Lesson plans are an important part of guidance that a teacher needs to be able to conduct his or her classroom the way that is most beneficial for their students. Lesson plans are a way that teachers can pace themselves in subjects, can make sure that important areas and strengths are covered, and even more important that areas that students struggled in can be noted and can be taught at a more in depth. However, lesson plans are not always perfect, sometimes lessons plan have holes and areas where important subjects are forgotten. Sometimes, its best to have many eyes on the different lesson plans, feedback is always helpful, and slow growth on making lesson plans and fulfilling them is also a big step.
There are different types of lesson plans, daily, weekly, and even monthly. A weekly lesson plan is what I was able to review from a coworker at an elementary school. This teacher made a full week lesson plan, from Monday to Friday, which included all subjects that she teaches on a daily basis. In this lesson plan, there was a clear area where the teacher differentiates for the students that need it. For example, during math time, the teacher has a group highlighted to work with the math helper, another group highlighted in a different color to work with her, and the other students can work independently. It is also noticeable that on the side note of the lesson plan, the teacher notes the different curriculum add on’s that she is printing for all students, including her SPED students. This is also something that she does for all areas, except for science. However, there is no direct scaffolding in the lesson plans, there is what needs to be provided for students only, and that is it, meaning that that is an area that shows weakness.
However, a great strength that the lesson plan has is that every lesson was aligned to a standard. For example, the reading genre that week was nonfiction, and next to that was the standard. The essential question that week also had the standard right next to it and so on and so on. Having the standards written on the lesson plan helps the teacher defend what she is teaching or explain to any body from the district if they ever question what she is teaching. Another strength is that on the notes part of the lesson plan, all materials needed for that week are listed, and checked off when they are gathered in an area in the classroom. They are not divided by subject, but they are ready to use the day the teacher needs the materials.
When it came to the learning and instruction strategies, that was not clear in the lesson plan. There are parts that clearly says what worksheet is going to be used to enhance the day lesson, and those worksheets have a strategy. For example, for reading there was comprehension question worksheet labeled, but no strategy on how that teacher was going to actually conduct that lesson or explain that worksheet. Again, I can see this as a weakness since this can be an area where a lot of students may have questions. Not to say that she will not explain the worksheet, but according to the lesson plan she is not going to. Another weakness is that the lesson plan did not provide any ideas of any future assessments, nor did it provide any ideas of what the students use, technology wise, on a daily basis. I can see this being a problem in the future as a leader can be doing a teacher evaluation, use this lesson plan, and not have that information.
While there were some areas of strength, and some more of weaknesses, the lesson plan was set to do what it is supposed to do, guide the teacher to what she is going to teach that week. As a leader, looking at one specific lesson plan would not give me a snapshot of the class, I believe that it would take at least four weeks of lesson plans to really get to know what the teacher is teaching in the classroom. However, as a leader I also recognize that not all lessons plans are fulfilled to the T by the end of the week. There are many things that come up that can interrupt a lesson plan. None the less, a lesson plan is still a very important and needed resource in the classroom.
Lesson Plan Feedback
Strength: The lesson plan was very well organized, each section, subject, and area are very well marked. This help with the importance of aligning the lesson plan with the curriculum standards. If a principal or leader reviewed the lesson plan, they would know how each lesson is tied with the state standard. The lesson plan even follows to provide the standards for any differentiation and SPED students work. I believe that this is the biggest strength because the teacher not only can align her lessons, but also make sure that those students are taught the most standards during the year.
Feedback: The organization of this lesson plan is very positive. It is clear how important it is to you as a teacher to make sure that the students learn as much standards in third grade as they can. I also see that you do this not just for general students but for all students. Another positive is that you align every lesson in every subject with the state standards, again showing the importance.
Weakness: While looking at the lesson plan, the biggest weakness was very clear, there was no scaffolding in the lesson plan. There was an area where the teacher differentiates and gets ready for different leveled learners but that is it. With this important factor missing, a teacher can easily get caught up in just assigning lessons and not explaining them, forgetting to give clear directions, and end up with a lot of questions being asked by students. With a lot of questions comes a lot of time, with a lot of time comes pushing lessons back further and further.
Feedback: While it is very clear that differentiation is very apparent in your lesson plans, the way that you have your reading group and your math groups set up, its clear that having each student learn at their pace is important. However, it is also noticed that there is no scaffolding written on your lesson plan. Is this happening outside of the lesson plan? Scaffolding is important because it helps keep the lesson plans on the timeline that they are set to guide. I think it would be easy to add it to the lesson plan since its very well organized and easy to read.
Research Based Feedback: Research shows that “‘the role of teachers and others in supporting the learner’s development and providing support structures to get to that next stage or level’ (Raymond, 2000). Scaffolding does not have to be something that needs to be over thought. It also does not need to take a lot of time. One strategy for scaffolding is just letting students think. For example, if you provide a question, give them 30 seconds or even a minute to think of the answer. During this thinking time there is no talking, no raising hands, just thinking. This is a way that students are learning one basic skill, thinking.
Alber, R. (2014, Janurary 24). 6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students. Retrieved from Edutopia: https://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber
Traver, J. (2019, April 23). The importance of instructional scaffolding. Retrieved from ACER: https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/articles/the-importance-of-instructional-scaffolding
Raymond, E. (2000). Cognitive Characteristics. Learners with Mild Disabilities (pp. 169-201). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, A Pearson Education Company