Question 1: What does your planning currently look like?
My current planning is done pretty much day-by-day. I do have a weekly plan, but do not use it as much as I should. Most days, I do my planning in the morning, when I come into school. I may already have specific portions or components of the day finished, but then come in and put them into a lesson plan in the morning. My plan at this point does not include specific times, but is more of "Here is what I need to get done by 9 a.m." and then "By 10 a.m." etc. We always switch to UbD (Science) around 10:20, so my literacy components need to be done prior to that. So far, that is working for me, though I recognize that I probably should be blocking things out in terms of timing much better.
One thing about my current planning that is working well is that it keeps me away from planning at home. I have already found that I need that separation between school and home to be fully present for my students when I'm teaching-- taking my work home at night only causes me to get overwhelmed. An alternative way to be more effective here might be for me to do my lesson planning at work on Sundays.
One challenge with my current planning is that, by leaving only about 30 minutes to an hour to plan before school every day (I try to get in to work by 7:15 to do my planning), I am leaving myself open to failure when unforseen things come up, i.e. parents stopping by, etc. More than once I have had to rush off very quick plans. Also, any activity with extensive prep work still needs to be done the night before.
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3 comments:
Kate, it is hard to try do day-by-day planning because I have done that before, and I always feel behind and not as prepared. I understand completely why you need that time at home for yourself. I am in the same boat because after being at school from 7:30ish to 5pm everyday and then commuting all the way back in heavy traffic, I am in no condition mentally or physically to do more planning. What I may suggest is that you pull one day during the week as your plan day. Plan for the entire week this way you know what you are doing for the week and you have spend the necessary time to get it done and it is out of the way. This frees you up for the rest of the week where you can go home and enjoy your personal time. I like doing mine this way. WHen I do this, if I have some extra prep work to do with the lessons, I know ahead of time, and when a parent drops by my door and she asks if I have anything for her to do I can say yes! Isn't it intersting how all the volunteers are moms and not dads? This has worked a lot for prepping things for class. WHen you do it day by day when they drop by you may not have a task for them to complete for you. We all operate differently, so my system may not work for you. As for me, there may be a better system out there that I am unaware of that could make my work life more manageable too. I am open to suggestions.
:-)
Wow! it's awesome that you can work out your plans every morning, even with the last-minute stuff that sometimes comes up. I understand the home/school separation, but I don't think I could go without spending a few hours at home planning on my laptop each night. I really like your idea of having a list of activities or lessons to accomplish "by 9am" or "by 10am." I need a better system to keep myself and my students in line throughout the class period without constantly checking the clock. It's too much to plan in 5-minute blocks, so I think I'll try your system tomorrow and see how it goes.
Kate, it still amazes me that you plan your lessons in the morning. I get to school at 7 am and feel rushed and like I barely have enough time to prep my class for the day. I think I am going to try to follow Ali's advice on picking a day out of the week and plan that day and see how it goes. I need to change my "plan" day from sunday because that clearly doesn't work for me...I end up at school fussing at the copier or organizing my classroom all day. :( I should list activities more thoroughly for my day like you do. I have been ending up with not enough time in my morning class and too much time in my afternoon class. ohhhh planning....
Good luck this week!
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