Have A Curriculum Plan
“But Be Ready to Throw It Out the Window”
This past week, while we 11 month employees had the school building to ourselves, I worked on planning out the curriculum for the upcoming year. We switched to NCCER Core and General Carpentry which will cover two years (Carpentry I and II) so I needed to map out when to teach what.
While I was at the copier, the drafting instructors asked me if I was one of those teachers who planned, made copies, and had everything ready and lined up for the next six months. I laughed and shook my head. Oh no, I’m not that type of teacher.
I travel like I teach. I have a destination in mind with a deadline of when I should get there BUT I’m not afraid to go off the path if there’s potential to see or do something cool. Same thing in the classroom. I have a curriculum goal of covering certain topics for the year but if a side topic comes up with the potential of a good teaching moment, I’m going to take the time to explore it and see where it takes us.
Having a direction is important, even if it’s a general one for your informal class. “If you don't know where you want to go, then it doesn't matter which path you take.” - Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland.
A curriculum plan helps the instructor develop topics and projects that set up the student to learn the skills/techniques in a progressive way to reach an end goal.
In my case at school, our end goal is to prepare students for a career in the carpentry field but because I get so many students without any shop experience, I start off Carpentry I with woodworking and basic shop safety before moving on to teaching basic house framing. And because I have many Carpentry II students who are interested in furniture and cabinet making, I finished off their year with those topics after teaching roofing, interior and exterior work, and stairs to complete the carpentry curriculum requirements.
There are a lot of different topics that I want/need to teach so planning is important for me. I would hate to get to the end of the year and realize that I missed some key topics.
Curriculum planning isn’t always easy to do. The pace of your lessons and projects will be determined by the skill, interest, and endurance of your student. I’ve had lessons and projects both go quicker and take longer than expected. I’ve also had it where some students will finish quicker than the rest of the class which is a great time for those extra, personal projects. For those of you with repeated classes, this will vary between classes too. This past year, my “A Day” class was ahead of my “B Day” class for most of the year so they were able to do a couple of extra projects that the other class didn’t have time for.
Curriculum planning helps them to see the connected lessons and projects and understand the learning progression. Students will pay attention and put more effort into lessons and projects when they know why they’re learning something.
But even with all of this planning, I feel that it’s important to take advantage of student questions, curiosities, and interests. I field a lot of questions that don’t always pertain to the things that we’re learning at that moment. If it’s something small and I view it as “important”, I answer or discuss it right then and then get back to the original lesson. If it’s something bigger, I decide which topic (the one that I had planned for or this new one) is more “important” and then either discuss it or schedule it for a different day. If it’s something that I’m going to teach later, I give a short synopsis or answer and let them know that we’re going to talk about it later. If it’s a student with a personal interest, I’ll get with that student privately and provide some reading material, a website, or book on the subject so they can study it on their own. No matter which way I decide to address it, I try to create an environment where the students feel comfortable about bringing up different topics. Who knows, maybe something they say will turn into part of the curriculum for future classes.
As a side note, I plan out the whole year with the different topics, tools, and projects that I want to teach but I don’t make any copies or material preparation until the week or two prior so I can make necessary adjustments. And yes, there are some teachers who print out notes, assignments, and worksheets for the whole semester and don’t deviate from their curriculum path.
As always, I’m available for any assistance and I welcome your comments on the subject.
A long range plan is always a good thing. It provides the general path to achieve your goals and requirements in the long term.
In my view, short range planning is better left to be done in a shorter period prior to actually teaching that subject.
Why?
I'm glad that you asked!
The short answer is: "'Stuff' happens."
A more detailed answer is: circumstances change, budgets change (sometimes up, or more likely, down), materials availability changes, students have not reached that skill/knowledge level as quickly as anticipated or, better, they have reached it faster than anticipated, there may be a larger or smaller audience, and a myriad of other reasons.
Doing short range planning a short time before teaching the subject allows the instructor to adjust for those factors, and still impart the knowledge and skills to the students, in a way that best fits the circumstances.
Since we both come from a somewhat common instructional background, it's likely that none of this will be new to you, but I make the comments so that other readers may possibly benefit from some of the ideas both here in my comment, and in your blog above.
As always, all the best in prepping for, and perpetrating, your classes: students are fickle creatures, who will *always* keep you on your toes as an instructor. Sometimes they will teach you more than you teach them on that particular day....
(And no, I am not trying to be condescending with my comments, although I can see how someone might take them that way. I am, by nature, a smart a$$ and am prone to dry humour. I try to keep both my instruction and my comments entertaining, as well as informative, thus the injection of sarcastic humor, etc. If you are offended, sorry, but that is how I write and teach; the vast majority of my students enjoy it.)