1 00:00:00,880 --> 00:00:04,919 Welcome to the Teachers Need Teachers Podcasts, the podcast for teachers who don't want 2 00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:10,720 to just survive but actually thrive. So this is another episode of Candidly Kim 3 00:00:10,759 --> 00:00:14,560 where I'm just going to be speaking to you a little more off the cuff 4 00:00:14,599 --> 00:00:21,719 about something that I noticed today and I wanted to discuss this so on Instagram 5 00:00:21,839 --> 00:00:27,679 on the We are Teachers' Instagram account. The question that was posed is what's 6 00:00:27,679 --> 00:00:31,440 something that you had to do for your degree program that you don't ever use 7 00:00:31,519 --> 00:00:36,359 as a teacher. And I would have to say that a surprising number of 8 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:44,320 teachers discussed writing a lesson plan, especially one of those ten plus page lesson 9 00:00:44,359 --> 00:00:50,240 plans, and that got me thinking about that because I do remember both when 10 00:00:50,280 --> 00:00:55,039 I was getting my teaching credential and then also when I was in my master's 11 00:00:55,079 --> 00:00:59,920 program having to write these really long lesson plans, and I can even visualize 12 00:01:00,119 --> 00:01:04,040 the template that I had to use, and it was really complicated. And 13 00:01:04,079 --> 00:01:10,200 I think I also found it difficult to write these lesson plans because I didn't 14 00:01:10,239 --> 00:01:12,400 really have any context, like I didn't even know what I was doing, 15 00:01:14,079 --> 00:01:19,920 and so writing the lesson plan was hard for me because I i didn't know 16 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:25,519 if what I was planning would actually work or even like what a good lesson 17 00:01:25,519 --> 00:01:30,439 plan looks like, especially because I this is back in like the late nineties 18 00:01:30,920 --> 00:01:37,079 when I was getting my teaching credential two thousand and so I just didn't have 19 00:01:37,159 --> 00:01:41,400 like teachers made teachers or anything to work off of, and I didn't have 20 00:01:42,079 --> 00:01:47,879 just like all of the resources available online to help me contextualize what a lesson 21 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:53,200 plan should be. Like, here's the thing. I know that a lot 22 00:01:53,239 --> 00:01:57,480 of teachers are like, lesson plans are unnecessary. Why do we need to 23 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,120 write all these things out? Why ten plus pages? And I get that 24 00:02:01,239 --> 00:02:08,719 part in terms of the breadth and the depth in terms of writing these plants, 25 00:02:08,719 --> 00:02:12,560 like they want you to write a million of them, one for every 26 00:02:12,599 --> 00:02:19,960 single day that's ten pages long. And the part is relatively unreasonable to have 27 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,319 to write ten pages for every day of the week for one hundred and eight 28 00:02:23,400 --> 00:02:28,599 or five teaching days or whatever your contract is. However, and this is 29 00:02:28,599 --> 00:02:31,840 where might get a little bit controversial depending on who you talk to. I 30 00:02:31,879 --> 00:02:37,479 do think, especially when you were starting out teaching, that there is definitely 31 00:02:37,599 --> 00:02:42,719 value in writing out a lesson plan. Writing out the plan for an entire 32 00:02:43,039 --> 00:02:46,800 period. And here's why. So let me just tell you this based on 33 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:52,280 my experience. So when I transitioned over to teaching English, I don't know 34 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:54,120 if for those of you that have been following me, I taught band for 35 00:02:54,159 --> 00:02:58,960 the first ten years of my career and then I switched over to teaching middle 36 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:05,759 school English, and delivering a lesson for band was different. Obviously, or 37 00:03:05,759 --> 00:03:07,400 at least I thought it was different. Now that I look back, I 38 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,560 bet if I use the same techniques, my band would have been better, 39 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:20,680 But that's for another conversation maybe, But delivering a lesson when teaching English, 40 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:23,400 it just it didn't make sense to me. When I started out, like 41 00:03:23,599 --> 00:03:29,479 I did have all of the resources that I needed, and the lesson plans 42 00:03:29,719 --> 00:03:35,439 and worksheets from a colleague of mine who I really trusted dearly and respected so 43 00:03:35,599 --> 00:03:39,080 much. She's just an amazing English teacher, and so I was lucky to 44 00:03:39,159 --> 00:03:45,199 have those resources. But even then, when it came time to delivering the 45 00:03:45,319 --> 00:03:52,000 lesson and actually delivering an effective lesson, that's where it got tricky, because 46 00:03:52,039 --> 00:03:55,360 there's so many layers to a lesson that you have to think about. And 47 00:03:55,400 --> 00:04:01,039 so that's why I definitely found that planning my lessons every day, every day 48 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:09,639 it really made it so that eventually I became somewhat effective. I definitely wasn't 49 00:04:09,639 --> 00:04:14,120 effective that first year. I mean I would just go and look at the 50 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:15,879 worksheet that I had to teach, and that I would teach it, and 51 00:04:15,879 --> 00:04:19,240 then the kids would complete it, and then that would be the end of 52 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:23,439 the class period, and the next day it would be here's the worksheet, 53 00:04:24,040 --> 00:04:29,680 I give the lecture, we practice and then so I didn't really know what 54 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:33,360 