Phase I

Lesson plans. I know what many of you (especially pre-service teachers) are thinking....

---NO!!!!!!!!!!---

To those of you who do not have this thought, good for you. For those who do, you are not alone; I occasionally find myself thinking the same thing. Some days I find writing lesson plans to be tedious, other days I'm too tired from work. On rare occasions I'm too hangry to deal with lesson plans. 

First and foremost: I have found that I enjoy writing lesson plans. I've also found that I'm one of the few. Does this mean that I write great/amazing/SPECTACULAR lesson plans each time? No. Does this mean that you should forget your lesson-writing process and adopt what this post says? No. Take what you want from my ideas, adapt my thoughts, don't listen to my opinions--whatever helps you! 

(The information below will reference a lesson plan I recently wrote about the Arizona College and Career Ready Standards, specifically the math standard 4.G.A.3 about lines of symmetry)

 

Assessing Prior Knowledge:
I have a simple belief when it comes to assessing prior knowledge (or assessments in general). It goes like this: Keep it simple. There is a time and place for formal pre-tests--typically when beginning a new unit, not for every sub-concept. For this lesson, I didn't see a need for anything super formal and decided a class discussion would be more beneficial. Not only can students increase their speaking and listening skills, but they can also practice using precision in their language (which is also AZCCRS Mathematical Practice #6, found here). The 4th graders can help each other fill in gaps in knowledge and as a facilitator, I can help with any misconceptions that come up. This information will help me as the lesson unfolds. I can adjust the amount of time spent on portions of the activity if students have a good understanding, point out different aspects of the activity that relate to the discussion, or determine if one-on-one help is needed during the lesson.

Planning Instruction:
Whenever I need to determine my goals, objectives, and/or outcomes, I refer back to the specific content strand. If I keep the strand in mind, I find I have an easier time developing my lesson. My objective directly relates to my chosen standard but is reworded so that students can easily understand. For example, the standard states the following: 

"Recognize a line of symmetry for a two-dimensional figure as a line across the figure such that the figure can be folded along the line into matching parts. Identify line-symmetric figures and draw lines of symmetry." 

Oh goodness. 

Students might have a hard time fully comprehending the standard. My objective is rewritten so that students will understand what they are expected to know by the end of the lesson:

"Students will explore shapes and lines of symmetry both online and off. Students will examine quadrilaterals." 

My objective is clear and appropriate for students. Is it exactly what the state standards? Nope, but it is aligned to the standards. Now the curious might ask, why quadrilaterals, what does "online and off" mean, etc. I decided that my unit on lines of symmetry will definitely take more than one day, so I'm focusing on quadrilaterals for this day. Online and off refers to using technology in the class. There are amazing apps and resources that students can use to enhance their learning, why not use them?! (The resource I used for lines of symmetry can be found here)
 

Designing Instruction:
Every lesson plan is different because every teacher is different. I have had teachers who never created a lesson plan because they knew exactly what they wanted to do. Some of my past teachers made an outline of basic themes and ideas they wanted to address. Most of my teachers develop 20-page, detail-oriented, organized lesson plans. I'm one of the latter. As a result, my lesson plan is organized in a table with headings, numbered steps, extension questions, instructional methods, etc. It is organized in a way that best fits my thinking process while providing all the information I need. I have made sure that plans are in place for students who need extra help and students who will finish early. My lesson plan integrates technology in such a way that students will be able to interact and learn while being responsible and safe with the digital information.

Planning Assessment:
If you hadn't already guessed, my assessment is not a paper/pencil kind of assessment. Rather than a formal test, my students will create shapes with multiple lines of symmetry, only one line of symmetry, and no lines of symmetry with paper, pencils, rulers, and scissors. The fact that my students are creating a finished product allows for the highest level of higher order thinking. I can see if students are able to move from abstract thinking to concrete thinking of the standard while meeting the needs of my learners at their individual level.

So, as I mentioned before: take my advice, don't take my advice. These four basic building blocks are at the center of each of my lesson plans.