Long-Range Planning

The year plan. I'd heard of the need for one, but thus far, nobody had directly addressed this issue. Happily, Jackie saw fit to include it in her Professional Teacher course ...

The year plan is really quite a huge undertaking. Each of the curricular areas would have to be scrutinized, outcomes identified, themes chosen. The more that these areas are integrated together, the better. It sounds like a daunting task - though for me, it'd be more accurately described as a giant puzzle. This sounds like such fun! I really love digging into projects like this, and making it all work out. The worst of it is that I won't need to make a year plan for another year & a half, probably. )o: I suppose I could recreationally year plan in the meantime.

One huge advantage to having a coherent long-range plan is that, since you'd be teaching already knowing what's coming next, it would be easy to build into each unit, what will become the "assessment for" learning - to ensure that the kids have some sort of base, on which to build their new learning. Rather than relying on chance that the kids will have some knowledge of a new area in their schemas, you are in a position to guarantee it. And how much better would it be, when kids head into a new theme feeling confident because they already know a little bit?

There were some surprises today. I had no idea that MB Education set standards for how much of a day's time was allotted to each subject area, for instance. Reviewing their requirements, I could see that it would not be difficult to get in all the ELA time that you're ideally supposed to make happen. Some of the other areas, however, I am not so sure about.

I think this is where integration will really be advantageous. If I have only half an hour each for social studies and art, I can see feeling very limited. However - make a joint art-social studies project, and voila, one hour serves both areas, and you (and your kids) can feel so much more immersed in the subject. Integration of the various subject areas is really important, and not just from a practical standpoint. In "real world" learning, we always learn in an integrated fashion, not separating our learning into its component parts.

My hidden agenda? I'm so enamoured with the integrated arts program that my kids are fortunate enough to enjoy, I am eager to apply some of those principles when I have my own classroom. Generally I think it's really beneficial to nurture creativity in children - it encourages broader and deeper thinking, celebrates individuality, offers opportunities to learn in a social and accepting environment. It is difficult to be a linear thinker and an artist at once.

So when I look at the gargantuan task of long-range planning, I see how it offers so many opportunities to help the teacher prioritize and achieve her goals. I say, "Bring it on!"