BEGINNING WITH THE END IN MIND.
I'll lead off with the main point. Write your final exam before you teach your first day. Have a clear picture of what you want the kids to leave your class understanding. What are the essential learning outcomes of this class? What does every kid from Freddie 4.0 to Sally C-average to Donnie Delinquent HAVE to know in order to earn the credit for your class? Make sure that is all included in the final. Then work backwards from the final to the first day of class. Plan your benchmark assessments or projects along the path, make sure to build in extra time for the kids who don't get it the first time, and need to be taught, tutored and re-taught. Build in a week or two for comprehensive review and assessment before the final.
I like the idea of pacing guides. I put together a table for the 90 days of the semester (or the quarter if I have a quarter term class) Then I include the "days off" in the school calendar for holidays, teacher workdays, etc. etc. I try to keep a few "blank days" to account for the surprise pep rally, or the field trip the yearbook teacher didn't tell anyone about until the day of, and any other events that you can't plan for. Here's an example of this year's 4th quarter pacing guide
| 3/21-3/25 | NO SCHOOL | NO SCHOOL | ||||
| 3/28 - 4/1 | ||||||
| 4/4 - 4/8 | NO SCHOOL | |||||
| 4/11-4/15 | ||||||
| 4/18-4/22 | SNOW MAKE UP DAY | |||||
| 4/25-4/29 | SNOW MAKE UP DAY | |||||
| 5/2-5/6 | ||||||
| 5/9-5/13 | ||||||
| 5/16-5/20 | 12:30 dismissal | PLC | ||||
| 5/23-5/27 | SNOW DAY | SNOW DAY | SNOW DAY | SNOW DAY | SNOW DAY |
On my pacing guide I try my best to plan out when I'll teach each unit, and how much time allot for instruction. I keep them and tweak them every year. Here's a few weeks of my music appreciation pacing guide.
| 2/22-2/26 | https://prezi.com/wz6wppumx1hu/led-zeppelin/led zeppelin prezi | PMRC PREZI https://prezi.com/dz2_b7bc3ann/the-pmrc/ | STUDENT TEACHER LESSON | STUDENT TEACHER QUIZ | New Wave2.ppt revise me | |
| 2/29 - 3/4 | EMO Core.ppt | LIstening day #6 | EMO REVIEW.pptx | nirvana.ppt | EMO-NINETIES REVIEW | |
| 3/7-3/11 | EMO CORE NOTES CHECK.docx | STUDENT TEACHER LESSON | STUDENT TEACHER LESSON | THIRD QUARTER ENDS | FOURTH QUARTER BEGINS | |
| 3/14-3/18 | BASS PLAYERS PREZI | JAZZ IN THE 1920S PREZI | JAZZ IN THE 1920'S NOTES CHECK | JAZZ IN THE 30'S AND SWING PREZI | VICTOR WOOTEN TED TALK | |
| 3/21-3/25 | Evaline Glenny TED TALK | reflections on the modern singer songwriter Johnson.pptx | REFLECTIONS NOTES CHECK | NO SCHOOL | NO SCHOOL | |
| 3/28 - 4/1 | One Night in Los Angeles One night companion worksheet | One Night in Los Angeles
|
The first year I did a pacing guide, I greatly under-estimated the time I needed for some units and overestimated time for others, but I revised them a little each year, and gave myself some "wiggle room" by planning in a few "catch up days" between units in case we needed more time. I also planned a few "fun lessons" in case we wrapped up the semester a little early, and weren't quite ready for the final review phase.
The bottom line is you may not be able to teach everything in the text, but if you have your essential learning outcomes clearly defined, you can feel confident about what you didn't teach. That's peace of mind that helps me sleep at night. Either way it beats working your way through the text book and just teaching units because "that's what's next!" That's a great way to stress yourself out at the end of a semester.
Until next time! Stay well mind shapers.
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