If we throw away lesson plans, I think the textbooks need to go also. It would be easy to fall back into prior routine if we kept the books. If we truly adapt to children’s needs, we begin each year as though it were our first. Student needs, desires, and interests would guide us through creating meaningful lessons. According to Bar-Yam (2006) our past practice in teaching has been a convergent method, we all need to switch to divergent teaching where we meet student needs individual …sounds like special education, once again, takes the lead!
Bar-Yam, M. (2006). Changes in the Teaching and Learning Process in a Complex. Retrieved from http://www.necsi.edu/research/management/education/teachandlearn.html.
I agree that textbooks would have to go also. I think now with pinterest, there are a lot more fun and engaging activities. I like the idea that every year, there should be a "pre-test" (not necessarily an actual test or standardized test) to see what the students know and don't know and gear the teaching/learning towards that. I love the idea of having centers and then working with small groups on the concepts they need to learn, whether they are low, average or high learners. No one is bored or frustrated with the instruction.
Wow- I like that we should start as if each year was our first year. This is true. I feel like I do this because each year the students coming to me have different needs. I feel that change is a good thing but easy for me to say when I have 4 students at one time, at different levels and needs and I am still teaching them. Regular education classrooms would have a hard time with this concept.
I think there would be teachers looking like a deer caught in the headlights. They wouldn't know what to do. While they may not do the exact same things every year, there is a path to the lessons that are taught. I think the elementary staff would do better with throwing away a syllabus as they are a little more flexible than a high school teacher may be. I think there would be a lot of grumbling and wondering what they would be required to do for the next year? Why reinvent the wheel?
I thought Chapter 7 was interesting. I kind of liked that way of learning, learning about YOUR interests and not the interests of the teachers. The teachers guide the students and everyone learns. I would wonder how that would look at the elementary level. Children there are a little more dependent on the teacher for learning.
I agree there would definitely be some "deer in the headlight" looks. Just this challenge would get the good teachers to thinking about what they could do different. I can think of a teacher I know that needs to do this.....don't think their syllabus has changed in the last fifteen years.
Throwing away the syllabus from the previous year would break some old habits (hopefully) in some cases and in others it cause a lot of stress and anxiety.
I thought the information in Chapter 7 was interesting. My nieces and nephews participated in the International Baccalaureate program at their school and had capstone projects their junior and senior years of high school. Students had to apply for and meet certain levels of test scores. One explored a passion for Civil War history, another fashion design and another engineering.
While I think theses projects were awesome and pulled together different disciplines
I'm not sure that would work for everyone in our high schools. On one hand students should be excited about getting to pick their own project and explore a passion. On the other hand, I can see students procrastinating and when they fail to do any work or do very little work resulting in a mediocre (or less) grade a parent complaining . I think our general education teachers experience lots of parent complaints when student get the grade they have earned. And it seems that many times administration sides with the parents.
I think throwing it all away in May would be a good plan. To me that is what we as SPED teachers do when every year we sit down to evaluate our students and write new IEP’s. We don’t keep doing the same thing with our students we have to adapt and change. We do it daily and on paper we do it yearly! That is the only way we are going to individually meet the needs of all students if we treat them as individuals not a class.
I was thinking of how I support kids and agree with you. I am constantly changing what I do with students dependent upon their needs. I think it is second nature to us. However, I don't teach MS/HS level math/reading etc where I might have over 100 students I am accountable for....that looks a little different.
I completely agree with you! We, as SPED teachers, do this every year. We can't ever do the same thing twice, because we are always changing and evolving to meet the needs of our kids.
Amy- My first thought with this question was immediately geared towards regular education teachers, but you're completely right on the special education end! You DO throw away and/or modify your current plans every year, and even MORE often if the situation calls for it!
I think some of my teachers would be ok with this, but others would protest. I believe in the last few years in my district the teachers had to recreate their lessons due to common core implementation. There have been many changes around here with expectations in their lesson plans. I also think most teachers have to adapt each year depending on the students. Each class of students brings different strengths and weaknesses. Some teachers would probably feel they were just wasting time doing something that has already been done.
I think reflection and adaptation are both qualities of good teachers. However, it is hard to break away from a plan. When you have worked so hard at something and feel successful, there is a lot of pride. To simply toss all of that aside may be an insult to some.
There is a benefit to this. While I don't think they literally mean to "throw it out." It means to freely think and move away from the old schedule. Don't be afraid to change things around; move things so that they work well together and flow better. Leave what didn't work and try something new. With this flexible attitude, teachers may be more anxious when trying something new, but they are more likely to be successful as they are teaching to the students' needs. They are also more likely to enjoy their job as they would not be doing the same thing time and time again.
