I like many others do not like to write lesson plans. I'm someone who gets very stressed about not having enough time in my lesson or my lesson being too long. This chapter has showed me that that is okay and also gave me a lot of good ideas that I hadn't put into perspective.
I liked how the chapter talked about how modeling is one of the most important things to have in your lesson. I agree with that one hundred percent. I really liked how it talked about overplanning and that it was okay to do and discussed on breaking the lesson into five minute parts. I really liked that idiot and I actually have already used it for my lesson plans this week and its helped me out a lot. This chapter made me see that it was really okay if things didn't go as planned and that its okay to carry things over into the next lesson. I also like how the book discussed that making the objectives clear was vital to helping the students learn. I really like how the book shows different scenarios in the "how to be proactive" section. I think its good to see examples of how things should be. I really liked how in the book Mrs. Proactive spoke to her classroom especially when she said " I just want to thank you in advance for being so grown up..." positive reinforcement is something I strongly believe in.
When I started this book I was really dreading reading it but it really is a quick and good read. I have already learned a lot in the first chapter.
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI can fully relate to you in regards to lesson plan writing. Paperwork, planning and thinking of the small details have always been a challenge to me. Something clicked in my head once I read this chapter though. Like you, I understood that over-planning was actually a good step to take. Carrying over the lessons into the next day is NOT a negative. Rather, its important for students to gain the essential ideas.
My cooperating teacher calls lesson plans "fluid documents" that are meant to be changed. Throughout each period, the delivery and content are refined. Also mentioned was that perfection is highly unattainable so, work with what you have. Knowing these has truly made me less stressed.
Yes, I agree that this perspective has de-stressed me a bit too. However, I'm a language arts major and I've been placed in a PA History class as well as a language arts class. The History class has a book, but right now we are doing a unit in grid systems that will be followed by latitude and longitude. I felt very stressed today as I surfed the net for HOURS to find just the right materials to create 4 lesson plans for this week to teach something I wasn't trained for. Language arts, on the other hand, is going well. I find I've been planning in 10 minute segments rather than 5 minutes and it's working for me. I'm loving teaching and really loving the kids.
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