Jeff Sapp

Okay.  By now you’ve been introduced to the Official CSUDH TED Lesson Plan Template.  You’ve read through it, you’ve look at the green key concepts, and you’ve read a model I wrote on civil disobedience.  And, hopefully, you got just a little inspired to give a crack at this lesson plan thingy.

One thing is that you don’t have to do this lesson plan sequentially going from the top to the bottom.  Nah.  Most teachers jump around and fill it in piece by piece in whatever order floats their boats.  A LOT of teachers do what is known as BACKWARDS DESIGN.  Please read this great article on why that is an important approach to learning - Backward Design:  The Basics by Jennifer Gonzalez.

Do what feels right to you, but most of us use backward design because we want to make sure that we have a definable learning outcome before we even begin.

I also want to mention that you can start from scratch, or you can beg-borrow-and-steal as well.  You can search the Internet and find all kinds of great ideas, amazing work that some other nerd has already done on the topic you want to teach, and find all kinds of things to get you excited and started.  Don’t be afraid to grab pieces that make sense to you from others, because teachers are just great at sharing and doing that very thing.

Here are some other things you’ll want to know and explore as you begin this lesson plan draft.

I’m going to say “draft” again.  DRAFT.  Don’t panic.  It’s a draft.  Don’t fret.  It’s a draft.  Don’t freak out.  It’s a draft.  Don’t worry.  It’s a draft.  Your goal is simply to hand in your strongest DRAFT to me for the final assignment you’ll email me in Week 6.  That draft, then, will be nauced as you go from class to class to class.  

Familarize yourself with the Teacher Performance Expectations - or TPEs - which guide instruction in the great state of California. Do read over the TPEs (Teacher Performance Expectations) as you’ll hear lots about them during your credential program.  

The first thing in your lesson plan is to identify which CA state Standards you are going to teach.  You can locate the Standards right here:  https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/.  

Here is a little bit more help in regards to writing learning objectives.

To be blunt with you, what new teachers get horribly wrong about lesson planning are basically two things.  First, folks usually write HALF an objective and not the WHOLE objective.  So I developed what I call little “cheat sheets” for you to have with you as you lesson plan.  The first one is this ABCD color-coded way to write learning objectives.  Easy-peasy!  Just print it out and keep it in a folder you title “My Lesson Planning Folder”.  Use this to guide your writing of learning/behavioral objectives.  This is important.

Here it is:  The color-coded handout on Learning Objectives - the A.B.C.D. Method

The second thing folks get wrong are accommodations.  I always joke that I think this is the case because they are LAST on most lesson plans!  Here are GENERAL accommodations you can copy-and-paste into your lesson plan as you see fit.  Of course, when you are student teaching and IN an actual classroom, you’ll have access to children’s IEPs (Individual Education Plans) and you’ll know specifically what THAT child needs.

Now.  General is fine.

Later.  Accommodations will be very specific based on the children you know by name.

Here it is:  Accommodations.  This is absolutely where you will get more and more nuance as you go through the credential program.  I mean, for instance, you also probably have TED 507 this semester and you will learn tons of amazing things about language in that course.

That is a LOT of information and I appreciate you sticking with me on this.  Keep working on your lesson plan.  And please reach out through email at jsapp@csudh.edu if you need help or guidance.