I agree I think it means to move away from the old schedule such as basils that they have taught from for the past 10 years and to gain some new materials.
My record keeping book is both a grade book and a lesson planner. At the end of each school year we have to turn in our grade books to the office, when I do that I am also turning in my lesson plans for that year- we do not get them back. However, my reading units are on my computer so I do have that part from year to year. I use that as a skeleton plan for the next year. I do like turning in my plans at the end of every school year. I think it keeps me from getting into a rut - doing the same thing from year to year. I have been at Kepley long enough and been in enough classrooms that I recognize the same plans from year to year in some classrooms. Since most teachers change classes each year it is not repetitive for the students, only for the teacher though! So many things change each year; new books are written, new ideas are learned, students change (even if they are the same ones from year to year), technology changes, etc.. I like change, it keeps me fresh and on my toes! In this chapter I especially liked the "yes and.." answer strategy on pages 120-121. I copied those pages and gave them to my administrators. another tool to keep lesson plans fresh!
Depending on the kids we have on our case load, yes it would be handy to have our lesson plans to use from the previous year because some of our kids may have to learn the same concept but in a different way or at different concept level.
I think once we throw the syllabus away teachers will be able to teach what needs to be taught to students in order for them to be ready for life outside of school, whether it's college or getting a job. It is the students choice. However we still need to have a curriculum in place that will give all students the opportunity for success. I liked what was talked about in this chapter it gave more freedom to the kids to learn at their pace and what hey wanted to learn, and teachers the opportunity to guide them if there was a roadblock in the process of learning.
I think there would be more change in the classrooms if every teacher threw away their syllabus at the end of the year...we would teach differently and plan different projects. We would continue to need a curriculum guide but it would force us as teachers to be more "innovative". I also know that I can look back at my lesson plans and recall when something I tried was a fiasco...and shouldn't be replicated or I might forget a really cool idea/project if I threw them away.
I think there would be a total melt down in 3 school districts if that were to happen, because like Jerrie has stated before, there are teachers that have taught the same lessons in the same order for decades! But I think how wonderful it would be to do this. If a person were able to test the kids on a checklist sort of system, what they know about each subject/what they don't know, and then guide the curriculum to meet the deficits in their knowledge, there would be more time to do activities and possibly teach the things this author feels all graduates should know. I tried for one school year to use the DesCartes from the MAPS test for my students' plans for assigning things on IXL math because that collection of of concepts was created specifically for that purpose. But I really think I was the only one in the district that had even looked at them, let alone tried to tailor the students' extensions to that. With the students' scores, I was able to pinpoint at what grade level they were working at and that helped me know what to do with them.
Yes, I think that the Curriculum Director and I were probably the only ones who actually read the reports in full. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for well organized data. 😄
When we went to the inservice to learn about the new math curriculum a and teachers were saying, "well I don't know how that's going to fit when we do (topic x) at this time of the year?"
I love the idea of a pretest for content areas. It doesn't even have to be a beginning of the year pretest, but even a beginning of the chapter pretest. Students who know the content can be pushed to do extension activities to get more depth in that content area. However, it is more work, and it takes specific time and planning to get extension activities together.
Total panic from many. I know one teacher who comes in at 7:30 and leaves right at 3:50. She is never at school on the weekends either. She is not new obviously, but if she had to redo her plans totally every year she'd probably quit.
I have heard teachers complain about our new math curriculum, more than I care to relate. However, one complaint is that it teaches too many different ways to solve a problem all at the same time. And I just think... how do they think that Spec Ed works exactly? I have a different plan for each student, but often have to have more than one of those students working together in a group. It is my opinion that teachers like to have that base, the they can change this little activity or that worksheet but that once they have taught for a year or two they are set.
I know a few teachers who should throw out the syllabus, and I know a few who keep it as a reference and throw in many new things every year. If everyone threw out the syllabus, I think most teachers would (eventually) be more open to change and inertia wouldn't be as much of a factor in classroom teaching. I think there would be benefits to creating a new syllabus/lesson plan every year. Hopefully we would begin to see more collaboration between content areas/courses and teachers. I would love to see more of this and support students and teachers in this type of collaborative effort.
I think it would be very, very scary for some teachers to throw away their syllabus and start fresh every year. So many teachers teach the same thing the same way year after year. I know that as a general education teacher, I always kept my yearly outline and such from each year, but it was always adapted and changed for the next year. I may have taught the same subject matter, but I changed the way the content was delivered based on the needs of my students. Change is inevitable...maybe starting fresh each year would help to spark that change. If that happened, there might be more collaboration throughout buildings.
