Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Planning and procrastinating

And this was me, yesterday....








Yes, this is me -- trying to put together some lesson plans! Oh my goodness -- this brain of mine just would not cooperate. 

So after much procrastinating and stopping and starting, and looking for more ideas, and reviewing what I did last year, and ...
I decided to write down all the big things that I want to do in the first couple weeks of school. That's what all those little slips of paper are in that first picture -- books I want to read, math games/activities I want to teach, writing I want them to do that first full week, rules and procedures things I want to cover, etc. 

Then in the second picture -- first I made a rough outline of each day of that week. We don't get our schedules until we go back to school, but I'm thinking it will be a lot like last year's. So I made a spot for math, reading, writing, phonics. {We have to start math the first full week of school -- after only 1 1/2 days with kids -- not that I think that's moving fast or anything!} Then I plugged in my little pieces of paper on different days. I finally, about 5pm last night, got a rough draft of my first full week's lesson plans finished! 

And I realized, once again -- I really am a visual person. I can't see enough of my plans when I'm typing them on the computer to see the whole picture. This silly little way really helped me. 







3 comments:

  1. That is awesome planning!!! Great job. I need to do it...
    Alyce

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, Sara, you're so wise. I just finished reading Rick Morris's book "8 Great Tips" (I can't remember) and Debbie Diller's book about classroom set up. Both quick reads and so helpful, by the way. Anyway, your idea takes both of their books and applies it to lesson plans. You should write a book, too!!! I'll be using your idea next week!
    Ann

    ReplyDelete
  3. The big picture! That's a great place to start. I know it will all come together eventually.

    ReplyDelete