EDUC 350 Field Notes- Chapter 2 Planning that Ensures Academic Achievement

Begin with the End

Ms. Phalen began her unit on South East Asia by basing her content off of her final project.
The kids are going to plan a trip across various South Eastern states so she focused on the
cities and significant cultural and environmental attractions in those states.

4 Ms

Using the four Ms: manageable, measurable, made first and most important
objectives could be used to focus and refine my lessons. I should refer back to
the 4 Ms to ensure that my objective is appropriate and achievable.
Posting objectives is a great way to share the responsibility for achieving the
standards. When students know the point of the lesson they can better focus
their energies on achieving the objectives.
Time is scarce and essential in a classroom therefore in order to cover the
content addressed in the standards I should find activities and lessons which
teach the material in the most concise way while still ensuring a thorough
understanding.
Ms. Phalen plans what she wants to cover for the day but she also plans how
she wants her students to accomplish that days learning. She pre-plans group
work, worksheets and essential questions so that she knows what she is doing
for that day as well as what her students are expected to do for the day.
Ms. Phalen bases a lot of her lessons on group work and discussion. To
facilitate this she has arranged the desks into two groups which face one
another. This strategic placement of desks allows for easy discussion on the
content.

Post It

Shortest Path

Double Plan

Draw the Map

Which techniques from Chapter 2 have you observed? Explain 1-2 techniques and how they helped create effective lesson
plans.

Chapter two taught me that the little details in lesson planning can have large effects in the
classroom. Drawing the map seems trivial in comparison to planning the actual content but
little detail like desk arrangement can affect to ease of instructional delivery. Double planning
is important in providing clear direction for the days instruction. Asking what is expected of
both the teacher and student beforehand can make to class run more efficiently.