Creating the Learning Experience
In order to be a successful educator, teachers must carefully prepare instruction to meet the learning needs of all students. Teachers create reasonable, yet challenging learning goals, and implement those goals through planning for instruction. Teachers need to draw upon assessments, knowledge of students, and understanding of the content area to cultivate proper instruction plans and techniques. Teachers must plan varied methods and techniques of instruction to be able meet the needs of the individual students and promote growth among all students.
My first step in planning for instruction is selecting proper goals for student development and growth. In creating goals, I work collaboratively with specialists and colleagues to meet school, district, and statewide goals. During student teaching, I utilized the curriculum goals of the state-mandated Standards of Learning (SOL) for World Geography. In planning my unit, I used these standards as a framework for creating instruction. I also relied on the input of my supervising teacher and Special Education (SPED) specialist to incorporate class appropriate goals across the spectrum of learning abilities.
Teachers should understand how to create meaningful learner growth through creating engaging and informative lesson plans. I craft lesson plans that are goal-oriented, meticulous, and varied. When planning, I assess the micro and macro goals of the lesson and create strategies to achieve these goals. Creating a lesson plans also includes building a variety of learning experiences and opportunities for students. An example of my preparation is the lesson plan for the World Geography unit on South, East, and Southeast Asia.
One of the reasons for a varied lesson plan is that teachers should be prepared for unseen circumstances and situations. When planning, I try to prepare projects and activities to be able to guide students in the right direction without having them simply follow steps or fill-in-the-blanks. An example of such a project was for student group presentations on the religions of Asia. For this project, I designed a PowerPoint to guide students to the information they needed to know and share with their classmates. However, I gave them the freedom to use their creativity to express key ideas. Another technique for achieving this freedom is creating detailed rubrics about what needs to be included in assignments and projects. Not only are these crucial for grading, rubrics can shape and guide student work to meet planned expectations. When utilizing these projects, I quickly learned that you have to prepare with a willingness to adjust and modify strategies and goals. These adjustments can result from a variety of factors, such as new student knowledge changes within the classroom, or unforeseen disruptions.
For more detailed information on my ideas regarding planning for instruction, please see my essay on Virginia Professional Practice Standard (PPS) #2: Instructional Planning.