Do you write your state standards in with your lesson plans? How detailed are your plans? I was just wondering.
We have to write our standards on our plans. I just write the number, like 2.07. My plans are not as detailed as they should be. :huh: I never look at my plans except to check a page number or something similar. There's some days that I realize I never even took my plans out of my bag that day. I used to look at my plans more often when I did my ST, but now that I'm departmentalized, it's far less to remember so I don't need to. On a side not, I wish we had a way to post our plans we've made on Word. I always like looking at other teacher's formats. I like the format I designed this year. It took me until December to get it "right" but now I like it.
Thank you! I too rarely look at my plans. I try and be detailed with the planbook... but wasn't sure how my plans were, along with other teacher's plans. I'm still trying to find the "right" format as well.
I have to include standards for just about everything, but there are in the form of numbers (1.2.3, 2.16, etc.) and color coded by subject matter (language arts, science, etc. My lessons are terribly detailed though because the books don't offer enough room in those tiny spaces! Usually it it at least the lesson title, book, and page numbers.
We are trusted to make lesson plans but they never are checked and we do not have guidelines as to what to include in them. My principal said, I hired you and trust that you are following the standards and best practices" He can easily tell when he does weekly walkthroughs (just a minute or so when he sees what we are doing in the classroom) if we have a plan or not.
I usually write the "meat" of what I am doing in my planner. Sometimes on my way to school, I will think of something to add, change, completely redo, etc., and then change it when I get to school. Our lesson plans are never checked, and like amedinaoh, our admin trusts us. First year teachers are required to turn in plans, but after that, we are pretty much on our own. My first year, I had every day typed out, including the standard being met, objective, etc. I have no where near the time for that anymore. Plus, the stories and other work I teach, I pretty much know verbatim!
I do my plans on Edline.net and they have the standards where you can just click on them and they're included in the plan. We have to write Standard numbers on our white boards too. I copied and pasted them from the State Dept. web site and copied them onto color coded cardstock and have them stuck on the board with small magnets. It's such a total waste of precious time.
We have to do the same thing. I wrote the standards I do frequently on sentence strips and taped them to my board. Then as I do other standards I create another sentence strip and put them in my collection. Now all I need to do is pull them out and stick them on (I use magnets). It's a waste of time.
The one incredibly lucky thing about my otherwise chaotic and stressful school is that we are not required to turn in lesson plans. Even as a first year teacher. I keep a planbook where I list topics/textbook lessons to introduce each day and planned homework assignments, but they aren't incredibly detailed. In lieu of regular lesson plans, I make a handwritten outline of what/how I plan to teach for each of my preps each day. Then I file these, along with any worksheets or additional materials, in a binder so I can check back on what I did each day. As far as standards, I don't have to list which ones I'm teaching each lesson. I do, however, keep the standards close by at all times and refer to them constantly. I'm kind of starting to not go off the textbook as much, but instead just making sure I hit standards.
I have my plans, and I have my plans. I am required to turn in somewhat detailed plans which include standards, book, page, supplementary activities, copies of any handouts, reinforcement, and home learning. I do those only because I have to, but usually, but Wed, if you walked into my classroom with my "plans", they'd be completely wrong. My real plans are the ones I keep in an undated journal for each prep. This is where I outline what needs to be taught, in what sequence, with notes as to analogies, activities, location in the book and a rough time table. Everything's negotiable. If the kids don't get it, I'll spend extra time. If I think they get it but bomb a test, I'll go back and reteach. If they get something faster than I expect, then we move along. It all balances out in the end.
Topic: Volcanoes Standard: S5P1a Essential Question: Why do I have to do this? Activator: Wake up and pay attention hook Lesson: Do such and such, discuss, take notes, page 77, T.Ed. page 99; Johnny, Sue, --Internet lesson blah, blah; Summary: blah, blah, blah Done on Word, all color-coded, highlighted, and cute clip art added by me. Put on teacher's desk and ignore for the rest of the week (unless I need a quick scan in the morning.) Principal comes to observes and wants to see plans on desk.
We are required to keep learning noteboooks - Each standard has a section and each section has a list of detailed teaching ideas/activities and a group of assignments or assessments. My lesson plans are typically something along the lines of: "Standard # Activity/Lesson # Assignment/Assessment #" We turn in a list of lesson plans to the office each week and if I have a sub, everything is laid out and explained in the learning notebook. At first I hated it, but now I love it - 15 minutes to plan for the whole week!
We are expected to have plan books with the objective (which has to have something to do with a state std) list of instructional strateigies/activities, assessment, modifications, and homework. We work in teams, so we often spend time planning our lessons out together. It helps divide up the work and keeps us from becoming sidetracked.
Good news--we do online lesson planning with a particular website, and we click on the state standards that apply to the lesson. Bad news--it takes 6-8 hours a week to do a 7 point lesson plan for every subject every day, and some of us don't have computers at home!
