What is Planning and Preparation?
Planning and Preparation are the backbone of teaching.
Educators must have a full grasp of content, pedagogy, state and national standards, as well as assessment in order to provide the most beneficial learning experience for students.
Getting to Know Students
I believe the first step in preparing effective teaching is knowledge of the students. Without knowing the backgrounds and interests of students, I cannot tailor instruction to their needs.
Below is an introductory survey I use to start getting to know my students. This survey is only the beginning of the continuous process of knowing and understanding students.
The Value of Technology
In a world with constantly advancing technology, it is absolutely pivotal to teach students from a young age about using a computer, printing a document, and making a small-scale PowerPoint presentation. Technology now goes hand-in-hand with education and success in the world.
Therefore, not only do teachers have to educate students on technology, but they must also master it themselves.
Please find below a PowerPoint on fish, which I used during a 5th grade Science unit about animals and their progression over time.
Assessment
Assessment is parallel to instruction. As teachers, a clear focus on objectives, instruction, and assessment tied together is important in order to align correctly with curriculum goals.
As part of the Science unit on animals, a Jeopardy Review game was played during class (please see the picture above).
After the review, the summative assessment for the unit was administered to the students. Below you will find the test, along with a partial word bank as an adaptation for learning support students to use as a guide with the "fill-in the blank" portion, if necessary.