I was doing because I didn't build in all the other things that a more 55 00:04:33,519 --> 00:04:41,639 detailed lesson plan would have. So I didn't have things like the anticipatory set, 56 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:46,959 and I didn't have things like figuring out the objectives. I basically just 57 00:04:46,199 --> 00:04:51,040 followed the curriculum. I didn't even really know what it was that I was 58 00:04:51,079 --> 00:04:58,800 teaching and why I didn't necessarily plan for checking for understanding or the worm up, 59 00:04:59,319 --> 00:05:01,920 or what I was going to do in terms of whole group work versus 60 00:05:01,959 --> 00:05:06,199 individual work the formative assessment. How was I going to know other than the 61 00:05:06,240 --> 00:05:13,680 blank looks on their face whether or not what I was teaching was actually sinking 62 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:17,319 in. I mean, you know, the feeling of raise your hand and 63 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:20,600 then like no one raises their hand or calling on a student and they don't 64 00:05:20,639 --> 00:05:27,560 know the answer. It's like, how can I tell they were actually learning 65 00:05:27,600 --> 00:05:31,480 what I taught them and figuring it out. And then also, in addition 66 00:05:31,480 --> 00:05:35,959 to the formative assessment, what was going to be the summative, Like what 67 00:05:36,079 --> 00:05:40,560 was I aiming towards? How was I going to determine whether or not they 68 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:46,079 understood this particular unit before moving on? And then could I move on or 69 00:05:46,079 --> 00:05:48,959 did I have to go back and reteach. So these are all things that 70 00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:57,000 didn't come naturally to me, especially in the beginning. And that's why planning 71 00:05:57,040 --> 00:06:00,439 out all of those elements of a lesson, especially like let's say that you 72 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:05,639 have students with IEPs in your class, You've got to plan for accommodations for 73 00:06:05,720 --> 00:06:11,079 them, you have to plan for scaffolding. But when you're a new teacher, 74 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:16,600 those are things that don't necessarily come naturally to you. So that's why 75 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:23,800 I definitely think that learning how to write an effective lesson plan is something that 76 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:29,360 they should teach you when you are in a teacher prep program. Now I'm 77 00:06:29,399 --> 00:06:32,040 not saying that the fact that they required you to write a lesson plan means 78 00:06:32,040 --> 00:06:39,079 that they effectively taught you how to do that, because again need some context. 79 00:06:39,639 --> 00:06:45,600 And I feel like ideally it would help to learn this process while you 80 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:51,839 are apprenticing or doing student teaching. However, you will probably run into a 81 00:06:51,920 --> 00:06:56,839 mentor teacher who doesn't plan lessons at all. It's up in their head. 82 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:00,000 So then that wouldn't be very effective. Like there are a lot of teachers 83 00:07:00,079 --> 00:07:01,920 are like, oh, lesson planaged, lesson plan whatever, you don't need 84 00:07:01,959 --> 00:07:04,199 to do that, and so they're not actually going to teach it to you. 85 00:07:04,839 --> 00:07:11,000 And I really really think that it's important to know the process and how 86 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:15,839 to plan and how to anticipate all the things that you need to do that 87 00:07:15,879 --> 00:07:19,160 you need to look for, that you need to bake into a daily lesson 88 00:07:19,199 --> 00:07:23,120 because you really don't have that much time with them for what it is that 89 00:07:23,160 --> 00:07:27,000 you need to teach. Those are all things that you need to have planned 90 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:31,240 out for you. So do I still use lesson plans today? Yes? 91 00:07:31,279 --> 00:07:35,560 And no. So before I started doing the Modern Classroom project, yes, 92 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:42,240 I planned out at least my week, if not two weeks, because I 93 00:07:42,279 --> 00:07:46,360 had a goal. I finally learned after a long long time. You need 94 00:07:46,399 --> 00:07:49,199 something to shoot for. It's something that I probably should have known a long 95 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:54,600 time ago, but it actually took me a good part of my career to 96 00:07:54,600 --> 00:07:58,000 figure this out. You need to know what it is that they need that 97 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:01,120 they need to know so, and it just beyond the standards or objectives. 98 00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,560 Like in my mind, I realized that I need to actually teach them skills. 99 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:11,360 I couldn't just teach them content. I had to teach them skills so 100 00:08:11,399 --> 00:08:16,639 that they would know how to apply the content. So you need to plan 101 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,800 out the objective and then you're going to have to figure out backwards, like 102 00:08:20,839 --> 00:08:24,360 how many lessons is going to take? What are the skills that I need 103 00:08:24,399 --> 00:08:28,279 to teach them in order for them to accomplish that, in order for them 104 00:08:28,399 --> 00:08:33,720 to be able to be successful on this summative assessment sumative meaning kind of like 105 00:08:33,759 --> 00:08:37,679 this culminating assessment that you give them to see if they actually got it. 106 00:08:39,039 --> 00:08:41,960 What are all the things that I need to teach them leading up to that? 107 