5 ms·

The teachers I know do reuse their lesson plans when they teach the same class. One of the biggest values of seniority is being able to teach the same class eve

by coryrc 5y ago

The teachers I know do reuse their lesson plans when they teach the same class. One of the biggest values of seniority is being able to teach the same class every year. Why they don't standardize has everything to do with the kind of people who become teachers and what they want to be doing with their time.

WalterBright 5y ago
> The teachers I know do reuse their lesson plans when they teach the same class. Of course they do. I knew I was being buffaloed. Though the point stands that why don't they share lesson plans? Why do we need 3.7 million unique lesson plans? There ought to be plenty of off-the-shelf plans to use.
- coryrc 5y ago
  The teachers I know do start with standard lesson plans, but for reasons I don't understand they feel the need to customize them.
  - caboteria 5y ago
    NIH is a powerful sentiment in many areas, not just tech.
    - chris_wot 5y ago
      Or perhaps every classroom is filled with unique individuals with differing learning needs?
      - WalterBright 5y ago
        How can they develop unique lesson plans the summer before they know which students they get?
        burkaman 5y ago
        Talk to teachers from the grade below, think about what hasn't worked well in your class the last few years, think about how your school district might differ from that of the lesson plan you're modifying. For example, maybe you need to modify some take home science experiments because your kids tend not to have easy access to the right materials. Or, maybe the elementary school math program is more advanced than average, so as a middle school teacher you need to modify any standard lesson plan so you're not repeating material the kids already know. Or, maybe as a Spanish teacher you need to figure out how to effectively deal with a class where usually half the kids are children of immigrants and already close to fluent. Or, maybe as a history teacher you have an assignment the kids used to love where they make a Facebook profile of a historical figure, but now most kids aren't using Facebook anymore and the assignment isn't really engaging them. Or, maybe your town has some historical sites that you'd like to make field trips to, so you want to add some lessons to give some specific context around them. Or, maybe as a P.E. teacher the gym is being renovated and you're gonna have to work around that. Or, maybe a local private school just closed and you're expecting to get a bunch of its students in your class next year. Or, maybe a lot of your kids can't afford TI-84s but the school FINALLY got funding to purchase enough for the whole class. etc. etc. etc.
        chris_wot 5y ago
        Or perhaps every classroom has a unique teacher who has an individual teaching style?
- mkingston 5y ago
  Curriculum change is relatively frequent in some places. Different classes take to different material at different paces. Different resources are available to different schools and different classrooms (think science experiments). In the UK there are online platforms for purchasing and selling lesson plans. My partner has saved much time purchasing lesson plans from these platforms. They are available. Teachers aren't paid very well in many places and, at least here, funds aren't made specifically available for purchase of lesson plans; teachers spend their own money buying lesson plans. It's easily worth it when there's a second income in your household. Perhaps not in places where teachers are very poorly paid and for those who are on a single income.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    > funds aren't made specifically available for purchase of lesson plans You mean no teachers set up a github repository where they give away lesson plans just to be helpful? Teachers are unable to pool their resources and help each other? "Hey Mr Hand, I'm teaching science for the first time next year. Can I use your lesson plans?" "Sure, Ms Halsey!" Besides, teachers complain a lot about spending all their time devising lesson plans. They might do cost-benefit check on whether they might be way ahead taking a second job, using part of the wages to buy plans, and spend the rest on a vacation.
    - IncRnd 5y ago
      It is amazing how many strawman arguments you are getting, apparently from teachers. You requested clarification on specific items, yet the answers discuss entirely different things. Maybe that is the actual problem with how things are taught.
    - _tom_ 5y ago
      Simply googling would answer many of your questions in thirty seconds. For example, search for by lesson plans and you’ll discover there are many marketplaces for lesson plans. People unfamiliar with problems frequently think they are easy, because they fail to understand the complexity of the problem. A similar question might be “why would you invent a new programming language, when you could just use an existing one?” Answering that question to a non programmer might require hours of explanation and background, and you might find yourself just sighing and saying “never mind”. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a reason, or it was a bad idea. It just means it’s not your job to explain things. Particularly to people who make it clear they have an agenda.
- mattkrause 5y ago
  The reused lesson plans still often need to be updated, either in light of curriculum changes or just because something “didn’t work” (too hard, too easy, messes up a dependency, want to emphasize something else, etc). As for why there aren’t off-the-shelf plans: You might want to adapt the curriculum to the current class of students or the broader community. The College Board does distribute a syllabus for AP US History classes, but it’s deliberately sparse so that teachers can plug in people and events that are “locally valued” (their words, not mine). A class in Alaska might spend more time on Native events and statehood; one in Boston might up the emphasis on the Revolutionary War events that happened nearby; Texas is going to go crazy with the Alamo. This is true for other subjects too. A science class might spend more time on local ecosystems that they can visit. A few of my literature class read a play and then went to see a production of it; that part presumably had to change every year, based on what was being performed nearby. The other reason is that the teachers need to review the lesson plan anyway: no one can remember a thousand hours of material! While doing so, it makes sense to “refactor” them into something that matches your own mental model of the content. Teaching off someone else’s materials feels weird and often goes a little more poorly.
- burkaman 5y ago
  Obviously they do, here's one popular example from the national teachers union: https://sharemylesson.com/about-us https://sharemylesson.com/about-us And of course teachers within any school will generally share whatever they can.

