Every effective teacher preps lessons well. There is a link between careful planning and a student's learning. However, there are times when I wonder if my prep is outweighing the value of relating to my students:
1. I can be so planned that I teach content and miss connecting with my students.
2. I can overplan and lack the flexibility to teach in the moment.
3. I can drive through the curriculum and hide behind the content, missing the opportunities to be real with my students.
There is another way to go about this. I can be fully planned (and more often than not, overplanned) and then relax, using what is relevant for the day in the situation and according to how my students are responding. If I don't get through everything I've planned, chances are that I've made the content more connective and meaningful to the students. So teaching less content but relationally has more value than teaching a lot of content without understanding where the students are emotionally, socially and cognitively.
Do you overprep, underprep, or prep just enough to allow for spontaneous, open spaces?
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I think obviously as teachers it not in our best interest to underprep a lesson. This is especially true for us that are going to be new to this profession. As new teachers, the problem we face is we might not be exactly sure what our teaching style and structure might be. We will need to find out what works for us as teachers and what methods work best for our students. We might not have the experience and curriculum knowledge/content to be able to guide a free-flowing discussion that will enable us to be more "in-touch" with our students. Because of this, I believe that it is important for us to be at the very least sufficiently prepared for our lessons, if not, even overprepared. With this in mind, we should always be flexible to spontaneous moments where our students might lead us towards a different plan or even topic. This is in line with Piaget's theories of allowing students to construct their own ideas and allowing them to run with it.
ReplyDeleteI think that a more interesting question is whether or not it is okay for more experienced teachers to be underprepped? I think the ultimate answer is "it depends". To be totally unprepared is one thing and not good, but to be underprepared with the intention of letting the students guide the lesson is another. Having one or two lessons like this might not be such a bad thing as it changes up your lesson style which the students might like and might be truly engaged in. I do think though that this should only be tried by more experienced teachers that are able to guide a discussion/lesson if it really becomes off-topic.
As is true for many things in life, a good balance is the key to effective lessons throughout the year while maintaining an enriching relation with our students.
I think you best answered your own question in your last paragraph. The following will explain why I think so:
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts are that it is best to overprep. Although this means that you may never get to all that was planned, it is always better to have too much rather than too little.
I find that the risk of giving too much content is better than risking of “spur of the moment”, unproductive, routine exercises that children receive all too often in their classes.
I think the key is to find a way to understand when the content is outweighing the value of relating to students. As long as there is a way to recognize when this is happening, the teacher can limit the amount of content they are providing, and start relating what was taught to the students, and discover where they are emotionally, socially and cognitively.
I know that if I had something planned, it would be hard for me to leave it out if I started to feel like I was providing too much content. I think this is where the biggest battle may lay. Teachers need to find a way to recognize when the students are being given too much content and not enough connection, and also learn how to save that extra bit of content for next time so that student connections can be made.
I have to admit that I am not sure where I stand in terms of overprep, underprep, or just enough prep. Since I haven't officially started teaching yet, it's hard for me to gauge where I'm at.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, I am not a planner in my regular life. I know from experience that something always comes up to mess up your plans; so, I don't focus too much on details and plan just enough to know where I'm going and what I'm doing but leaving enough room to accommodate the unexpected. In my work/school life, however, I need the structure of a plan. I am very easily distracted and I need to plan to the last detail so that I can stay disciplined and see exactly what I need to do and when I need to do it.
I prefer going with the flow, it's much more relaxed and, like I said, things come up that you can't plan for, so it's easier to leave room for dealing with those things as they come up. However, if I don't have a plan when I have a deadline of some sort, I can very easily get distracted enough that I will be up all night scrambling to finish what I need to get done for the next day.
In my classroom, I think I will aim for a balance between both. I will want to have a plan, and to have the details taken care of, but I want to make room for the unexpected discussions and conversations that might come up during my lesson. Those spontaneous moments, as you said, are very valuable in that they enable us to connect with our students and make the lesson more meaningful to them.
I'm not sure where that balance is, but here's hoping I find it sooner rather than later.
