PROGRAM PLANNING PRACTICUM
The following is a summary of key components and resources that will be explored in the PROGRAM PLANNING sessions at York. Please feel free to use the suggestions and resources to support your role as a Mentor Teacher.
1. PLANNING FOR EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT
Effective classroom management is much more complex than having classroom expectations and a one-size-fits-all set of consequences for undesirable student behaviours. Talk with your Tecaher Candidate (TC) about the many approaches to classroom management. Explain how you have organized a safe and supportive classroom environment. How have you developed clear routines and behavioural expectations? How do you provide immediate feedback to students? How do you reinforce positive student behaviour? How do you promote student independence?
Talk with your TC about the importance of how they establish their presence in the classroom. Does your TC present himself/herself as a knowledgeable professional? Is he/she consistently on time and prepared to begin each school day? Has he/she developed strong relationships with your students? Does he/she demonstrate a positive attitude and enthusiasm for learning? Does he/she speak confidently and clearly?
Review how effective instruction correlates with management. Is your TC organizing relevant learning experiences that engage students? Is he/she prepared for each teaching day? Does he/she manage the pace of their lessons effectively? Does he/she vary instructional groupings? Does he/she provide a range of learning resources?
Talk about the various techniques that can be implemented to support effective behaviour management. Review nonverbal strategies such proximity control and using gestures or props. Explain how verbal cues can be used.
-Call on the student or drop their name
-Check for comprehension
-Give a directive
-Ask critical thinking question
-Redirect behaviour
-Regroup
-Provide positive reinforcement
2 BACKWARD DESIGN
Wiggins and McTighe suggest that teachers should begin their planning by first considering the end– that is what they want students to know and do after the instruction. Then teachers move on to consider how they will know that the students learned what was taught and finally the teachers plan the learning experiences.
The backward design approach consists of three general stages:
Stage 1: Identify Desired Results
In Stage 1 we consider the goals. What should students know, understand, and be able to do? What big ideas are worthy of understanding and implied in the established goals? What “enduring” understandings are desired? What provocative questions are worth pursuing to guide student inquiry into these big ideas? What specific knowledge and skills are targeted in the goals and needed for effective performance?
Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence
In the second stage we consider evidence of learning. How will we know if students have achieved the desired results and met the content standards? How will we know that students really understand the identified big ideas? What will we accept as evidence of proficiency? The backward design orientation suggests that we think about our design in terms of the collected assessment evidence needed to document and validate that the desired results of Stage 1 have been achieved.
Stage 3: Plan Learning Experiences and Instruction
With identified results and appropriate evidence of understanding in mind, it is now time to finalize a plan for the learning activities. What will need to be taught and coached, and how should it best be taught, in light of the performance goals? What sequence of activity best suits the desired results? How will we make learning both engaging and effective, given the goals and needed evidence?
Refer to the backward design diagram to support your program planning.
For students in their second practicum placements you should review the concept of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) which is explained in the document Education for All. Read the excerpt from the document to familiarize yourself with the concept of Universal Design for Learning. The UDL Guidelines is another useful resource.
3. LESSON PLANNING
For Teacher Candidates in their first practicum placement, you can review the following steps involved in lesson planning.
Know your Students
How do your students learn best? What prior knowledge do the students have? What special needs have been identified that should be addressed in your plan? What previous learning experiences have been successful? What management issues will need to be addressed?
Plan Accommodations
Will you need to change the environment for the lesson? Which instructional strategies will best address the needs of students with particular needs? Will you need to adjust the way in which you will assess some students?
Select Expectations
Confer with your TC to identify a topic for a lesson. Refer to the MOE curriculum document and identify which expectations will be taught (1-2 expectations for a single lesson). Focus on the BIG IDEAS for the lesson and the overall expectations. Choose specific expectations if required. Consider which learning processes and skills could be developed.
Create Learning Goals
Learning goals describe in student friendly language what the students should know and be able to do by the end of the lesson. Specific expectations could be used as learning goals but often require changes in the language used. Learning goals are an integral part of planning and instruction. Learning goals should be shared with the students.
Identify Success Criteria
Students and teachers need to have a common understanding of what successful achievement of a learning goal looks like. Success criteria should define what the students are trying to achieve. The criteria are used to provide evidence of student learning. The achievement chart in the MOE curriculum document is a starting point for developing success criteria.
Plan Assessment and Evaluation
How will you monitor the students’ progress towards meeting the expectation? How will students demonstrate their learning? Use the success criteria that you identified as the framework for assessment. The success criteria can be organized into as assessment tool such as a rubric, checklist or t-chart.
Plan Instruction
How will you design effective learning for all students?
Lesson review
What shows you that the lesson was effective? What did you learn about my students from the lesson? How would you revise the lesson?
The program planning guideline is a useful reference. Allow your candidate to explore a range of templates that can be used to create formal lesson plans. Your York Practicum Partner can provide you with examples of lesson templates.
