Teachers have it easy, people say; seven hours a day, weekends and holidays off, summer pay, they do not have much to worry about, do they? The perspective of one who is not a teacher or who is not well informed of the responsibility of teachers knows that the saying, "those who cannot do, teach" is absolutely, without a doubt, correct. Why should anyone pursue criminal justice, nursing, or microbiology when the educator's path requires less studying, less effort, less doing, less passion? A teacher does not have to do much except come to class every day, assign readings, essays, presentation dates, and ensure that his or her students report good news about their day to mom and dad. Nevermind the grueling preparation that goes into making a lesson plan, the continuous piling up of assignments to grade and then return, the responsibility to evoke thought, emotion, and the will to act in students. On the contrary, teachers put in as much work (although not as physically demanding) and time as any other profession. The actual teaching is much easier compared to the preparation that goes into creating a lesson for students and can prove to be very difficult.
I was not worried when this assignment was given. I approached it with a light mind and figured that it could be completed in less than a few hours. My content area is Secondary Education with an emphasis in English, and I knew that it would be simple to create a lesson, as there is so much in English that can be taught. My original idea was to have my students locate the different elements of literature (allegory, metaphor, simile, etc) in given poems/short stories, and then create a digital spreadsheet to show how many they were able to find. They would have to explain how the elements worked either successfully of unsuccessfully in the piece of literature. It seemed simple and decent enough. However, when I presented this to our class, I was wrong. My original plan did not have anything for my students to count, nothing to really examine and explain to their classmates that they had not already learned. I had to go back to the drawing board and make the lesson more than simply identifying the elements of literature. It was proving more difficult than I thought.
I let the assignment sit the next day, to allow myself to reassess my teaching strategies. Typically, and sadly, many teachers in primary and secondary school only expect students to do the bare minimum: answer the questions, and present the findings. Examination and application of findings is usually given as extra credit, and most students are not willing to put in the extra work to show their teachers and themselves their ability to assess new information. In addition, the typical classroom is teacher-based: the teacher lectures, assigns, does majority of the talking, and the student silently listens, and follows the teacher's directions. The disappointing truth about changing teaching styles from Teacher-based to Student-based is that it takes more time, research, and responsibility to allow students to take responsibility for their learning. The teacher must be positive about the content he/she is covering, must be sure that the students understand the material before they take hold of the assignments, and must create a very positive and conducive environment for students to work.
The NETS*T objective that I decided to focus on was the second, Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences. In this objective, teachers create an environment in which students feel comfortable working with each other and individually, are able to openly discuss assignments, and find ways to integrate technology in their assessments of work. According to Carl Simpson’s “Classroom Structure and the Organization of Ability”,
Conceptions about the ability apparently take shape primarily in the school setting. As Dreeben (1968) notes, when students enter school, they leave the family setting in which individual uniqueness is valued and enter for the first time a system of universalistic performance comparisons. In the school setting, ability to perform intellectual tasks becomes central to students’ personal identities; it influences their position in status and power orderings. (120)
Creating a healthy classroom enables students to take hold of their learning, while the teacher stands by as a reference and guide in times of confusion. Student based learning not only holds students accountable, but it also allows them to develop their interpersonal skills, which in turn enhances their confidence as speakers.
After developing some kind of focus, I decided it was time to continue working on my lesson plan. I wanted to keep the lesson close to my content area, so I knew that the lesson would still focus on Short Story Elements. The only kinks I had to work out were finding out exactly what the students would be counting and how they would examine and apply those elements on a wider scale. After brainstorming ideas and creating rough drafts, I had my final idea for a lesson plan. Students would be required to work in groups of four or five, and choose four or five short stories/poems, each written by different authors, or written by the same author during different times. In addition to identifying the short story elements, they would track the usage of elements among authors or time periods. Herman Melville, for example, might have been known to use many metaphors in his writing (which defined him as a poet) but as years passed, his usage decreased and his career as a short story writer heightened. After I had a clear idea of what I wanted to teach, writing the objectives and directions was simple. However, I spent a great deal of time deciding how students could effectively utilize materials and how to examine their learning at the end of the lesson. It was very difficult to maintain the idea that this lesson was to be student-based instead of teacher-based.
It took me over a week to complete this lesson plan, the longest it has even taken, and I learned some things about being an effective teacher. First, my appreciation for those who are already in the classroom increased because of their ability to create detailed, and effective lesson plans for their students every day. Creating this assignment also reminded that in order to be an effective teacher, being prepared is one of the best things one can do to teach a lesson, especially if it being taught by someone else. Once a complete and focused lesson plan is made, teaching the material becomes much simpler because every detail is covered, there is not much room left for confusion (for both teacher and students). Writing lesson plans using the ASSURE model also allows teachers to improve for the next time the lesson is used, and the students will be able to actively participate because it is they who are doing majority of the work, and not the teacher. I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment, not because it was fun, but because it helped me to realize that there is more to teaching than teaching; preparation is key.
Works Cited
Simpson, Carl. "Classroom Structure and the Organization of Ability." Sociology of Education, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Apr., 1981). American Sociological Association. pp. 120-32.
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