Planning for Instruction

InTASC Standard #7: The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.

Introduction

When I create my curriculum and plan for instruction, I first start with setting ambitious goals for my course:

In Reading 7, students will learn to be careful, curious, and open-minded readers. Students will be exposed to a variety of diverse texts that explore characters and settings unfamiliar to our immediate community. Through careful analysis, annotation, and high-level questioning, students will build their vocabulary, improve their ability to analyze and interpret diverse themes, and understand the craft an author uses to develop his/her story. Students will look beyond the literal meanings of words, phrases, and stories in order to gain a deeper understanding of literature, as well as the world in which they live.

By the end of Reading 7, students will be able to use literature as a way to inform their developing worldviews and to expand their own perspectives of what is possible in their futures. In studying the characters of our literature units, students will learn the harsh realities that face various cultures in the world and learn how a middle-school student can be an advocate for him/herself and his/her community. Students will also develop empathy toward those who are different and learn to embrace and appreciate those differences among peers, cultures, and socio-economic groups.

These goals are rigorous and extend beyond the standards dictated by the state; however, with the help of my literacy coach, literacy team, and grade level team, I am able to draw upon my knowledge and the knowledge of my peers to ensure my students leave 7th grade reading with more than just the ability to answer a multiple-choice question.

I first start with choosing texts that my students can connect to personally and culturally, with themes that are relevant, familiar, and important. I draw upon the knowledge I have of my content, as well as my knowledge of cross-disciplinary skills, choosing many historical fiction texts that overlap with the Social Studies curriculum. I also choose novels that address issues that are important to my students and their communities. I have the freedom to do this because at my charter school each teacher creates his/her own curriculum each year. We are not provided with state or district resources outside of the Tennessee Academic Standards, and my literacy coach assigns which of those standards I am to focus on over the course of the year. Outside of these directives, I am at liberty to dictate my content and how that content is taught, as well as my pacing and the numerous changes that are made to my pacing throughout a unit in response to my students.

My lesson planning takes place on three levels: long-term planning, quarterly planning, and daily lesson planning. I meet each week with my coach, who helps make sure that each level of my planning is aligned to the standards, while also being accessible to each of my students. Please click through each section below for a closer look at each level of my planning.

Conclusion

Having the freedom to dictate my curriculum each year is both the most exciting and frightening thing about my school. I get to teach books that I love and that my students can connect to on different levels; I can completely throw out a unit and incorporate something new based on what I learn is important to my students; I am able to be as responsive to my students as possible; I get to teach them to be readers not test-takers. At the same time, it is extremely challenging to have so little state or district guidance when planning my units and daily plans – it makes me think of going to the largest bookstore in the world and someone saying, “Choose any five books, and they are yours.” How does one choose? How do I know that the plans I make prior to meeting my students are the right choice? This is where the knowledge of the 6th grade teachers is extremely vital and being able to work both in grade-level and vertical teams comes in handy. This is also where I get to rely on my coach, whose breadth of knowledge extends years beyond my own. I have the unique opportunity as a reading teacher to show my students’ the world through the eyes of characters they may never otherwise meet – and because I have the support of my coach, my vertical team, and my grade-level team, I am confident that my students are also learning skills they need in order to be successful in 8th grade. It is through this intentional planning, always with the students at the front of my mind, that I am able to meet the ambitious goals I set for myself and my students each year.