I'd agree there would be several "deer in the headlight" looks, and there needs to be some scope and sequence to make sure something important doesn't get skipped over all together. There might need to be some activities kept that worked well, if they applied to the needs of the new years students. In one district the superintendent has made the curriculum map a "living-changing" Google Doc. to inspire collaboration. There were new teachers who were building the airplane as it flew, and didn't have theirs finished until the end of the year, and some that had it filled out in a couple days.
Oh my gosh… Chaos, lol! To be honest, this question makes me think of all of my teachers who are much more experienced in the educational field than I am, and the multiple conversations we’d have when Common Core first came out. It was a scary time for sure. I even had one teacher quit because the whole situation was just too stressful for her. I think if EVERYONE had to throw away their syllabuses, there’d definitely be a couple meltdowns, but overall, good teachers who love what they do will adapt, move on, and roll with it to do what’s best for the students (And not saying AT ALL that the previous teacher I mentioned wasn’t a good teacher; she was phenomenal. I guess I’m thinking more of people who are in the teaching business, but aren’t really too thrilled about being there.).
As far as I am concerned this is a excellent idea. However every year looks different for me as to how I meet my kids needs. I am very much about lesson plans however for me I have to go with my students needs as they walk through the door. I feel that I teach according to how my students behavior is for the day. I think that for regular education teachers they have the lessons year after year and spend countless hours doing them probably more hours planning than they do for the lesson. I know a scope and sequence is very nice to have when teaching reading or math to a regular education classroom but I say it all the time at our level is this developmentally appropriate to have children reading in kindergarten but this is what common core says they should be doing so this is what they do. However I feel teachers are so pressured and lesson plan based that they forget they didn't teach the basics such as how to form a letter with a pencil or some of the skills that our teachers took weeks on teaching us before moving to a new skill.
If we throw away lesson plans, I think the textbooks need to go also. It would be easy to fall back into prior routine if we kept the books. If we truly adapt to children’s needs, we begin each year as though it were our first. Student needs, desires, and interests would guide us through creating meaningful lessons. According to Bar-Yam (2006) our past practice in teaching has been a convergent method, we all need to switch to divergent teaching where we meet student needs individual …sounds like special education, once again, takes the lead!
ReplyDeleteBar-Yam, M. (2006). Changes in the Teaching and Learning Process in a Complex. Retrieved from http://www.necsi.edu/research/management/education/teachandlearn.html.
I agree that textbooks would have to go also. I think now with pinterest, there are a lot more fun and engaging activities. I like the idea that every year, there should be a "pre-test" (not necessarily an actual test or standardized test) to see what the students know and don't know and gear the teaching/learning towards that. I love the idea of having centers and then working with small groups on the concepts they need to learn, whether they are low, average or high learners. No one is bored or frustrated with the instruction.
DeleteWow- I like that we should start as if each year was our first year. This is true. I feel like I do this because each year the students coming to me have different needs. I feel that change is a good thing but easy for me to say when I have 4 students at one time, at different levels and needs and I am still teaching them. Regular education classrooms would have a hard time with this concept.
DeleteI think there would be teachers looking like a deer caught in the headlights. They wouldn't know what to do. While they may not do the exact same things every year, there is a path to the lessons that are taught. I think the elementary staff would do better with throwing away a syllabus as they are a little more flexible than a high school teacher may be. I think there would be a lot of grumbling and wondering what they would be required to do for the next year? Why reinvent the wheel?
ReplyDeleteI thought Chapter 7 was interesting. I kind of liked that way of learning, learning about YOUR interests and not the interests of the teachers. The teachers guide the students and everyone learns. I would wonder how that would look at the elementary level. Children there are a little more dependent on the teacher for learning.
I agree there would definitely be some "deer in the headlight" looks. Just this challenge would get the good teachers to thinking about what they could do different. I can think of a teacher I know that needs to do this.....don't think their syllabus has changed in the last fifteen years.
DeleteLike some of the "deer in the headlight" looks HPEC staff had when we put away the test kits?
DeleteThrowing away the syllabus from the previous year would break some old habits (hopefully) in some cases and in others it cause a lot of stress and anxiety.
ReplyDeleteI thought the information in Chapter 7 was interesting. My nieces and nephews participated in the International Baccalaureate program at their school and had capstone projects their junior and senior years of high school. Students had to apply for and meet certain levels of test scores. One explored a passion for Civil War history, another fashion design and another engineering.
