Week

4 Task and Reflection on Instructional Planning

This week's reading focused on Instructional Planning, or in other words, we might say the daily
life of a teacher. Chapter 4 from the book "Teaching Strategies-Guide to Effective Instruction"
revolves around planning effectively and includes some really good advice for both novice and
veteran teachers. Some of the factors that affect planning are discussed at the very beginning
of the chapter outlining some important considerations for the teachers before they start
planning. some important considerations to keep in mind while planning are related to
students, content, process, time, school, resources, technical as well as those of a personal
nature.
Teachers should plan long-term and short-term goals. Some long-term goals to focus on are
year-end outcomes, student achievement in assessments, and pacing of the instruction. Long-
term goals help you determine how fast you need to move through your standards/objectives
for the year. However, even if a teacher is quite precise in planning his/her long-term goals,
he/she can't be entirely successful if long-term goals are not complemented by short and
flexible goals which can be adapted and changed as needed during the actual instruction in the
classroom.
Teachers must keep 3 phases of planning in mind while planning their long and short-term
goals: preplanning, unit and lesson-planning, and post-learning activities.
Preplanning
Preplanning includes planning long-range plans such as yearly plans, cross-curricular maps etc.,
content to be covered during the year, processes to be mastered, students entry level skills
and readiness levels, and learning activities. Preplanning is essential because it helps in
formulating a road-map for the year and these plans can be used year after year after making
necessary modifications.
Unit and Lesson Planning
Once a teacher has her long-range plans ready for the year, unit plans are the next logical step.
Unit plans help us understand what kind of skills need to be taught under a consolidated unit
for example teaching a unit of multiplication to a class of third graders might include skills such
as one-digit multiplication and double-digit multiplication by a single-digit etc. Unit plans help
the teachers plan these multiple skills in a linear, horizontal, or vertical manner or across
disciplines.

Week 4 Task and Reflection on Instructional Planning

Lesson planning is the next step in the planning hierarchy and often the most misunderstood
one as well. Most teachers think that planning a lesson means filling out a lesson plan format
whereas in actuality it's a lot deeper than that. Planning for a lesson means to arrange and
organize learning goals and objectives, resources and materials, learning activities, formative
and summative assessments. There is no one definitive way to plan a lesson. There are many
researches suggesting different ways to plan a lesson but for a novice teacher, sticking to
universal lesson design may be a good idea until he/she is ready to experiment with designing
his/her lesson in many ways.
One important factor to keep in mind while planning a lesson is students with learning
disabilities. Usually, a student with a learning disability has a legal document called an IEP which
outlines any modifications and/or accommodations that must be made in order to allow this
student to have access to equal opportunities for a quality education. This is precisely where
the term "inclusion" was born. An inclusive classroom requires that you as a teacher make
accommodations for learning.
One model that most teachers follow in an inclusive classroom is called "Response to
Intervention" model. In this tiered approach to instruction, Tier I is regular curriculum which
can be delivered to all learners whereby almost 80% of the learners make good progress in the
classroom with collective strategies meant for all students. In tier II, more intensive
interventions are introduced to reach 10 to 15% of those learners who require supplemental
services. In tier III however, intensively individualized and specialized interventions are used to
reach the rest of 5% of those learners who may need more individualized planning of
assessments and instruction because of their specific needs.
Post-lesson Activities
The work of the teacher doesn't stop at delivering the lesson in the classroom. The most
important part of instruction happens once the lesson is delivered because this is where the
teacher finds out about the effectiveness of his/her lesson delivery through summative
assessments and reflection. Effective teachers constantly build a pool of data which they use to
inform and modify their instruction in the classroom. On the other hand, post-lesson reflection
helps a teacher in understanding what went well during this lesson and what could be
improved.
My Reflection
In conclusion, we all agree that it is important for teachers to plan ahead of time to be more

Week 4 Task and Reflection on Instructional Planning

effective, but I believe that planning should be intentional and not involuntary. If a teacher is
planning merely to satisfy the requirements of an organization or a school leader, there is no
use for such planning as at some point, it just becomes paperwork. Whereas, if a teacher plans
intentionally, they can ensure their own progress while keeping student achievement in mind.
There is no such thing as "planning in your head", as there is "intentional planning" or "none at
all".