Long Range Plans lead to Unit Plans lead to the Lesson

You can't have a lesson without knowing what Unit you're doing, and you can't know what Unit you're on without a Long Range Plan.

So, where do you start?

First, you need to know what the students already know. Unfortunately, you'll need to know where you're going before the students even step foot in your room, so taking note of the previous year's curriculum expectations can go a long way.
This does of course mean, that when you meet your students, you might need to do a little tweaking to your plans to ensure that you are not trying to dump a new idea on them without any prior learning or skills needed to be successful.

Remember to keep ahead on the "Big Ideas" and not get stuck on individual expectations. Through the Big Ideas, you will have a chance to hit on those expectations, and maybe even more expectations in other subjects (remember Cross Curricular lessons can make learning more fun and engaging!).

It's important to make sure that certain "Big Ideas" that require a skill from another strand don't come before they have had a chance to master that skill. We want our students to come away from that Big Idea eager to learn more, not feel more confused and frustrated.

The more you link the Big Ideas, the better the understanding for your students!

When planning the Unit itself, and the lessons within it, remember to ensure that besides what the lesson is about, what expectations you are hoping to check off, and what resources you will be using, to have a plan in place for the types of assessment that will be taking place over the course of the unit. According to the Growing Success document, “essential steps in assessment for learning and as learning, teachers need to: plan assessment concurrently and integrate it seamlessly with instruction; share learning goals and success criteria with students at the outset of learning to ensure that students and teachers have a common and shared understanding of these goals and criteria as learning progresses; gather information about student learning before, during, and at or near the end of a period of instruction, using a variety of assessment strategies and tools; use assessment to inform instruction, guide next steps, and help students monitor their progress towards achieving their learning goals; analyse and interpret evidence of learning; give and receive specific and timely descriptive feedback about student learning; help students to develop skills of peer and self-assessment” (Growing Success 28-29). If a clear picture of what assessment will entail is not outlined before, how will you know the students are learning or if the class is heading in the right direction? 

Next, when it's time to do your lessons, don't forget to use the 3 Part Math Lesson format and to give yourself plenty of time for Math. It is imperative to give plenty of time for each lesson (at least an hour is suggested) in order to give your students a chance to break down and work on through the problems that we give them.

Look for my next Blog entry on the 3 Part Math Lesson for more!

How do you plan out your year?

How do you plan our your units?

What suggestions would you have for a brand new teacher planning out for the first time?