Planning for instruction will be the part of an educator’s job that takes up a large portion of their time. How a teacher plans for instruction will guide how each day in the classroom will play out. When educators plan for instruction well-ahead of time, thoroughly, and with conscious efforts to match instruction to content standards and objectives, classes can be exciting and smooth for both students and the teacher. However, when educators do not plan for instruction in a timely or thoughtful manner, classes can quickly become stressful and unmanaged. Good strategies for planning for instruction are using a backward design model, being thoughtful of modifications and differentiation, and use of a variety of instructional techniques.
Understanding by Design
The Understanding by Design, or “backwards design” template has the teacher plan out their unit or lesson by first listing out all of the goals for students (overall understandings, skills they will acquire, critical questions they will be able to answer, etc.) and then planning instruction, activities, and projects around that. Planning instruction this way is important because it allows teachers to make connections between what types of activities and projects students are doing and how it relates to what students will be assessed on. This method of planning also getst the teacher planning past just the objectives, but into the purpose and skills of why students are learning the unit.
Check out an example of a UbD lesson plan I have created here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IreSr2EVVVQntGjtOf0CkNYI3ocviscmsXS5D6vZ2cA/edit?usp=sharing
IEPs/504s
Consideration of modifications and differentiation in lessons ahead of time will save the teacher time and stress the day of the unit. While planning for lessons, teachers should already have a good idea of what the students’ needs are and be able to adapt their lessons and activities to those needs. It is important for the teacher to be prepared to provide students with IEPs the appropriate materials ahead of time so that instructional time is not wasted getting materials during the lesson. Furthermore, it is important to have resources and higher-thinking activities for students who may understand the content easily and go through their work more quickly than others. Keeping these things in mind while planning will make sure that all students get the most of instructional time.
Flexibility and Resilience
Being able to switch up instructional techniques in the classroom is important in keeping students’ attention and making content more understandable and interesting. Some different instructional techniques are: small group instruction, stations, games, reading and writing, group discussions, etc. One way to switch up instruction in the classroom for each unit is to consider what multiple intelligences are being used in the lessons that are being planned. By consciously trying to include a variety of multiple intelligences into the lessons the teacher will successfully make lessons that will be appealing to more students.