What is the difference between preparation and planning?

Post date: Oct 21, 2009 3:58:19 PM

‘One of the most important (principles of good teaching) is the need for planning. Far from compromising spontaneity, planning provides a structure and context for both teacher and students, as well as a framework for reflection and evaluation’ (Spencer, 2003, p. 25).

We have seen that one of the advantages of small group teaching is that it provides opportunities for in-depth discussion, reflection and consolidation of learning. Small group teaching is also costly in terms of time and physical resources, so it is important to maximise the learning that can be achieved by forward planning and appropriate structuring of activities.

Spencer (2003, p. 25) notes that there are four fundamental questions a clinical teacher should ask themselves when planning a teaching session.

• Who am I teaching? The number of learners and their study level or stage in training.
• What am I teaching? The topic or subject, the type of expected learning (knowledge, skills, behaviours).
• How will I teach it? Teaching and learning methods, length of time available, location of teaching session, access to patients, internet resources, clinical skills models, etc.
• How will I know if the students understand? Informal and formal assessments, questioning techniques, feedback from learners.

To these we might add the following.

• What do the learners know already?
• What are the learners going on to next?
• What do the learners want to know or be able to do as a result of your teaching? And how will I find this out?
• How will I build in flexibility to address unforeseen learning needs?

Thinking point

• Can you answer the above questions for all the groups you teach? If not, how might you find out the answers?