Are these things highly valued documents guarded with secrecy and security or what?
I know we have some teachers around here…
Anyway, since I’m not a teacher, here is what I’m talking about, just in case I’m out to lunch with my terminology.
A series of specific tasks, readings, questions, topics or other details to be covered during an in-class sessions.
Any current English or Math teachers out there willing to share these things?
Naw, man; not in my (limited) experience. I’m willing to share whatever I have, and have found many others to be of the same way.
Of course, one may question whether everyone has them or not.
Does one get to a point where specific, detailed lesson plans on paper are unnecessary?
I would hope so.
-FC
Mine are pretty simple now. I’ve been teaching the same grade level for a few years. Mine are on my computer at school, but it basically looks something like this:
Objective: The student will…(multiply mixed numbers, for example).
TEKS: (This is where I list the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills requirement that this lesson addresses.)
DO NOW: (This is the starter activity I have on the board that the students come in and get to work on until I’m ready to get going).
Lesson: (Here I step-by-step lay out the lesson, so that even an administrator could understand it.)
Assessment: (This is where I list how I will assess students’ understanding of the lesson. Usually a test).
Homework: Self-explanatory
I’m forgetting something, but that is the basic layout. Somedays I have more than one objective. The hardest part was planning my year to make sure we had covered everything by the time our state assessment test is given. I usually spend about a week or so before the test specifically addressing the test. That is my strong point as a teacher honestly, which would serve me better in a regular public school where passing the test is the most important thing. Because the book I use is more advanced than what the state requires, it doesn’t exactly cover all of the TEKS so I’m responsible for making sure I cover them all one-way or another.
I teach 9th grade physical science and 10th/11th grade chemistry. I change stuff every year and sometimes I will pick between 2-3 different lessons when I wake up in the morning, but I’ve assembled a lot to choose from. I also do not use the textbook in either class except as an optional supplement. After each day, I write down what I did so I can evaluate for next year, but my exact unit plans are fluid. They are also objectives driven-I write a set of 6-12 objectives for each “theme” (7 themes in physical science and 5 in chemistry). The kids get these objectives and every activity is designed to prepare them for some type of assessment on the objective (a test, or practical or research project). Each objective is assessed individually so if I have a test covering 3 objectives, the kids receive 3 separate scores. I use a 10-9-8-7-6-0 grading scale for each objective based on what level of proficiency I evaluate them at, although I also allow and require kids to continue to work on objectives that they are not proficient on (less than 8). If I am using a research project for an assessment, they would also receive separate proficiency scores, for example, 1 for graphing, 1 for designing an experiment and 1 for knowledge of the content covered by the project.
I could post some things like objectives sheets if you are interested, but I have over 300 pages written on word processor and also on the paint program which takes up a lot of space-about 3 gigabytes right now. Let me know. I know you didn’t ask for science.
You can photocopy Doogie’s and that’s EAXCTLY what mine are like - to the letter. Except I keep mine in my own shorthand unles I’m going to have a sub or be evaluated and need to give a copy to the admin.
Mine are on computer file - if you want to see one, pm me.
Thanks for the reply guys, check your PM’s.