Hello all. I am a reading specialist; I push-in to a third grade classroom in the morning, and I work with different groups, ostensibly on Guided Reading, but we do many other literacy-based activities. I was recently informed that I need to submit lesson plans two weeks in advance, and I am really struggling with writing them. For example, this is what I want to do with one of the groups, for one of the twenty minutes I see them: "Students will re-read text. They will then partner up and create a short story about another thing Danny and his Dinosaur might do. They will use a graphic organizer to help them." I feel like I am a failure because I don't know what more to write. I know there is supposed to be an objective and a purpose and all that...but what is it? Objective: have students re-read text...etc. Purpose? For them to read and write? Help! Also, what resources have actually HELPED you do this?
Are the students rereading the text for fluency or comprehension? This is where you would get part of your objective from. Are you having the students write a short story to help with inferencing or writing? These are some of the questions that you can ask to figure out your objective.
Do you have a format to follow for your lesson plans? If not, maybe you could search for something that would give you more of a guideline.
Are you supposed to submit them using an on-line Grade Book or a regular lesson plan book? What do the other teachers use? Don't isolate yourself, ask your colleagues what they use.
I am from Australia so my planning my differ. But I would use the following headings. Activity :State what the actual activity is (one or two sentences) Objective: What do you want the children to learn from the activity. Duration: How long the activity will go for. Organisation: wholeclass/ small group / pairs or individual Overview: Dot point EXACTLY what the students have to do. Even add in what questions you may ask. Reflections: This is to be completed after the activity is implemented. To reflect on whether you thought the activity was a success or not and what you can do next time to improve on your teaching. If you want more info just PM me.
I noticed that you are from Philadelphia. If you teach at a public school you need to incorporate instructional strategies/interventions.
