As all of my teacher friends are packing up their classrooms for the summer and putting on their swimsuits and sunblock, I'm deep in thought about lesson planning. This isn't anything new. Our department has been talking A LOT this year about purposeful planning, and asking the question, How do we help teachers plan? When I was in the classroom, I thought I was good at planning, afterall, I'm Type A and love a good plan! However, I've learned a lot since leaving the classroom, and think sometimes I labored over day to day planning that would have played out if I would have payed more attention to the BIG PICTURE! This summer all of our professional development is focused on purposeful planning and integration in order to fit it all in the school day, and year. I've got rock star colleagues that shed new perspectives and bring different view points to the table, and last week in our "purposeful" planning session for our summer PD, I was inspired. I was inspired to sit down and plan something as if I was a classroom teacher. While I always keep the classroom teacher in mind, it's different to plan for teachers than it is for a group of students in the sense that I don't get to meet with the same group of teachers day after day.
I'm often asked, "What does it look like? How would you do it?" While I'm not perfect, I have invested time in thinking about how I would do it nowadays, ya know, if I was in the classroom. So here's my attempt at planning 5 days of math lessons, including Number Sense Routines. This task was adapted from one I found on www.illustrativemathematics.org with the idea that our class would be working on creating a garden at the school (something many classes are doing these days).
I'm often asked, "What does it look like? How would you do it?" While I'm not perfect, I have invested time in thinking about how I would do it nowadays, ya know, if I was in the classroom. So here's my attempt at planning 5 days of math lessons, including Number Sense Routines. This task was adapted from one I found on www.illustrativemathematics.org with the idea that our class would be working on creating a garden at the school (something many classes are doing these days).
One thing to remember about planning is that sometimes the best written plans are not implemented or executed the way we envision. These lesson plans are a "guide" but by all means depending on the students they might need to be adjusted. This is something I probably struggled with the most when I was in the classroom because I'd feel committed to the "written plan" when my students actually needed something different. It was a challenge to break away from the plan or go to Plan B. I've since freed myself from that stress! You should too!
How do you plan purposefully? How do you plan BIG PICTURE? How do you plan the day to day?
Keep it in perspective, remember that you have to plan but your students are your ultimate guide and if you have a road map (i.e. lesson plans) then you'll reach the destination just fine! In honor of Father's Day, I'll leave you what my dad always tells me, "Enjoy the journey, don't worry about the destination." The journey is where the learning happens!
How do you plan purposefully? How do you plan BIG PICTURE? How do you plan the day to day?
Keep it in perspective, remember that you have to plan but your students are your ultimate guide and if you have a road map (i.e. lesson plans) then you'll reach the destination just fine! In honor of Father's Day, I'll leave you what my dad always tells me, "Enjoy the journey, don't worry about the destination." The journey is where the learning happens!