INTASC 7. Planning for Instruction

The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.

 

     It is essential for teachers to be able to plan effectively for instruction. There are several different ways teachers can plan for instruction, and there are several factors teachers have to take into consideration when planning for instruction. These factors include grade level, class size, class skill level, and the time period of the class.

     I have greatly improved in writing lesson plans from when I started writing them in Spring 2013 for Content Area and Literacy (See Evidence 3). I think the lesson plans I wrote for that class were decent and had objectives that met SOL Requirements. I also thought the lesson plans had a variety of activities that would interest students and help them learn. In the Fall we were taught in Methods how to write NCSS themed lesson plans with a partner. I also began to write lesson plans using my cooperating teacher’s template for my activities and then my full lesson on Absolute Monarchy in France (See Evidence 4 and 5). I found the NCSS themed lesson plans cumbersome; but my cooperating teachers lesson plan format pretty effective and to the point. The main thing that I learned about lesson planning in the Fall was the need to have an opening and closing to a lesson, as well ways to assess students throughout a lesson. My lesson planning continued to improve in the Spring, as I wrote them on a more consistent basis. I wrote lessons plans for a good six week period mainly using my own items in the lessons (See Evidence 6). I found writing these NCSS themed lesson plans easier because they were more concise than the ones from the Fall. Also during the Spring I wrote up a Curriculum Map and Unit Plan (See Evidence 1 and 2). I found the Curriculum Map to be more useful as it's concise and helped me not get behind in instruction.

     I will definitely continue to plan for instruction in the future. I am not sure what exact type of lesson plan I will use, as I may create my own format. However, I will work on having in my lesson plans objectives that meet SOL requirements, opening, activities that interest students, closing, and ways to assess student learning throughout the lesson.

 

Evidence