I think I learned how much thought has to go into planning a unit from this experience, and how much room there is for reflection after one is finished. I find myself now thinking, "crap, that would have gone way better if I had done this first, then that," etc. I am now really worried about it because I just found out that we have to put these unit plans in our new Gateway English Portfolios. I also feel that I wasn't really prepared for this assignment, because I have had NO instruction in creating a lesson plan, let alone a unit plan. I don't know about the rest of you, but I kind of felt like the kid who on the first day of swimming lessons is just thrown in the pool and told to swim. I'm definitely not saying that this is anyone's fault, I just think it stems from the confusion and lack of organization in the TEP program period. Anyway I strayed from the point a little. So I feel slightly negative towards the work I completed - I think my central idea was good but the quality of the planning and work may not have been. I definitely see myself revising the plan if I have the opportunity to use it in the future, but I would like to someday do a project with my kids like the one I described in my unit plan.
I was SOOOO stressed to do these lesson plans, mainly because I had never done anything like this before. However, I think I was maybe unnecessarily worried. Once I actually sat down and did them, it was actually pretty easy. I had the ideas up in my head, I just hadn't written them down yet. I also agree with Natalie in that my work could have been a lot better if I had known exactly what I was supposed to do. I did really like the set-up that Livetext allowed for the lesson plans. It made it a lot easier to do, as it had specific tabs just for lesson plans and the like.
On the whole, I feel as if I learned a lot from this experience. I also feel that I could have done a lot better. But, I usually feel like that about every assignment...character trait :)
I must say that I have never stressed over a homework assignment so much in my life. Of course it is easy to talk about ideas for a unit plan, but once I sat down and began to organize it on paper, I realized how much work being a teacher really is. I always knew it took creativity and organization, but I never realized to what degree. This assignment really opened my eyes and made me appreciate what my teachers do and have done so much more.
I also realized that making a unit plan completely effective is an never ending process. I completed the lessons needed and submitted and then spent the next three days beating myself up about different, more creative ways I could have presented material.
I think what I realized most is that I have a lot of learning to do myself, and I need to have more confidence in myself and my abilities. I guess that's something I'll develop over time and practice.
I feel like I was pretty prepared for composing this unit plan but then I've had to do about 4 of them already for my MAT classes. If I hadn't been asked to do one already I may have felt stressed. I'm actually surprised you all haven't had to do one yet for any of your classes. I've always done thematic units based on a cooperative lesson or a bare bones unit plan revolving around say a certain genre. I thought it was good to do a "writing" unit plan that I feel like I can keep using and incorporating into other units.
To do all those specific lesson plans was a bit off subject of the direction that I wanted to follow but that is the way things go. It was actually easier to follow that stricter format that way the direction was already defined for you. I must be honest and say I was not happy with the lessons overall. They could be used as spring board ideas to develop more in depth lesson plans later on.
Yikes! The Unit Plans about drove me crazy. I really enjoyed the intenisty of the process! NOT! lol... okay it wasn't really that bad. I know that I def. learned a lot about creating them. The only real bummer was the extremely long drawn out format. I would rather incorportae a lesson on more one paged chart format-- but hey... It was a verb benefical project that will help me in the long run.
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I think I learned how much thought has to go into planning a unit from this experience, and how much room there is for reflection after one is finished. I find myself now thinking, "crap, that would have gone way better if I had done this first, then that," etc. I am now really worried about it because I just found out that we have to put these unit plans in our new Gateway English Portfolios. I also feel that I wasn't really prepared for this assignment, because I have had NO instruction in creating a lesson plan, let alone a unit plan. I don't know about the rest of you, but I kind of felt like the kid who on the first day of swimming lessons is just thrown in the pool and told to swim. I'm definitely not saying that this is anyone's fault, I just think it stems from the confusion and lack of organization in the TEP program period. Anyway I strayed from the point a little. So I feel slightly negative towards the work I completed - I think my central idea was good but the quality of the planning and work may not have been. I definitely see myself revising the plan if I have the opportunity to use it in the future, but I would like to someday do a project with my kids like the one I described in my unit plan.
I was SOOOO stressed to do these lesson plans, mainly because I had never done anything like this before. However, I think I was maybe unnecessarily worried. Once I actually sat down and did them, it was actually pretty easy. I had the ideas up in my head, I just hadn't written them down yet.
I also agree with Natalie in that my work could have been a lot better if I had known exactly what I was supposed to do.
I did really like the set-up that Livetext allowed for the lesson plans. It made it a lot easier to do, as it had specific tabs just for lesson plans and the like.
On the whole, I feel as if I learned a lot from this experience. I also feel that I could have done a lot better. But, I usually feel like that about every assignment...character trait :)
I must say that I have never stressed over a homework assignment so much in my life. Of course it is easy to talk about ideas for a unit plan, but once I sat down and began to organize it on paper, I realized how much work being a teacher really is. I always knew it took creativity and organization, but I never realized to what degree. This assignment really opened my eyes and made me appreciate what my teachers do and have done so much more.
I also realized that making a unit plan completely effective is an never ending process. I completed the lessons needed and submitted and then spent the next three days beating myself up about different, more creative ways I could have presented material.
I think what I realized most is that I have a lot of learning to do myself, and I need to have more confidence in myself and my abilities. I guess that's something I'll develop over time and practice.
ps- sorry i posted mine 3 times and then deleted it...my internet is not of the highest quality :)
I feel like I was pretty prepared for composing this unit plan but then I've had to do about 4 of them already for my MAT classes.
If I hadn't been asked to do one already I may have felt stressed. I'm actually surprised you all haven't had to do one yet for any of your classes.
I've always done thematic units based on a cooperative lesson or a bare bones unit plan revolving around say a certain genre. I thought it was good to do a "writing" unit plan that I feel like I can keep using and incorporating into other units.
To do all those specific lesson plans was a bit off subject of the direction that I wanted to follow but that is the way things go. It was actually easier to follow that stricter format that way the direction was already defined for you. I must be honest and say I was not happy with the lessons overall. They could be used as spring board ideas to develop more in depth lesson plans later on.
Yikes! The Unit Plans about drove me crazy. I really enjoyed the intenisty of the process! NOT! lol... okay it wasn't really that bad. I know that I def. learned a lot about creating them. The only real bummer was the extremely long drawn out format. I would rather incorportae a lesson on more one paged chart format-- but hey... It was a verb benefical project that will help me in the long run.
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