It is hard to know what level of planning is necessary for a teacher to deliver a solid lesson. However, I think there are a few factors to consider about your own personality. First, you need to know how you are as a person: whether or not you work better been planned or whether or not you work better on your toes. Personally, I find it better to work with planned lessons so that I know that my students are getting the best possible lesson and my best possible teaching. However, with that being said I think it is important for a teacher to be able to change their plans when a lesson either does not go as planned or the students need the lesson to go in a different direction because of where there skills are at. This leads me to a second point that a teacher needs to consider, how will you react when a lesson does not go in the right direction, will you be able to go in a new direction without plans or will you need to rely on some sort of resource. Personally, I think I could go with the flow as long as my students understood that this lesson will not be perfect but will allow the students to learn the necessary skills so that we can proceed with what was planned originally.
ReplyDeleteA principal recently told me, that when he is discussing lesson/day plans with his new staff members he is encouraging them to think about what they would like to accomplish in the span of a week, rather than day by day. In reflecting on this and what you mentioned in this blog entry, I feel like I resonate with this concept of thinking in the context of where do I want to take my class this week. I think I resonate with this more than looking at each day and each individual lesson because I will be able keep the big picture in mind.
ReplyDeleteThis is not to say, that I will not plan out my lessons or think them through. I understand there is a need to think through the details, for example; accomodations that may be needed, materials needed, understanding the ways in which instruction can be differentiated etc. However, according to the way in which I am wired, I am one who, when thinking about details can easily lose sight of the big picture. So, if I can outline the journey of the week, I will more easily be able to keep the big picture in mind, rather then get bogged down with all of the details.
The beauty of this approach is that it enables the teacher to connect relationally with students as well. They aren't necessarily 'tied to the lesson plan' and working with tunnel vision, but are able adjust any given lesson as needed, according to the particular needs of the students on any particular day.
However, one downfall to this approach could be that if something came up and I would not be able to be in the classroom on a particular day it could get me into trouble. Therefore, I will need to think this through and have a plan in place for a supply teacher if needed.
In the end, I think it would work best for me to overplan. But I would do this thinking about my blocks of time as week by week, rather than lesson by lesson.
I think for myself I will feel most comfortable if I overprep my lessons (at least in the beginning). I want to have enough material to keep me going no matter what happens during the lesson. I feel as long as I have done the work and know my topic inside and out then I will be able to get through the lesson even if it goes where I wasn't expecting or planning. I would rather have too much material to draw from than not enough and having that awkward silence with me trying to figure out what the heck to do next with 25 pairs of eyes staring at me as I try to figure it out! I would much rather run out of time having not gotten through my material, I don't mind if something has to be pushed back until the next class. As long as the material gets taught and taught well, it doesn't matter to me if it happens the day I had planned or the next day.
ReplyDeleteI recall a scene from an old Russian movie where a young girl amazed by culinary capacities of some old lady asked her, “How can you do it?!”. The old lady answered, “Very simple. A bit of sugar, a bit of flour, and twenty years in the kitchen…” Considering my preps, I feel that I really need such twenty years.
ReplyDeleteWhen I taught science in Israel, my lessons always were overplanned. I had good reasons for doing it. First, because of teaching only one subject in different classes, I didn’t know how my various classes would deal with the content. Second, my own challenges such as a language barrier and new material (each year I was given to teach different grades) forced me to spend a lot of time with content. I often lost my “proportional sense” in terms of what are essential points that I need for my students to be involved in. Also, there was no guidance as a curriculum; usually I had only the list of the topics for the year. Indeed, I overwhelmed my students with information.
Throughout time, I found that some topics require different periods according the students’ perception, also, the dynamic of the lesson could be changed. Sometimes it is worthwhile to discuss an unexpected but important idea rather than avoid such an opportunity.
So, I developed some tips that really work for me.
1. Always write agenda on the board; it helps to keep awareness toward what the class needs to accomplish during the lesson.
2. Note the minimum and prepare for the maximum. Extended materials could be used by advanced students.
3. Plan connective and meaningful lessons that make sense and connect students emotionally to the learning topic. I found that in science building models is such a point.
To my mind, overplanning provides us with the sense of control and self-confidence. Furthermore, such confidence allows us to be flexible and more spontaneous in the class. Thus, we always can keep some balance toward the lesson development.
Dina