Ahhhh, the lesson plan book…. that giant grid of boxes set up seemingly to fill with worksheet numbers, textbook pages, and lots of “The students will be able to…” But, what ABOUT those boxes?
What about a box to jot down the learning standards you’re covering with the unit? A little science, a little math, some communication arts, and a dash of social studies. Throw on a side of technology skills and voila, your week in complete.
What’s also very important? The assessment boxes. What will you do this week to formatively assess your kids? Will you use some auditory style assessments, a visual assessment, and then a couple of written assessments? Write them down to be sure you’ll have the balance you are looking for. Even better, by starting with your assessment in mind, your plans will lead somewhere.
Why don’t we also fill those boxes with questions? The kind of questions we can ask that will get students to not only thing about the learning standards, but about how those standards relate to the world around them.
Maybe we should fill those boxes with product options. Ask kids what THEY are interested in making to show their learning for a unit. Oooooh…. creativity!
How about filling the boxes with some key vocab you want to throw out to the kids? Oooh, we might also leave a blank space for the words to add that kids pick up along the way.
Still have a box left? What about an inspirational quote that says something like “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. -WB Yeats” or maybe more appropriate… “Education is not the filling of lesson plan boxes, but the inspiration of minds.”
What if somehow, when you finished filling those boxes, they were interconnected with each other, with the students, and with the standards of your curriculum. Even better… what if they were interconnected with the world?
Isn’t THAT what learning is all about?
