Teachers Use Summer to Plan Ahead
Keep Reflection Journal and Learn New Skills to Create Lessons
May 5, 2008
Another school year has whizzed by, leaving many teachers depleted and deserving of a break. Once you’ve recuperated a bit, it’s likely you’ll start planning for the next school year. Here are some ways to improve your teaching style. If you’ve been teaching for less than five years, these tips may prove especially useful.
Use a Reflection Journal to Plan for Next Year
Ideally, teachers would maintain a reflection journal describing their daily teaching experiences. In the rush and bustle of a hectic school year, however, this is difficult. Summer vacation is a perfect time to review your lesson plans, course objectives and syllabi in search of ways to improve for next year. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Which lessons were wildly successful?
- Which flopped?
- How can you incorporate learning activities to replace a lecture format?
- How can you function more as a facilitator for your students?
- How would you like to do things differently next year?
- How can you improve your classroom management techniques?
Enhance Your Technical Knowledge
Are you still shying away from incorporating PowerPoint or streaming video into your class lectures? Kids love technology, so any way you can infuse technology into classroom activities will surely heighten student interest. Consider taking a community school class to rev up your tech savvy. These classes are generally offered at night for six weeks and are very inexpensive. You may even qualify for a teacher discount! Here are some questions to consider about incorporating technology into your teaching:
- Will an Excel spreadsheet make your life easier? Spreadsheets can be used to track students’ grades, aid in lesson planning, and organize teacher-made material.
- Do you want to create a simple webpage for your students to access throughout the year? Webpages don’t need to be elaborate to be effective. Imagine offering your students immediate access to their list of assignments, directions, test dates, and copies of teacher-made study guides not to mention helpful study tips, extra credit projects and recommended reading lists.
- Can Google Calendar help you make your course objectives and homework assignments available to students 24/7? This can serve as a great reminder system for disorganized students or those who are out sick. With Google Calendar, students can view upcoming assignments, tests and important dates at a glance.
Organize and Stockpile Examples for Lesson Plans
Students repeatedly describe their favorite teachers as people who teach by example. Sharing stories from your own life to illustrate important concepts is a fabulous attention-grabber for students of all ages. This summer, gather vignettes and experiences from your life to use as examples for lesson planning. Write them down and find way to categorize them. Ask yourself these questions:
- Are they life lessons?
- Can they be tied to themes you are discussing in class?
- Do they reveal how mathematical or scientific concepts apply in real life?
Sometimes, maintaining student interest is not as difficult as it sounds. Teenagers, for instance, are incredibly social animals and enjoy learning about other people. While a student may be dozing during a lesson on the Shakespearean sonnet, she is likely to perk up when you describe your trip to Venice. She may even ask some questions if you share pictures of your experience riding a gondola through the canals of the ancient city. Students remember the details and tack on an association to learned information.
Using summer vacation days to plan ahead for next school year will ease your stress and make teaching a more enjoyable profession.
