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They did teach me the basics of teaching in college, but I didn't know then, and still do not really know now, how to apply everything I was learning to the classroom. During student teaching, I relied heavily upon my cooperating teachers for workable lesson plans. Mine often did not make a lot of sense, even though they were written in the correct format. I still, to this day, don't really know how to "teach." Looking back, I guess I should have recorded my cooperating teachers and tried to delve deeply into what they were actually doing. Now, I do feel more prepared than I was when I first started, but I don't think it's enough. I need to figure out how to create an interactive lesson plan that I can use just about anywhere.
The subject of communication and general common sense has come up in various forms over and over for me. I was almost held back during my first semester of student teaching because of problems I was having communicating with the students.
I was diagnosed with ASD, but I have taken steps to get over it, including joining a public speaking club, volunteering to tutor ESL (it later became another part-time job), and taking another round of student teaching. I still need very concrete steps to succeed, probably more concrete than other people, and the fact that I sometimes don't have a very long attention span when multi-tasking doesn't help either.
I was thinking about something like this:
Five minute mini-lessons covering subjects such as study skills, writing, arithmetic, logic, etc. Short lessons wouldn't keep the kids from working online like they are supposed to, but it would provide some interactivity.
When you are new to teaching having a good textbook or written curriculum is essential. You just follow that. And then, over time, you add in more and better lessons over what is there. No one has a whole year of lessons ready to go. It takes a few years to build up enough of a collection. Professional development helps a lot. Hopefully your school offers some. Take any classes or workshops they provide or will pay for.
When you are new to teaching having a good textbook or written curriculum is essential. You just follow that. And then, over time, you add in more and better lessons over what is there. No one has a whole year of lessons ready to go. It takes a few years to build up enough of a collection. Professional development helps a lot. Hopefully your school offers some. Take any classes or workshops they provide or will pay for.
Here the "curriculum" comes from an online program. I was given no lesson plans that I'm aware of, at least none I can use in this setting, just a stack of resources, mostly worksheets covering remedial skills, that would take a while to sort through.
Here the "curriculum" comes from an online program. I was given no lesson plans that I'm aware of, at least none I can use in this setting, just a stack of resources, mostly worksheets covering remedial skills, that would take a while to sort through.
Does AL not have a website with the standards that you would cover with your students? I know, you have different ages in your program so it might be a bit more tedious but you should have the common core or whatever standards that AL is using to plan for each unit.
You just need your 10-15 minutes of your mini lesson, the activity, closing and assessment.
Your mini lesson just focus on your daily assignment and tying it back with their background knowledge.
For me, lesson plans generally come down to 3 major aspects:
1. Objectives - What do you want students to know or be able to do by the end of the lesson?
2. Instructional Activities - How will you help them learn this knowledge or skills?
3. Assessment - How will you know that they have learned it? (And if they haven't, what will you need to focus on for next time?)
In college we had to write long-form lesson plans. IMO, those were always a waste of time.
That's a pretty good framework.
Of course, the most important part is what is included in each of those aspects.
I think occasional long-form lesson plans are actually a good idea to keep one on their toes.
One thing I did over my 13 years of teaching was keep each lesson in a unit notebook, with any paper materials I used. After the unit was finished, I would go back (wish we had stickies back then) and note what worked well or didn't work, noted things I thought needed to be modified, etc. Sometimes I would note that a whole lesson needed to be replaced. Then, when I began lesson planning the following year, my lesson plans would evolve from the previous year. How I wish I would have had all the online resources teachers have today!
Of course, the most important part is what is included in each of those aspects.
I think occasional long-form lesson plans are actually a good idea to keep one on their toes.
One thing I did over my 13 years of teaching was keep each lesson in a unit notebook, with any paper materials I used. After the unit was finished, I would go back (wish we had stickies back then) and note what worked well or didn't work, noted things I thought needed to be modified, etc. Sometimes I would note that a whole lesson needed to be replaced. Then, when I began lesson planning the following year, my lesson plans would evolve from the previous year. How I wish I would have had all the online resources teachers have today!
The online resources are great, but some teacher preparation programs seem to use them in place of explicitly teaching and modeling lesson planning. Yes, okay, they probably covered it briefly along with the myriad of other topics. It would have been nice, though, for them to have spent more time on it. For me, it's been the hardest part of my teaching career.
Here, though, I don't need to worry about a lengthy lesson plan. The kids get their lessons from an online program. I just wanted to answer the frequent complaint the kids give me that I "don't really teach them anything," by throwing in a few minutes of genuine instruction. I have a terrible habit, though, of making things more complicated than they need to be. That might be why I shy away from lesson planning.
The online resources are great, but some teacher preparation programs seem to use them in place of explicitly teaching and modeling lesson planning. Yes, okay, they probably covered it briefly along with the myriad of other topics. It would have been nice, though, for them to have spent more time on it. For me, it's been the hardest part of my teaching career.
Here, though, I don't need to worry about a lengthy lesson plan. The kids get their lessons from an online program. I just wanted to answer the frequent complaint the kids give me that I "don't really teach them anything," by throwing in a few minutes of genuine instruction. I have a terrible habit, though, of making things more complicated than they need to be. That might be why I shy away from lesson planning.
The lesson plans for your class need to be individualized, as your kids are all over the map. You need to be working with them in small groups where tyhe kids are all on the same level in that subject, or one-one. You should still have a lesson plan for one-one.
Before you can write lesson plans, you need to now your kids inside out, their strengths and weaknesses, their test scores, what their reading levels and math levels are. You can't just come up with generic lesson plans so you can appear to be a real teacher for flashes during the day.
My suggestion, pick one kid for now, read his history, make lessons plans just for him as practice. Where is the kid in reading now? What are your objectives for this child's reading level for this semester, and how can YOU help him get there---that's when you create the lesson plan, after you have all those questions answered about each child.
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