...okay...more like 11 weeks... *hangs head in shame*
With my classes, I tend to write down brief plans a week before I do them in my planner. They're usually something like "X class: pp ##-## (skill) Monday; pp ##-## Tuesday...", etc. I'm to the point with my curriculum that I can look at the skill with the book and page number and know what we'll be doing that day and how to prepare for it. My supervisor, in turn, knows that if he asks me what the plan is that week, I can rattle it off or show him. The result, though, is that I rarely find a need for the detailed plans we like to keep on file here.
Now, in my first few sessions of classes, I needed that detailed plan like I need my planner or my Bible. Those detailed plans helped me think more along the lines of what a learner needs than what a teacher thinks will work. These days, however, I know my learners and what works, so I can go off of prior experiences moreso than the detailed, formal plans. I still keep those detailed lesson plans, but I (somewhat ashamedly) write them at the end of a week more as reflection from those smaller ones written into my planner ahead of time. This, for me, lets me chronicle what worked, what materials helped, which were a flop, etc. In turn, those pieces of information are on hand for reflection when planning other lessons: I can look back when I have new students to see what worked or didn't in the past and, in turn, can then turn those around to try again or to rule out old methods.
The big problem this session has been keeping up with those lesson plans. The problem, actually, was two-fold:
- Time crunches: This past session, my co-teacher and I were covering jail classes until an incarceration teacher could be found. Though I loved those classes, it sapped a LOT of time from my schedule that I was accustomed to having for planning. I instead had to plan out lessons for a substitute to administer, plan jail classes, implement the jail classes, then catch up on what I missed. Again, I loved those classes in a strange way, but I still missed my usual planning time.
- Computer Issues: I have no idea why, but my work laptop picked the past 2 months to pitch an ever-lasting fit. A fan died in the laptop (or at least has begun the process of dying; either way, the machine overheats if you look at it wrong), and a fan in my cooling pad also died without warning--on the same day that the other fan became very loud. After weeks of my computer just randomly shutting itself off or running slower than the DOS machines of my childhood, I finally figured out the issue was overheating and purchased a new cooling pad. The computer runs just fine now, but the constant shut downs and lags slowed me way down.
Now that I've resolved both, I'm finally cranking out plans. Problem is that I also have to crank out some plans for the new session starting two weeks from today. I think I've finally come up with a system that will compensate for all kinds of issues. We'll just have to see what works.
Ah well: such is the name of the game in education! Try, try, and try again, then reflect on it all and try some more!
(Anyone else find they lesson plan like this? What works for you?)
