Catherine Shea

EDUC 203
Professor Suk
April 2018

I. Observation #2 - Planning
II. Junior Honors English
III. Setting
The class I am observing today is an 11th grade honors level English class that has
twenty three students and one lead teacher at a highschool in a rural area. There are 12 boys and
11 girls.
IV. Pre-Observation
In my Foundations of Education class, I studied lesson planning and curriculum planning.
I had the opportunity to observe and learn more in depth about how a learning department in a
high school creates, plans for, and conducts their lessons through the course of an entire school
year. I was able to interview a sophomore level English teacher at the same school who gave me
an insight to how much time, thought, and research goes in to creating and developing a
curriculum and how much time outside of actual instruction goes into lesson planning for a new
teacher. I have had experience creating my own lesson plans, but of course not to the magnitude
of a teacher who has multiple classes at different academic levels.
V. Data
Before the class period, began, I sat down to discuss the planning and curriculum process
with my lead teacher. He has been an instructor for 27 years. He explained to me that since he is
a veteran teacher, he does not consider what he does to be “planning”. He has been teaching the
same novels, short stories, and poems in his English class for several years as the standards and
school wide curriculum have not drastically changed. The curriculum is “grass roots”, as he put
it, and is completely formulated by teachers in that specific department. When new supervisors
have come in, he has tweaked and slightly modified his lessons to fit their new standards and
preferences. While his actual lesson plans have not changed, the way he presents and relates to
his students has. As time changes, so do his references, allusions, and the technology being used.
For example, he explained, four years ago, the high school went from a traditional 8 period 40
minute class schedule to a block schedule with 90 minute classes. He has adapted his lesson
plans to fit this, but he has not necessarily altered the content, just the way it is presented and the
way he sets up the class. He has adjusted for time, and he said the secret to his success with this
is to stay in tune with the student’s needs. Although he has taught for 27 years, he said it is
absolutely imperative to admit to the students when he does not know something, or when he
could have improved on something. “It is okay to be wrong”, he explains to me.
These past couple years, he tells me, the school has made it known that they would like to
see a shift in how much the students have a say in planning. “The students are more involved
than they have ever been in planning”, he begins. “Although it is not my style, student
empowerment has some credibility. Of course, kids still need to be told when and how to do
things, since they need and crave structure. This year, I have tried to let the kids design when and
how they are graded on certain tasks. They’re actual more brutal on grading then I am! Of
course, they understand I have the ultimate veto power, but they love that they have a say in
when certain reading assignments are due and how much weight they have towards their grade”.
He continues on explaining that he lets the students vote on what they think is fair on menial
classroom decisions such as point values for extra credit questions, due dates for reading
assignments, and the novels selected for outside reading. He tells me, “The kids really love it,
and it helps create a sense of community and togetherness in the classroom”.
As far as grade level planning goes, he explains to me that for him, it is essentially non
existent. Typically, he explains to me, departments (such as english, science, history) meet over
the summer and collaborate on lesson plans for the remainder of the year. While the curriculum
is not purchased, it has been created by the department head. It is in coherence with NJ
standards. This has been done ahead of time, obviously. “Of course, we are paid for our time,
and more often than not, the school does not want to pay for it. If I am not getting paid, I simply
don’t do it. Unless there are major changes in the school such as a new superintendent, a new
department head, or a huge change in curriculum, we have not had a department meeting for
grade level planning”, he tells me. He goes on to say that he has not done this in years, since the
school switched to block scheduling. He is extremely thankful for advances in technology, that
he says has made his job much easier. He has begun to utilize Canvas to upload and organize his
lesson plans for the entire year. “I have uploaded all of my notes, quizzes, tests, materials, plans,
movies, notes, and documents to Canvas for this entire year. Since my schedule is exactly the
same next year, I’m already set for the 2018-2019 school year. However, this isn’t common. For
a new teacher, that’s impossible and will never ever happen”, he explains. He goes on to tell me
that for new teachers, schedules change frequently and lesson plans are constantly reviewed and
critiqued and altered by department heads and supervisors. Every two weeks, the supervisor
checks in and comment through google docs on the teacher’s lesson plans. Then, they ‘sign off’
or approve the lesson plan. In each plan, the teacher must have an objective and a lesson
essential question. They do not have to list NJ Student Learning Standards in their lesson plans.
For a new teacher, the plans would still be checked every two weeks, but they would have a lot
more constructive criticism, revisions, and input from the supervisor. They would be more
heavily critiqued and scrutinized compared to a veteran or tenured teacher.

VI. Analysis
After this conversation, I realized how much work is cut out for a new teacher. The lead
teacher I am observing has put in his time, spending years to perfect and curate his lesson plans
to his liking. He has the superiority in his department to be able to repeat and re-use lesson plans
that have worked well in the past, and he can tweak and alter them to remain relevant and
interesting for the students. A new teacher would not have the same ability to do so, because they
would be constantly reviewed and analyzed by their supervisor and department head. Also, a lot
of the books and materials being taught are chosen by the teachers in the department to fit the
standards for that grade level. So that gives a little bit more freedom with lesson planning than I
had originally realized. The teachers in the department, like the lead teacher I am observing, are
able to pick and choose what they teach, so if they are finding that a certain book isn’t working
or fitting the standard as well as they had anticipated, they can alter it.
VII. Recommendations
I firmly agree with many of the teacher’s styles and way of executing his lesson plans. I
respect and like the way he talks to his students, and the respect he has for them as well. While
taking a look at his lesson plans, I was slightly confused by the wording and content within them.
It seemed extremely broad and general. If I was not in his classroom observing, I would not have
understood or been able to give the lesson. According to Sidney Besivinick, “ Lesson plans
should be simply stated, clearly written, and flexible, but the following rules form a better set of
criteria against which to judge a lesson plan. The teacher should be able to teach from it.
Someone else who is qualified in that subject area should be able to teach from it. It should be
useful as a basis for planning the lesson if it is taught again some time in the future. Many
so-called lesson plans are really ‘layout sheets’” (Besivinick, 431). Although I can clearly see
how effective and wonderful his lessons actually are in person, as a substitute I would have been
very confused as what I was supposed to do.
VIII. Post-Observation
I had never realized how much went into lesson planning or how long it took teachers to
acquire speed and ease with planning for classes. The lead teacher I am observing is a former
teacher of mine, since I attended this high school. The same books we are discussing in class are
the same books I read while I was a student of his. Although they are the same books, I have
noticed that he uses new material to relate and explain the concepts and themes to the students. It
was quite interesting to see how he updates the material and keeps it relevant with the times so
that the students can relate too it and process it.
The fact that I will one day soon be creating lesson plans of my own is a little bit
daunting. I realize now how much time outside of the actual work day will be spent planning and
researching. The one thing that is comforting is knowing that there is such a big sense of
community within the teachers. I can see just through walking down the halls how much the
teachers who work here interact and help one another with day to day operations at the school. I
can see now how vital PLC groups will be when I begin teaching, and I plan on using my peers
and mentors as a resource.

IX. Citations
Besvinick, S. (1960). An Effective Daily Lesson Plan. ​The Clearing House,​ ​34​(7), 431-433.
Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/30193698
X. Appendix