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Simple Yet Sophisticated
I, and hopefully all educators, really want to deliver lessons that students can master while utilizing grade level expectations by the end of their school year. I don’t feel comfortable with lessons that only “sound interesting,” or entice kids by being “fun”. I want to see my students visualizing a clear target in the beginning of their lesson. I want to see my students gain confidence in their understanding of the concepts so they can move onto the next level. The next lesson might be the same concept, or an application of the concept in different situations, or more practice to master the concept depending on the depth of students’ understanding. For any of these cases, both teachers and students must have a clear idea of what they are going to achieve in each lesson. Clear Opening, Meaningful Activity, and An Analytical Conclusion, as it is in a story. Each of my math lesson plans are exclusively aligned with goals based on the Grade Level Expectation at Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction . In addition, I blended additional benchmarks from and Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology-Japan So the overall flow of the unit plan and lessons will become very smooth in transition. Also, additional benchmarks will help strengthen students’ fundamental math skills.I have crafted my math lesson plans by unit. For example, my multiplication unit contains 15 lessons. Of course you can take one lesson out from this unit to teach at your convenience. Substitute teachers will no doubt appreciate it. You might find yourself liking some of the graphic organizers/worksheets along with some of the lessons. However, I strongly recommend teaching a whole unit of 15 lessons. Every lesson contains essential concepts that students cannot avoid. If you nail down your students’ important concepts each day, your effort will be rewarded, especially when you introduce division. (Division Unit is coming soon!) Each lesson is very simple, but all lessons are deeply connected to each other and core concepts are meaningful from one lesson to the next.At the end of the lesson, students are assessed on whether or not they mastered the lesson goals. Each lesson’s assessment should not be complicated or overwhelming. Stay simple! We must remember that a daily assessment is very critical because we don’t want any students left behind grade level expectation. If some students have the potential to fall behind, it is important to find them while the problem is still small. Don’t wait until students take a big unit test or a yearly standardized test! If all of your students respond well on daily assessments, simply, congratulate them. But the celebrations are only through assessments. Their excitement and smiles may not necessarily relate to what you want them to master as an academic subject. Maximize Potential and QualityI have invested in this project creativity and organization skills to maximize the quality of lesson plans in an environment with limited time and resources. I hope to mitigate such roadblocks as; “Our school has no money to buy necessary supplies,” “We need better books,” “The administrator doesn’t understand us,” etc. We don’t have enough money? Let’s be creative. For instance, instead of fancy workbooks, can students use their journal notebooks? Can they create their own math problems to share? Don’t you think it would be a more personalized experience for them? You can see your students’ understanding by checking their math, vocabulary words, signs, and concepts in their work. Do they use these elements properly in the word problem they created? If the answer is yes, this particular child is ready to practice more for accuracy and consistency. This child may learn more by sharing, discussing, and peer-tutoring with other students rather than moving on to the totally different activities.“There is no way I have enough time to assess each student’s progress in every lesson!” What if you have a lesson that you can assess in real time, during the lesson? What if you can combine summative and formative assessments and examine them during the lesson? That is what I have wanted for a long time. When I attended the education department at the University in Japan, I practiced writing a tremendous amount of lesson plans that consisted of a beginning (goals), a middle (activities), and an end (assessment/conclusion). Even after becoming a teacher, I was still writing, writing, writing to get familiar with lesson routines. So my format is pretty similar to the ones Japanese teachers are still using. It is well organized.( A blank PDF format and DOC format are available.) If you are interested in crafting your own lessons from scratch, this blank version will help organize your plan.) Surprisingly, I found out in the Facilitator Training, that National Board Certified Teachers Candidates are encouraged to use a similar concept to craft their lessons during their study. It was exactly "an East meets West" moment. My job is to find and connect important content pieces from here and there (see my resources above) into this simple and organized format. You no longer have to find supplemental materials or dig up ancient papers from old folders anymore if you use my lesson plans. Research and ExperiencesSome people are overly obsessed about “research based” resources. Haven’t you ever wanted to know what kind of resources they are using for their research? Haven’t you been curious about how many samples those “researchers” analyzed on their research? When you have thought about that, stand up and compliment yourself, “I am a knowledgeable and experienced teacher!” Generally speaking, the U.S. government has worried about our education and students’ achievement for a long time, which is why congress passed the “No Child Left Behind” legislation. The politicians are not educators, yet, they have envied other countries’ successes. The idea itself was not so bad. But how can we expect all students throughout the nation to pass the same standardized tests while there are no national standards? Importing something from what other countries are doing is not a simple solution. “Research based” materials, which are provided for failing or potentially failing schools, sounds a little bit skeptical. These materials have been developed based on the research on the country where students are failing, according to the envious policy makers. And these schools need to face consequences based on their students’ performance? Give me a break. I am not saying all research based materials are ineffective, but we have to be really careful when we verify how reliable teaching resources are.In the mean time, I looked into some books that American and European researchers have studied in Asian countries’ school systems and academic performance by collaborating with those local educators. It was not so bad, either, but it is unreasonable to 100% accurately analyze and incorporate other countries’ systems into our school system. In fact, these researchers didn’t ever reach the point of creating new teaching and learning materials. Hmmm. I became ambitious about creating something really impressive and sophisticated by using my background and experiences that are as reliable as a government verified research. I went to school in Japan from pre-school to college. I have taught as a full-time teacher in Japan for several years. It is very unbelievably difficult to pass the regional teaching test. I still don’t know how I passed. But from my intensive studies, I still remember what students need to master in each grade level at Elementary Schools. I have attended college and achieved my Master’s degree in Education from Washington State. I have been teaching in the Elementary School environment for quite a few years. If that is not good enough, I passed the National Board Teaching Certification! At that point, I told myself, “You go, girl! You can do it!” I am capable of choosing, analyzing, modifying, adjusting, accommodating, utilizing, and maximizing authentic and fundamental systems and materials from both U.S. and Asian countries to craft the best math lesson plans for our children. So, here I am. I am more than a well qualified candidate who knows what we have to teach our children and who also knows what our children need to master from the global point of view. |