While I think theses projects were awesome and pulled together different disciplines
I'm not sure that would work for everyone in our high schools. On one hand students should be excited about getting to pick their own project and explore a passion. On the other hand, I can see students procrastinating and when they fail to do any work or do very little work resulting in a mediocre (or less) grade a parent complaining . I think our general education teachers experience lots of parent complaints when student get the grade they have earned. And it seems that many times administration sides with the parents.
I think throwing it all away in May would be a good plan. To me that is what we as SPED teachers do when every year we sit down to evaluate our students and write new IEP’s. We don’t keep doing the same thing with our students we have to adapt and change. We do it daily and on paper we do it yearly! That is the only way we are going to individually meet the needs of all students if we treat them as individuals not a class.
ReplyDeleteI agree that as SPED teachers the lessons are constantly changing.
DeleteI was thinking of how I support kids and agree with you. I am constantly changing what I do with students dependent upon their needs. I think it is second nature to us. However, I don't teach MS/HS level math/reading etc where I might have over 100 students I am accountable for....that looks a little different.
DeleteI completely agree with you! We, as SPED teachers, do this every year. We can't ever do the same thing twice, because we are always changing and evolving to meet the needs of our kids.
DeleteAmy-
DeleteMy first thought with this question was immediately geared towards regular education teachers, but you're completely right on the special education end! You DO throw away and/or modify your current plans every year, and even MORE often if the situation calls for it!
I think some of my teachers would be ok with this, but others would protest. I believe in the last few years in my district the teachers had to recreate their lessons due to common core implementation. There have been many changes around here with expectations in their lesson plans. I also think most teachers have to adapt each year depending on the students. Each class of students brings different strengths and weaknesses. Some teachers would probably feel they were just wasting time doing something that has already been done.
ReplyDeleteI think reflection and adaptation are both qualities of good teachers. However, it is hard to break away from a plan. When you have worked so hard at something and feel successful, there is a lot of pride. To simply toss all of that aside may be an insult to some.
DeleteThere is a benefit to this. While I don't think they literally mean to "throw it out." It means to freely think and move away from the old schedule. Don't be afraid to change things around; move things so that they work well together and flow better. Leave what didn't work and try something new. With this flexible attitude, teachers may be more anxious when trying something new, but they are more likely to be successful as they are teaching to the students' needs. They are also more likely to enjoy their job as they would not be doing the same thing time and time again.
ReplyDeleteI agree I think it means to move away from the old schedule such as basils that they have taught from for the past 10 years and to gain some new materials.
DeleteMy record keeping book is both a grade book and a lesson planner. At the end of each school year we have to turn in our grade books to the office, when I do that I am also turning in my lesson plans for that year- we do not get them back. However, my reading units are on my computer so I do have that part from year to year. I use that as a skeleton plan for the next year. I do like turning in my plans at the end of every school year. I think it keeps me from getting into a rut - doing the same thing from year to year. I have been at Kepley long enough and been in enough classrooms that I recognize the same plans from year to year in some classrooms. Since most teachers change classes each year it is not repetitive for the students, only for the teacher though! So many things change each year; new books are written, new ideas are learned, students change (even if they are the same ones from year to year), technology changes, etc.. I like change, it keeps me fresh and on my toes!
ReplyDeleteIn this chapter I especially liked the "yes and.." answer strategy on pages 120-121. I copied those pages and gave them to my administrators. another tool to keep lesson plans fresh!
Depending on the kids we have on our case load, yes it would be handy to have our lesson plans to use from the previous year because some of our kids may have to learn the same concept but in a different way or at different concept level.
DeleteGood for you! I think you would be a great teacher to be a student in your class :)
DeleteI think once we throw the syllabus away teachers will be able to teach what needs to be taught to students in order for them to be ready for life outside of school, whether it's college or getting a job. It is the students choice. However we still need to have a curriculum in place that will give all students the opportunity for success. I liked what was talked about in this chapter it gave more freedom to the kids to learn at their pace and what hey wanted to learn, and teachers the opportunity to guide them if there was a roadblock in the process of learning.
ReplyDeleteI think there would be more change in the classrooms if every teacher threw away their syllabus at the end of the year...we would teach differently and plan different projects. We would continue to need a curriculum guide but it would force us as teachers to be more "innovative". I also know that I can look back at my lesson plans and recall when something I tried was a fiasco...and shouldn't be replicated or I might forget a really cool idea/project if I threw them away.
ReplyDeleteI think there would be a total melt down in 3 school districts if that were to happen, because like Jerrie has stated before, there are teachers that have taught the same lessons in the same order for decades!
