Mr. Teacher

I Love It When a Lesson Plan Comes Together

by John Pearson

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One of the primary tools of the trade for teachers is the lesson plan. It's an itinerary, schedule, blueprint, and resource guide all rolled into one document. Not too many other occupations require one to declare their every action, a week in advance.

When I began teaching, excruciating detail was not required. In fact, I used to submit a piece of royal blue construction paper with the words, "Teaching my guts out" scrawled on it with a silver crayon. When pressed for more detail, I revised it to, "Teaching my guts out -- in Portable 6."

Of course, I jest. Lesson plans are exactly what the name suggests. Teachers list what topics they will be covering, what activities they will be using, and what homework they will be assigning.

Most teachers generally have an idea already entrenched in their mind of what they will be doing. The lesson plan can serve as a helpful reminder, but it's often not referenced during the week at all. The lesson plan is really for cases where a substitute or teacher's assistant needs to step in for whatever reason to replace the teacher. Since these good folks would NOT know what the current level of learning was in the classroom, they would rely heavily on the lesson plan.

It used to be relatively simple and straightforward. Educator A will be teaching "Vowel sounds" on Monday and Tuesday from 9:30 to 10:30, using phonics cards and assigning partners. Instructor Z is introducing strategies for converting fractions to percentages on Monday afternoon, using pages 312-318 of Decimals for Dummies, and assigning page 320 for homework.

This year, however, much more is being demanded, at least in the district where I work. Lesson plans must include a list of special education students along with their individual accommodations. They also must include groupings of students and differentiated activities for each group. "Group 1 – TP, AC, MM, and BL – Tier 1 – use counting bears to add 1-digit numbers; Group 3 – PY, BC, LK, and NW – Ext. group – investigate byproducts of nuclear fission."

In addition to these details, we now must include Accountable Talk on our lesson plans. Accountable Talk is one of the Standards, or Principles, of Learning (see my column on Buzzword Bingo). We actually have to write questions that we are going to ask during the week, such as, "Is snow a liquid, solid, or gas?" or "How can you determine an author's purpose?" on our lesson plans! As this has, in effect, turned our plans into scripts, I have been sorely tempted to express solidarity with the striking Hollywood writers by refusing to cross the picket line. Sadly, that opportunity has now passed since the strike is over.

So far, I've been able to keep up with the necessary changes. I'm just dreading the day that so much detail is required on my lesson plan that I have to state exactly what color tie I will be wearing each day.

John Pearson is a third-grade math and science teacher in Dallas, Texas.  He has degrees in mechanical engineering from Duke University and Texas A&M, so most consider his math abilities adequate enough to teach nine-year olds.  He is also the author of Learn Me Good (Lulu, 2006), a funny, fictionalized account of his first year in education.  Read more at www.learnmegood.com


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10 Comments

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Other readers' comments on this article:

  1. It's enough to drive me out of public school teaching! I love my job, but not all the BS paperwork :-(

    Posted by Anonymous teacher on Feb 26, 2008 8:09 pm

  2. Yes, I FEEL your pain!!  This is my NINTH year to teach, and now my lesson plans aren't "good enough".  It is enough to make you pull your hair out.

    Posted by Carrie on Feb 26, 2008 8:27 pm

  3. I use a template with all the necessary things they ask for so that I don't leave anything out. It makes my life much easier.

    Posted by Pat on Feb 27, 2008 8:33 am

  4. Wow. No wonder teachers feel underappreciated. No one knows what they go through, each and every day!
    Thanks Mr. Teacher.

    Posted by Rose Garrett on Feb 27, 2008 7:36 pm

  5. I use a template of sorts also, but the objectives and TEKS (in TX) change nearly every week, as do our activities.
    Now we don't even have the weekends to work on them.  They're due in the office by end of day Friday.  So we plan on Tuesday or Wednesday, and I type them up on Thursday night, email them in, and turn in a hard copy on Friday.
    Hoop -- Jumped through!

    Posted by John Pearson on Feb 27, 2008 8:26 pm

  6. As an education student I get to learn all about lesson plans and what makes a good or bad plan. The funny thing is, like most things you learn in school, it's going to be completely different when you get out into the "real world" and do your job. It's nice to know others find it just as annoying to be scripted into something that is supposed to so natural.

    Posted by Jessica on Jul 17, 2008 1:44 am

  7. This has been a very enlightening site to visit.  I found it while researching education-centered blogs for a Technology in Education class I am taking this semester.  I am a senior pursuing my elementary education degree.  My classmates and I have long lamented the six-step, scripted lesson plans but we assumed that the purpose of them was to teach us the practice and the thought processes behind the planning.  We believed that we were jumping through the necessary hoops and that this would not be required in "real" world.  Your version is far scarier.  Codes for modifications?  I'd go under in my first year.  After substituting for three years, I already know how great the ability range in one classroom can be.  I am not giving up, though.  I'll just have to be creative and get busy on one of those templates your respondents have recommended.  Thanks for the tip!

    Posted by Judy on Jan 27, 2009 11:04 pm

  8. As an education student, i'm already preparing myself to be a teacher. Our teachers are already giving us the try to make our own lesson plans. It needs time and passion to work for it but it's good because it's also a way of putting things into their right places just like for example: when will you give the students the activity you prepared, how are you going to explain the lesson, waht is their assigned homework, etc...

    Posted by ----- on Jun 19, 2009 11:48 pm

  9. I am a Ed. Coordinator at a Headstart. I am in charge of two teachers. My 3-year olds' teacher has the perfect lesson plan. My 4-year olds' teacher, her lesson plan is very blah and no information. I need to get some pointers on how to talk to her about it. This my first year and she has been a teacher here for 10 years and was able to get by with it for this long.

    Posted by Teresa on Sep 29, 2009 8:56 am

  10. Hi Teresa,
     
    Your question has been added to JustAsk, and you can track responses here:
      
    http://www.education.com/question/pointers-talk-preschool-teacher-lesson/
     
    Please use JustAsk for any education or parenting questions you may have in the future. Thanks!

    Posted by Education Com on Sep 29, 2009 2:25 pm



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