Teaching to Learn, Learning to Teach

·Is there sufficient material for students to analyze in class? Do the lessons include

enough active things for students to do?

·Does the unit cover the same scope and/or information as the textbook assignments?

How closely do I want them to parallel each other?

·Are my lesson designs varied and interesting?

If planning seems daunting, remember that there is no reason that supervisors, experi-
enced teachers, and beginners should not work together to develop a curriculum. Lesson
and unit planning does not have to be a private, individual experience or a competitive
sport. When teachers work together, old-timers benefit from new insights and perspectives,
and rookies do not have to discover every document for themselves and reinvent every
teaching strategy. At a minimum, new teachers should not be afraid to borrow. That is why
they invented the copying machine.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION—ADVANCED PLANNING

Questions to Consider:

1. Describe a non-teaching activity in which you have learned to plan in advance.
   2.What are the crucial aspects you focused on in your advanced planning for this activ-
   ity?

SECTION B: WHAT ARE TEACHING STRATEGIES?

There are as many possible strategies for teaching as there are for many other human activi-
ties. A football coach has to decide whether to emphasize the team’s ground game or pass-
ing attack, taking into consideration the team’s strengths and their opponent’s weaknesses.
When you go holiday shopping, you have to decide whether you want to visit a department
store or specialty shop at the mall or perhaps go catalogue hunting or search for that elu-
sive gift on the Internet. You weigh the trauma of traffic congestion versus the benefit of see-
ing products first hand.
For teachers, a key aspect of planning is deciding which approach or approaches are best
suited for presenting a given subject to a specific groups of students. Teaching is not an ab-
stract activity. It requires that teachers connect with adolescents who are not necessarily in-
terested in making the connection. A chess champion or a football coach always goes into a
match with a strategy, but the plan has to be flexible so the contestant can respond to an op-
ponent. The need to be flexible and to respond to students is one of the things that makes it
hard to discuss and plan hypothetical lessons. But every coach will tell you that you need
practice, so in this section, let us try.
When I examine sample lesson plans prepared by preservice teachers in my methods
classes, they often contain a phrase such as: “Students will discuss blah, blah blah and yada,
yada, yada.” In the margins, I always write “HWTK?” How Will They Know? What have you
presented to the class that makes it possible for them to discuss this topic?
As you decide on teaching strategies, you always need to consider two things: (a) How
will students know? (b) What will students do?

66 CHAPTER 3