by coryrc 5y ago

WalterBright 5y ago

> The teachers I know do reuse their lesson plans when they teach the same class. Of course they do. I knew I was being buffaloed. Though the point stands that why don't they share lesson plans? Why do we need 3.7 million unique lesson plans? There ought to be plenty of off-the-shelf plans to use.

coryrc 5y ago
The teachers I know do start with standard lesson plans, but for reasons I don't understand they feel the need to customize them.
- caboteria 5y ago
  NIH is a powerful sentiment in many areas, not just tech.
  - chris_wot 5y ago
    Or perhaps every classroom is filled with unique individuals with differing learning needs?
    - WalterBright 5y ago
      How can they develop unique lesson plans the summer before they know which students they get?
      - burkaman 5y ago
        Talk to teachers from the grade below, think about what hasn't worked well in your class the last few years, think about how your school district might differ from that of the lesson plan you're modifying. For example, maybe you need to modify some take home science experiments because your kids tend not to have easy access to the right materials. Or, maybe the elementary school math program is more advanced than average, so as a middle school teacher you need to modify any standard lesson plan so you're not repeating material the kids already know. Or, maybe as a Spanish teacher you need to figure out how to effectively deal with a class where usually half the kids are children of immigrants and already close to fluent. Or, maybe as a history teacher you have an assignment the kids used to love where they make a Facebook profile of a historical figure, but now most kids aren't using Facebook anymore and the assignment isn't really engaging them. Or, maybe your town has some historical sites that you'd like to make field trips to, so you want to add some lessons to give some specific context around them. Or, maybe as a P.E. teacher the gym is being renovated and you're gonna have to work around that. Or, maybe a local private school just closed and you're expecting to get a bunch of its students in your class next year. Or, maybe a lot of your kids can't afford TI-84s but the school FINALLY got funding to purchase enough for the whole class. etc. etc. etc.
      - chris_wot 5y ago
        Or perhaps every classroom has a unique teacher who has an individual teaching style?
mkingston 5y ago
Curriculum change is relatively frequent in some places. Different classes take to different material at different paces. Different resources are available to different schools and different classrooms (think science experiments). In the UK there are online platforms for purchasing and selling lesson plans. My partner has saved much time purchasing lesson plans from these platforms. They are available. Teachers aren't paid very well in many places and, at least here, funds aren't made specifically available for purchase of lesson plans; teachers spend their own money buying lesson plans. It's easily worth it when there's a second income in your household. Perhaps not in places where teachers are very poorly paid and for those who are on a single income.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  > funds aren't made specifically available for purchase of lesson plans You mean no teachers set up a github repository where they give away lesson plans just to be helpful? Teachers are unable to pool their resources and help each other? "Hey Mr Hand, I'm teaching science for the first time next year. Can I use your lesson plans?" "Sure, Ms Halsey!" Besides, teachers complain a lot about spending all their time devising lesson plans. They might do cost-benefit check on whether they might be way ahead taking a second job, using part of the wages to buy plans, and spend the rest on a vacation.
  - IncRnd 5y ago
    It is amazing how many strawman arguments you are getting, apparently from teachers. You requested clarification on specific items, yet the answers discuss entirely different things. Maybe that is the actual problem with how things are taught.
  - _tom_ 5y ago
    Simply googling would answer many of your questions in thirty seconds. For example, search for by lesson plans and you’ll discover there are many marketplaces for lesson plans. People unfamiliar with problems frequently think they are easy, because they fail to understand the complexity of the problem. A similar question might be “why would you invent a new programming language, when you could just use an existing one?” Answering that question to a non programmer might require hours of explanation and background, and you might find yourself just sighing and saying “never mind”. That doesn’t mean you don’t have a reason, or it was a bad idea. It just means it’s not your job to explain things. Particularly to people who make it clear they have an agenda.
mattkrause 5y ago
The reused lesson plans still often need to be updated, either in light of curriculum changes or just because something “didn’t work” (too hard, too easy, messes up a dependency, want to emphasize something else, etc). As for why there aren’t off-the-shelf plans: You might want to adapt the curriculum to the current class of students or the broader community. The College Board does distribute a syllabus for AP US History classes, but it’s deliberately sparse so that teachers can plug in people and events that are “locally valued” (their words, not mine). A class in Alaska might spend more time on Native events and statehood; one in Boston might up the emphasis on the Revolutionary War events that happened nearby; Texas is going to go crazy with the Alamo. This is true for other subjects too. A science class might spend more time on local ecosystems that they can visit. A few of my literature class read a play and then went to see a production of it; that part presumably had to change every year, based on what was being performed nearby. The other reason is that the teachers need to review the lesson plan anyway: no one can remember a thousand hours of material! While doing so, it makes sense to “refactor” them into something that matches your own mental model of the content. Teaching off someone else’s materials feels weird and often goes a little more poorly.
burkaman 5y ago
Obviously they do, here's one popular example from the national teachers union: https://sharemylesson.com/about-us https://sharemylesson.com/about-us And of course teachers within any school will generally share whatever they can.