Chapter 2: Curriculum Planning

Each of these posts will consist of a pre-reading reflection and a post-reading reflection.

What I Believe About
The importance of planning...
Long-range planning...
Standards-based planning...
Thematic instructional units...
Weekly and daily planning...
Planning for diversity...

I am a "type A" person. I know this about myself. Planning and revisiting plans to make them better, more clear, more effective, etc. is something that offers me great comfort. Because of this, curriculum planning is one of the aspects of teaching that worries me the most. The idea of not knowing what to plan or how to plan to most efficiently and effectively reach my students terrifies me. In my program so far, I have written one unit plan and a handful of lesson plans, but my classmates and I understood that they were entirely hypothetical. I have never had to implement any of the lessons I have created, with the exception of the five-minute lesson I presented during my Teach for America interview. I also practiced giving that lesson in its entirety countless times, a luxury I won't have with the six or seven 45-minute lessons I will be teaching daily as a full-time teacher.

Right now, I can't imagine planning lessons for the five weeks I will be teaching during this semester. Trying to imagine planning for an entire year is overwhelming, to say the very least. I know that my excitement to get into the classroom and work with students will help dispel my fears, but I certainly wouldn't mind more instruction about how to plan out my year.

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In what ways, if any, has the chapter changed my beliefs?

I wouldn't say that this chapter changed my beliefs about planning at all. It emphasized the importance of planning ranging from long-term to short-term. My program does stress individual daily lesson plans more than the author stresses them, and she even noted that would likely be the case. It will be interesting to see what my school actually requires in terms of lesson plans when I get there.

I found it somewhat frustrating that the chapter seemed to focus more on curriculum planning for the elementary grades. I understand that integrating curricula for different subjects is important at that level, but I would have liked to hear more about how to plan for various grades and skill levels surround the same general subject. Related to that...

Questions I Still Have...

How much should I be worried about keeping, for example, two ninth grade college prep classes on the same track?
Should I be on the same schedule with all of my classes, regardless of grade or skill level? For example, should all of my classes be starting a new unit at the same time?