I am convinced that building positive relationships with students WHILE teaching them a thing or two, especially in the first quarter of the year, is one part inherent-skill and three parts planning ahead. That’s why I’m eager to share with you some words of wisdom shared by Val Prado (6th grade math) and Cyndi Irons (middle school art), two incredible educators who took the time to share their thoughts on that survey I linked in a Tuesday Teaching Tips earlier this year.
Anything you want to share about your personal lesson planning process?
Cyndi: I’m a creative person and planning is part of my creative process. I enjoy researching ideas and thinking about how the ideas will fit in my overall vision. Planning is fun to me. I don’t mean that it’s fun to write out lesson plans with objectives; I mean that I enjoy researching and thinking about lessons and projects.
Val: I have an ongoing google doc with a detailed table for each week. Each day has the following info: goals (typically a warm up problem, videos we will watch, examples we’ll take notes on, workbook pages, any other details that may be helpful, links to all of my handouts/quizzes/websites); homework; and upcoming assessments. Students do not have access to this, but they do have access to our “daily math slides” that is a summary of goals and has the homework listed, as well as a “do now” for when they walk into the door.
Got a good story about a lesson plan that went super well or super badly?
Good story: I write down the exact numbers I want to use as examples with my students beforehand. I always pretend to make them up on the spot, and the kids are always impressed with how quickly I can come up with good numbers and examples for a certain skill, but really it is just good preparation, ha!
Bad story: When we learned about prime factorization, I had this activity planned out where students use a website to research the divisibility rules and then complete a table for each number with the rule in their own words and one example. This is the second year where I used this website, but for some reason it was blocked for the students this year, so I had to quickly find something else and post it in google classroom for them to use. Meanwhile, students were making comments under the assignment, since it took me a few minutes to post the new site and I had forgotten to set the settings in my new google classrooms that students cannot post… IT came to the rescue and was able to unblock it before my next class (thanks IT for the quick response time!). So, remember to always have a backup plan, go with the flow and take it with humor when things go sideways, and be flexible when things don’t work out! (Val)
What are your favorite sources, websites, people you follow on social media, books, etc. that help inform your lesson plans?
Cyndi: My favorite source at the time is social media. I am in several Middle School Art Teacher groups on Instagram and Facebook. In these groups we share ideas and troubleshoot problems with projects or lessons. I also find lessons in books and websites.
Val: Jo Boaler – Stanford University, she has a ton of resources and a super easy to navigate website called youcubed (https://www.youcubed.org/). I also follow Greg Tang, Ban Har, and Sarah Shaefer, and am in some Facebook groups for middle school math teachers, as well as groups that use our curriculum (MIF). Instagram also has some cool accounts that post brain teasers etc.
What am I not asking that you want to say about lesson planning?
Val: I enjoy lesson planning, as it challenges me to think about the big picture – what do I want my students to get out of this week? How can I create meaningful and engaging tasks that help them practice new skills? I like to “recycle” activities from previous years, but also like to change things up and try new things.