Guide to teacher planning

Quick guide

You can adopt a planning process that suits your style.

The following approaches may be used:

Use current planning methods:

· Continue with your current planning methods. The Curriculum Organiser is uses as a resource.

· Import personal documents into the menu tree and combine them with CO documents

Use the curriculum organiser

· Select CO planning documents. Highlight and annotate to suit the class.

· Change, adapt, modify existing documents. (Click ‘open’)

· Create own documents using the CO documents or planning formats.

Use internet lesson plans

· Select an annotated website that has appropriate lesson plans.

· Save them to ‘My planning documents’. (Red folder)

· Import them to CO.

Hyperlinking

· Prepare a weekly timetable using the proforma

· Hyperlink to planning documents.

Central Document Set

· When schools have established a pool of documents through Central Document Sets – plans can be chosen from the pool.

Overview to Planning - Using the Curriculum Organiser

The Curriculum Organiser supports teachers through the cycle of:

· Planning

· Teaching

· Assessment

· Recording

· Evaluation

· Planning

Guiding questions for the teacher: Teachers answer the following questions when planning:

· For whom? Phase of development, needs, interests, capability of student.

· Why? Outcomes to be attained

· What? Content, Context, Scope.

· When? Developmental order - Sequence

· How? Strategies

· With what? Resources

· So what? Assessment

· How well? Criteria – evidence for evaluation

Structure of the Curriculum Organiser:

The questions above are addressed through interrelated documents in four layers:

1. System Layer: Progress maps - Outcomes -
2. School Layer: Scope and sequence charts.
3. Teacher Layer: Teacher Planners, Units of work, Graphic Organisers.
4. Student Layer: All documents can be adapted to suit students.

1. System Layer: Progress maps and Monitoring progress documents

Used for: Planning – Monitoring – Communication – Accountability..

2. School Layer: Scope and Sequence

Used for: A comprehensive, coherent, developmental, integrated school plan. No gaps

3. Teacher Layer: Teacher planners / Units of work

Used for: Programs and lesson plans. With student learning activities. Resources.

4. Student Layer: Negotiated curriculum

Used by: Adapting all documents above to suit students.

Planning: Use of the Curriculum Organiser

The Curriculum Organiser is designed to suit teachers at different stages of their career:

· beginning teachers,

· experienced teachers, and

· interested curriculum developers.

1. Teacher’s Starter Kit - The Safety Net

A beginning teacher may use some of the existing planning documents in the following ways.

Programming by highlighter:

· Highlight the ‘Outcomes’ that are appropriate to the unit.

· Highlight and use some or all of the Dynamic Strategies provided.

· Annotate any sections to include your ideas/modifications.

· Allocate lesson times for sections.

· After the work is completed, record by underlining or colour coding.

2. Adapting existing documents

Commence with Graphic Organisers

· Use a Graphic Organiser provided as a basis for planning.

· Modify to suit a new topic e.g. change the topic ‘Animals’ to ‘Birds’.

Use an Integrated Unit of Work

· Select a relevant Integrated Unit from the Menu Tree.

· Create your own personal document – by clicking ‘Open’

· Select the sections to be retained.

· Delete the sections not required.

· Type in your ideas.

· Close – save – name.

3. Creating new Planning Documents

Experienced teachers may like to create their own documents or include their own previously prepared planning materials in the Curriculum Organiser formats.

· From the Contents Tree, select an Integrated Unit or a Learning Area Unit that is related to your chosen topic.

· Retain the system information i.e. Outcomes.

· Delete all other information.

· Copy and paste information from your previously prepared planning documents into the chosen Planner format, or,

· Type in your new ideas in the relevant columns.

4. Importing previously prepared plans

It is not necessary to use the formats provided. Your current planning formats/documents can be imported into the Curriculum Organiser Menu Tree, provided they are created in Microsoft Word.

Connecting the components

Connecting the Scope and Sequence and Learning Area Units

· The Scope and Sequence is the overview learning plan for a learning area i.e. what, when.

· The Learning Area Units are linked to the relevant Scope and Sequence Chart through the ‘Context’ box.

· A direct link is or can be provided through hyperlinking.

· Note: Any blue underlined word/s you find in these documents can be clicked on, and they should link to the relevant document.

Connecting Assessment and Outcomes

Teachers are required to demonstrate that Outcomes have been addressed.

· This can be shown simply by using colouring techniques to show how a learning activity and assessment contributed to an outcome. Colour the cell or the font or the background text in the assessment column and use the same colour to show the link to the outcome.

· Overarching outcomes at the top of the Learning Area planners could be highlighted to show that they were addressed during the current unit.

Combining programs and lesson plans

The Learning Area Unit Planners can be used as programs and lesson plans.

· Program page: The first page, containing the system requirements, Context, and half a page of Knowledge, Skills, Dynamic Strategies and Assessment, can be used to provide the overview of the program.

· Lesson plans page: The second full page of Knowledge, Skills, Dynamic Strategies and Assessment could be used as lesson plans. The existing activities could be numbered to show the lesson sequence. Annotations could be added to give the lesson plans greater structure.

· Alternatively they can be combined. Lessons can be shown by numbering the activities.