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:45,559 And then when you figure out those skills, what do I have to 108 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:48,080 do to break those down for them to get them to grasp that? How 109 00:08:48,120 --> 00:08:52,960 can I access prior knowledge? How can I build upon the skills that they 110 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:58,399 already know so that they can level up to where they need to be to 111 00:08:58,440 --> 00:09:07,440 successfully do this summative assessment. So again, planning this out is really important 112 00:09:07,519 --> 00:09:09,600 and I can't stress that enough. And maybe you're surprised to know that I 113 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:16,039 do plan. I plan every day. Well I did. Now my planning 114 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:20,200 is a little bit different because I am planning out entire units and filming the 115 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:24,480 videos, and in that sense, I still am planning for every day if 116 00:09:24,519 --> 00:09:28,159 you think about that. But it's because I don't want to leave anything to 117 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:33,360 chance. Like I said, I would teach a lesson and I would just 118 00:09:33,639 --> 00:09:39,840 forget something like scaffolding. I would forget to check for understanding and just go 119 00:09:39,879 --> 00:09:43,399 through the motions, and I would wonder why they were doing so poorly unassessments, 120 00:09:43,519 --> 00:09:48,480 or why their writing wasn't getting any better, or why they were getting 121 00:09:48,519 --> 00:09:52,960 bored. I wasn't building in any group work, or I would use to 122 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:56,279 use group work as an excuse to not have to stand in front of the 123 00:09:56,360 --> 00:10:01,799 room and teach. Like I'm real with you guys here, Like I was 124 00:10:01,919 --> 00:10:07,759 not a good teacher when I first started teaching English because I didn't have everything 125 00:10:07,799 --> 00:10:11,159 as organized, like, yes, I had a lesson plan in terms of 126 00:10:11,559 --> 00:10:15,120 tomorrow, we're going to do this worksheet, and then on Tuesday, we're 127 00:10:15,159 --> 00:10:18,279 going to do this worksheet. But I didn't have a sense of the big 128 00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:24,039 picture. And that's where I think lesson planning is really valuable. Now my 129 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:28,039 lesson plans aren't as detailed. Sometimes they could be as simple as just like 130 00:10:28,320 --> 00:10:33,240 a checklist of things that I need to do in a class period, because 131 00:10:33,279 --> 00:10:37,320 I inherently know how to teach that lesson and how to deliver it, the 132 00:10:37,399 --> 00:10:41,039 things that I want to say, the questions I'm going to ask. But 133 00:10:41,799 --> 00:10:46,200 I've earned that right because I've taught that lesson so many times, and I've 134 00:10:46,240 --> 00:10:52,159 done the proper troubleshooting to make sure that I don't make those same mistakes. 135 00:10:52,159 --> 00:10:56,720 I've done the reflection and taken notes and written down how I would teach it 136 00:10:56,759 --> 00:11:01,679 differently the next time. I've earned that right to not have to have as 137 00:11:01,720 --> 00:11:05,600 detailed of a lesson plan. But in the beginning, after I fumbled for 138 00:11:05,639 --> 00:11:09,480 a couple of years because my lesson plans were not detailed, then I definitely 139 00:11:09,519 --> 00:11:16,360 went to a very detailed lesson plan so that I could eventually make sure that 140 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:20,480 I captured all the things that I needed to do on top of classroom management 141 00:11:20,919 --> 00:11:28,120 and things like that. So I don't know. I agree and disagree with 142 00:11:28,159 --> 00:11:31,919 the comments about lesson planning during your teacher prep program. I think it should 143 00:11:31,919 --> 00:11:37,039 be taught by people who are in the classroom and by people who are using 144 00:11:37,039 --> 00:11:41,279 these lesson plans, and not just on a surface level, because I don't 145 00:11:41,360 --> 00:11:45,279 know. Maybe this happened to you at your university, but where I went, 146 00:11:46,279 --> 00:11:48,159 the people teaching us how to be teachers didn't teach for very long. 147 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:52,960 It's just kind of hard to have someone who hasn't had that experience in a 148 00:11:54,000 --> 00:12:00,000 really long time teach you how to effectively write one and implement a lesson. 149 00:12:00,639 --> 00:12:03,519 So I can see why there's some skepticism on that, but I definitely see 150 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:07,840 value in lesson plans. If you have many comments on this, I'd love 151 00:12:07,840 --> 00:12:11,440 to hear about it. I really wish, like with podcasts, maybe I 152 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:13,720 need to find this, but I really wish there was a way for us 153 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:16,720 to have a conversation about this, like the way that you can in the 154 00:12:16,759 --> 00:12:20,440 comments on YouTube. But as far as I know right now, there's not 155 00:12:20,519 --> 00:12:24,399 a way for that, and if you do know one, please let me 156 00:12:24,559 --> 00:12:30,200 know. You can email me at Kim at Teachersneed Teachers dot com. You 157 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:35,879 can also go to my Facebook group Teachers Need Teachers and comment on how you 158 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:41,919 feel about lesson plans and if you agree or disagree about their importance. Thanks 159 00:12:41,919 --> 00:12:43,120 for hanging out with me today, you guys, and I will talk to 160 00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:43,799 you next time.