Lets complete the set by looking at Short Term planning or what I call Personal Planning.
This is the final stage in your planning, which started way back in the Long Term Topic Web that you completed when first looking at the focus for the term or 1/2 term whichever it may be.
But before we can do that lets also consider a spanner in the works – the extra layer that your management team may or may not have put into the system…..
Weekly Plans: –
There is no wonder that teachers complain they have too much to do – if we look at the process of planning it should be pretty straight forward as we add more and more detail at each planning stage towards the delivery of the lesson itself.
However some schools think it is beneficial to add the Weekly Plan level into the mix. This involves you as the teacher having to complete another form in detail to hand in to whichever level of the management team has volunteered to “look at them”….
Some schools will want plans submitted for the core subjects only (Maths, Literacy, Science) but some schools will wish a broad overview for all the subjects. Depending on how neurotic the management team are, they may ask for overviews or the plans to be submitted in detail – increasing your teacher workload whichever way you look at it.
The bottom line on this is that ” at whatever level of management these are given, that person will only give them a passing cursory glance – in fact some weeks they won’t be looked at all !”
A complete waste of time and only gives another comfort level to the schools management when inspected.
Here’s another ridiculous level that you may have the misfortune to come across – weekly planning sheets for each subject.
You know…I have to tell you that I have been looking for good examples to show you for quite some time now and really all I have found out is “what a complete mess” it all looks.
There is a vast difference from school to school in the numbers of layers of planning that they are requiring – which is not only duplicating the work but causing a massive rise in workload.
If we also add in Lesson Plans for individual lessons then things go completely through the roof – it is not necessary – take a look at the one below
This is for 1 lesson…the level of detail is unnecessary and for the most part irrelevant – the teacher just filling in the boxes because he/ she has to !
One of the most alarming things I have found in my search for examples for this article is the amount of websites that are advertising pre – written lesson plans. What a frightening thought – but I guess it is meeting the demand for overworked teachers who don’t feel that they have the time to plan and prepare properly. Having seen this I think I will deal with this aspect in another article – but I wont be very complimentary!
Ok so we have seen just how much rubbish can be asked for in the change from medium term detail levels to actually delivering lessons. The huge variation in requirements school by school and linked directly to this the huge variation in staff workloads.
This again is at the feet of the management team and if you are a Headteacher or senior member of the management team I would hope that staff workloads are uppermost in your minds when you are developing systems within your school.
In my opinion – and in my schools in the past …I considered it down to the professional judgement of each teacher as to how to deliver lesson content. This is why I also refer to short term planning as personal planning because that is just what it is.
Each teacher will deliver material in their own way based on their experience and subject knowledge – in the same way each and every teacher will plan their lessons in their own way. This is one of the great pleasures of teaching , you know your children and can adapt your lessons to suit their needs and understanding and also you can teach and develop your own style (which is great fun). It is always a great joy to see a class full of children fully engaged in a lesson and having a fun time learning, and it radiates from the teacher as they teach!.
As teachers we have seen our plans move from long term to medium term and now we have to translate these into short term lesson plans. Our medium term plans have given us a broad time format for subject content so now it is time to break this down into the component lessons
(We will deal with assessment in another article but it runs alongside the planning)
As a teacher we work on a day to day basis – in other words each evening we review our day and the progress made by the children. We then look ahead and plan the next day based on where we are.
Let me give you my own personal example for this. At one stage in my teaching career I lived about 45 miles away from the school I taught at and had a train journey of 1 hour each way at the start and end of the day. At that time my 2 boys were very small and on returning home we would launch into bath nights and story reading (you get the picture). I did not even attempt to do school work at home….instead my routine was that I marked books on the train home and then planned for the day on my train to work. Easily sorted and it worked for me! (Time management will be another article – but something I am getting asked for by many teachers)
What I am saying is that you need time to both reflect and think about the next days lessons – as you consider each lesson you need to write notes to ENABLE YOU TO DELIVER the lesson. This may vary in detail dependant on the subject and also your knowledge. So for some subjects you might be writing very little whereas others you might be drawing what you need to put on the board or writing the questions you need to ask or writing the sorts of examples you need to make, what group will be doing what? Basically its up to you. As you run through the next days lessons in your head make the notes you need.
That’s it – that’s all you need in your Short term / personal / lesson planning – nothing more is necessary. Assessment we will cover in another article – but as far as short term lesson plans go that’s all you need to know and do.
All the rest that is asked for by schools is unnecessary flannel at the expense of your time and energy. If you’re in a system like that then you have my sympathy – if you’re running a system like that then seriously consider making changes for the benefit and sanity of your staff!
Planning is just what it says – planning to deliver an end result. Unfortunately it has now become an end in itself, to the detriment of the final product and also to the health, energy and fulfilment of the teachers concerned.
Its time to get back to a more focussed approach but it starts at the top and the need for change is right now!
Charles