Easing into the Curriculum Organiser

Process for easing into the Curriculum Organiser

It will take time to understand how you can use the CO to suit you.

Process:

First it is useful to understand:

· What is the document?

· How is it used?

Examine each document

· Examine each document e.g. the Scope and Sequence.

What is the document? What is its purpose? How will you use it?

· Begin with documents you feel comfortable using e.g. ‘Graphic Organisers’. Produce a graphic organiser. Place it at the beginning of the file. Use the other file documents as a resource.

Begin with one learning area

· Ease into the planning by using one learning area at a time. The easier formats to begin with are those with content strands i.e. Mathematics, Science and Society and Environment.

Planning

Individual approaches

Teachers plan differently, and each person will make their own decisions about how the various documents in each of the layers will be used. Teachers may start with the ‘system layer’ - outcomes but the research has shown that teachers start at different points. However eventually all layers and planning questions are addressed.

SYSTEM LAYER DOCUMENTS

Planning using the ‘Overview Outcomes’ (Progress Map): This condensed one-page document can be used for the following functions:

Planning function

· Pre-Planning: At the beginning of the term, highlight the cells to indicate the outcomes you plan to address with your class.

· Post-Planning: At the end of the term, indicate the outcomes achieved by colouring the font.

Communication/accountability function

· The ‘Progress Map’ is used at the beginning of the term to set goals and at the end of the term/semester to monitor progress.

· The method is simple:

colour code (e.g. colour by term eg Term 1 Yellow Term 2 Green Term 3 Blue Term 4 Red

· The coloured progress maps can be used to show progress and demonstrate accountability.

School Layer Documents

School Coordination of the Learning Program

The school is responsible for deciding ‘what to teach and when’.

There are two documents that could be used to coordinate the school program:

1. Unit / Term Matrix
2. Scope and Sequence

1. Unit / Term Matrix

· See the sample matrix: Units selected for each Year and each Term

· Reproduce this matrix. This may be for 1-4 years.

· Teachers identify the chosen units for each term.

· Consolidate the decisions to produce a ‘whole of school’ matrix

2. Scope and Sequence

Scope and Sequence charts assist schools to provide a coordinated learning program between years and over the years. They assist in:

· Providing a comprehensive learning program - without gaps or blind spots.

· Avoiding duplication and repetition of topics.

· Providing developmental programs that build on previous years.

· Ensuring a whole-of-school approach.

Planning methods

· Scope and Sequence charts can be developed at the:

- Beginning of the year

- During the year

- End of the year

Beginning of the year

· Examine an existing Scope and Sequence. Select topics/activities you intend covering and highlight them. Add additional topics; or

· Use the sample Scope and Sequence template to prepare a school-based version.

During the year

· As programs are negotiated with students, new topics can be added

End of the year

· Teachers may like to use the blank Scope and Sequence template to record topics taught during the year. This post-programming method provides a record of the learning program. It can then be used as a basis for planning in the following year.

Systematic approach to developing Scope and Sequence Charts

· Select an Outcomes Strand or Key Content Area.

· Use an A3 sheet of paper to record the following:

Outcomes.

Core content - building blocks of the subject discipline.

Meaningful contexts.

Student interests.

Issues, problems and challenges.

Local conditions relevant to the topic.

Teacher Layer Documents

Planning using the Teacher Planners

There are three main planning documents:

1. Graphic Organisers – providing a visual overview.

2. Integrated Units of Work – combining a number of learning areas.

3. Learning Area Units of work relating to a learning area/strand.

Teacher Planners: All the necessary information is provided on one page to answer the questions:

· Why?

· What?

· How?

· With what?

· So what?

· How well?

Structure of Learning Area Planners: The page is divided into three main parts:

· System requirements – in the shaded sections.

· Teacher planning – in the white sections (bottom half of the page).

· Context/Content (which connects to the Scope and Sequence) –top middle section.

The system requirements include: Generic outcomes and learning area outcomes.

The teacher planning component includes: knowledge, skills, dynamic strategies and assessment. Also available annotated websites and hyperlinked learning activities.

Dynamic Strategies

The Dynamic Strategies are based on a model for learning which naturally leads to an outcomes approach to teaching and learning. It is consistent with ‘productive pedagogies’.

Planning Process

· Use the existing planners and adapt or modify them to suit the chosen learning program.

· Select an existing Teacher Planner. Delete all existing information apart from the system requirements to create a blank format.

· Type in your own learning program – learning activities.

· Dynamic Strategies are based on the model for learning – using the six stages.

· Determine the ‘Knowledge’ that underpins this learning.

· Identify the necessary Skills required to undertake these activities.

· Assessment criteria are obtained from the learning activities. Copy the parts of the Dynamic Strategies that require students to ‘demonstrate outcomes’, and paste them into the Assessment column. These are then the ‘formative assessments’

Explanation of Dynamic Strategies

· Dynamic Strategies are authentic experiences, for real audiences, related to outcomes.

· The learning process is based on a model for learning which recognises the six stages of learning.

Motivation/Negotiation: Engaging the learner. Setting goals. Negotiating the curriculum.

Input: Sources of information or experience.

Clarification: Using talk and writing to come to a personal understanding.