it is up to the teacher to design engaging learning activities. The artifacts above show the thought that I put into planning every unit and every day of instruction.