InTASC Standard 7: The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.
PLANNING FOR INSTRUCTION
Introduction
The planning process is centered around the question “What do my students need to know and learn?”. This question guides the collaboration process between my colleagues and I, as we collectively identify essential learning standards, and develop criteria for what mastery looks and sounds like for each standard. This criteria helps me answer the question, “how will I know if my students got it?” Planning allows me to determine regular intervals to assess performance using collaboratively made formative checks, which further inform my next instructional steps. My instruction is built upon three main types of planning over the course of the school year: long-term planning, unit planning, and lesson planning.
Long-term planning can be seen as a macro view of a student’s pre-kindergarten year. Using state standards, as well as Teaching Strategies Gold (TSG), my long-term plan is developed in collaboration with my grade-level team during summer planning. Our scope and sequence serves as a draft and a calendar for what content and skills we will address over the course of the year, and when we plan to do so.
More specifically, unit planning provides a detailed overview of a particular thematic study in my classroom. An effective unit plan is built around one or two “power standards”, which represent the essential learning and the end goal of my instruction. These are assessed at several intervals. I design the unit with the summative assessment serving as the framework for both logical sequencing and the depth of understanding required of my students. The unit itself details the power standards, embedded sub-objectives, related TSG indicators, anchor text selections, and formative checks that will be incorporated over the course of the unit. Further, themes for the unit integrate science or humanities content and often coincide with relevant events or seasons.
The last phase of planning I engage in is weekly and daily lesson planning. This type of planning serves as a detailed outline for what we seek to accomplish as a class in one setting. My daily plans incorporate student interest and cross-curricular content in order to lead students to meet the short-term target, all while accommodating various learning styles and exceptionalities. Additionally, these lesson plans are fluid, living documents. Lesson plans provide a scope for the week, but are adjusted daily after reflecting on student work and outcomes from the lesson.
Below, I detail how I utilize these three types of planning in my role as an early interventionist in a Pre-Kindergarten Special Education classroom. The artifacts and descriptions will demonstrate how I use the planning process to make instructional decisions, identify common needs, and differentiate to individual students' needs. Please click on the sections below for a closer look.
Charged with covering a breadth of content and standards, long-term planning begins with developing a scope and sequence that is logically paced, and layers the progression of skills. This yearlong plan leaves room for adjustment, as well as provides the opportunity to embed sub-skills and objectives into relevant places for both major content areas. Long-term planning enables me to backwards-plan, while keeping my students’ “big” goals in mind, so I make sure the power standards are prioritized but carefully scaffolded in a way that makes sense.
Unit planning is the crossroads where content and academic skills meet, and it is my responsibility to blend these two components as seamlessly as possible. Before designing units of study, my grade level team and I collaborate around student work and discuss a common need in order to brainstorm and develop possible interventions. I then incorporate that identified need, along with the standards outlined in the year’s scope and sequence, into a cross-curricular theme, which serves as inspiration for not only lessons but also the classroom environment itself. The unit plan outlines the content covered in the core subjects of math and reading, as well as sub-objectives covered, auxiliary texts used for read aloud, and aligned content available in centers.
After developing a unit plan, the last piece in the process is to plan daily instruction that scaffolds the rigorous skills and thinking my students will engage in, into meaningful, manageable chunks, all while being conscientious of individual students' needs and backgrounds. This is where I utilize the thematic content to develop relevant and engaging activities that motivate my students towards mastering the learning objective. Often, these daily hooks incorporate tactical manipulations, technology, or role-play. Additionally, reflecting on student work daily allows me to make adjustments in my next day’s lesson plan, as well as account for any anticipated difficulties.
Conclusion
Effective planning is an essential step in being an effective teacher, as it evidences my content knowledge, as well as my understanding of my students and their unique needs. The planning process, while “backwards-by design”, links the determined essential learning to instructional strategies that I employ in order to support my children in meeting the criteria for mastery of those standards. This process ultimately pushes both my students and me towards transformational change.