ReplyDeleteBut I think how wonderful it would be to do this. If a person were able to test the kids on a checklist sort of system, what they know about each subject/what they don't know, and then guide the curriculum to meet the deficits in their knowledge, there would be more time to do activities and possibly teach the things this author feels all graduates should know.
I tried for one school year to use the DesCartes from the MAPS test for my students' plans for assigning things on IXL math because that collection of of concepts was created specifically for that purpose. But I really think I was the only one in the district that had even looked at them, let alone tried to tailor the students' extensions to that. With the students' scores, I was able to pinpoint at what grade level they were working at and that helped me know what to do with them.
Yes, I think that the Curriculum Director and I were probably the only ones who actually read the reports in full. Perhaps I'm just a sucker for well organized data. 😄
DeleteWhen we went to the inservice to learn about the new math curriculum a and teachers were saying, "well I don't know how that's going to fit when we do (topic x) at this time of the year?"
I love the idea of a pretest for content areas. It doesn't even have to be a beginning of the year pretest, but even a beginning of the chapter pretest. Students who know the content can be pushed to do extension activities to get more depth in that content area. However, it is more work, and it takes specific time and planning to get extension activities together.
DeleteTotal panic from many. I know one teacher who comes in at 7:30 and leaves right at 3:50. She is never at school on the weekends either. She is not new obviously, but if she had to redo her plans totally every year she'd probably quit.
ReplyDeleteI have heard teachers complain about our new math curriculum, more than I care to relate. However, one complaint is that it teaches too many different ways to solve a problem all at the same time. And I just think... how do they think that Spec Ed works exactly? I have a different plan for each student, but often have to have more than one of those students working together in a group. It is my opinion that teachers like to have that base, the they can change this little activity or that worksheet but that once they have taught for a year or two they are set.
I know a few teachers who should throw out the syllabus, and I know a few who keep it as a reference and throw in many new things every year. If everyone threw out the syllabus, I think most teachers would (eventually) be more open to change and inertia wouldn't be as much of a factor in classroom teaching.
ReplyDeleteI think there would be benefits to creating a new syllabus/lesson plan every year. Hopefully we would begin to see more collaboration between content areas/courses and teachers. I would love to see more of this and support students and teachers in this type of collaborative effort.
I think it would be very, very scary for some teachers to throw away their syllabus and start fresh every year. So many teachers teach the same thing the same way year after year. I know that as a general education teacher, I always kept my yearly outline and such from each year, but it was always adapted and changed for the next year. I may have taught the same subject matter, but I changed the way the content was delivered based on the needs of my students. Change is inevitable...maybe starting fresh each year would help to spark that change. If that happened, there might be more collaboration throughout buildings.
ReplyDeleteI'd agree there would be several "deer in the headlight" looks, and there needs to be some scope and sequence to make sure something important doesn't get skipped over all together. There might need to be some activities kept that worked well, if they applied to the needs of the new years students. In one district the superintendent has made the curriculum map a "living-changing" Google Doc. to inspire collaboration. There were new teachers who were building the airplane as it flew, and didn't have theirs finished until the end of the year, and some that had it filled out in a couple days.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh… Chaos, lol! To be honest, this question makes me think of all of my teachers who are much more experienced in the educational field than I am, and the multiple conversations we’d have when Common Core first came out. It was a scary time for sure. I even had one teacher quit because the whole situation was just too stressful for her. I think if EVERYONE had to throw away their syllabuses, there’d definitely be a couple meltdowns, but overall, good teachers who love what they do will adapt, move on, and roll with it to do what’s best for the students (And not saying AT ALL that the previous teacher I mentioned wasn’t a good teacher; she was phenomenal. I guess I’m thinking more of people who are in the teaching business, but aren’t really too thrilled about being there.).
ReplyDeleteAs far as I am concerned this is a excellent idea. However every year looks different for me as to how I meet my kids needs. I am very much about lesson plans however for me I have to go with my students needs as they walk through the door. I feel that I teach according to how my students behavior is for the day. I think that for regular education teachers they have the lessons year after year and spend countless hours doing them probably more hours planning than they do for the lesson. I know a scope and sequence is very nice to have when teaching reading or math to a regular education classroom but I say it all the time at our level is this developmentally appropriate to have children reading in kindergarten but this is what common core says they should be doing so this is what they do. However I feel teachers are so pressured and lesson plan based that they forget they didn't teach the basics such as how to form a letter with a pencil or some of the skills that our teachers took weeks on teaching us before moving to a new skill.
ReplyDelete