Planning for Instruction

InTASC Standard #7: The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context

Introduction to Planning for Instruction

In order to support every student in their continued growth both as scholars and as individuals, it is crucial that I plan purposefully and effectively. Creating both short and long-term plans helps me to determine the goals I have for my students over the course of any given lesson, unit, or year. To plan instruction that is targeted, I combine my own rigorous science content knowledge with curriculum and student-centered pedagogy that includes cross-disciplinary opportunities and knowledge of my learners and their community.

Backwards planning, in particular, is essential for effective instructional practice and assessments. If I know the end goals for my students, then I can effectively work in reverse to design the best possible strategies to support all of my scholars in reaching those goals. Backwards planning helps to ensure that my students and I have a continuous and clear vision regarding what academic and personal goals we want to accomplish over the course of a given academic year.

I utilize three main types of planning for my 7th grade science curriculum. These include, long-term planning, unit planning, and lesson planning. Long-term plans help me understand the arc of the 7th grade science curricula and how units fit together and build off of one another. Unit plans assist me in comprehending what standards, assessments, skills, knowledge, and understandings my students should take with them per unit. Additionally, daily and weekly lessons hold myself accountable for rigorous, meaningful science content that incorporates student interests, knowledge, and strengths and understanding of their community context while building toward high performance expectations.

Please proceed below to learn how I utilize long-term planning, unit planning, and daily lesson planning in my 7th grade science classroom.

Conclusions

Purposefully planning allows me to design and implement effective content across the year in my science classroom in a manner that supports all learners. I utilize my understanding of students themselves and their communities as well as a deep comprehension of science content and curriculum to support students in achieving mastery and growth holistically. Planning allows me to know where students need to be at various points in a unit cycle, and it allows me to create specific interventions to help them grow even further. As examples, I utilize differentiation by process and product, assessments and assignments geared towards student contexts and interests, and collaborative peer support to help all learners succeed. Through these differentiated supports and pedagogical tools, I am able to adapt my own approach while also supporting the diversity of learning needs and interests of my students.

Creating plans that are detailed and specific to my students, allows me to structure year-long content that is relevant and engaging to students. Plans are rigorous and aligned to content standards and differentiated to support all of my students. Planning in a way that draws upon both high-level scientific understandings as well as students' strengths and own lived experience in their communities leads to higher engagement and better learning outcomes for all of my students.