Interviews with
Mentor Teachers
Disclaimer: I did these interviews in person and then had the
teachers transcribe their answers to me (as best as possible) in email to make
it easier to have the information at hand. As a result, I will have my full
interviews below and my summaries as well.
Steven Zimmerman (English Teacher)
1. How long beforehand do you plan a lesson?
The first year I was planning a couple days in advance. I didn't want to
plan too much ahead because your schedule can get blown really quickly in a
thousand different ways, so if you plan too far ahead it just ends up needing
to be redone over and over. For subsequent years, I already had a good idea for
75% of the lessons I wanted to do throughout the year, so I could easily take
the old lessons and modify/expand them for the current group of students. Once
again, I would plan them out a few days in advance. In general, it’s a good
idea to know what your week will consist of before you walk in the door on
Monday.
2. What is your "process" of determining what needs to be
expressed through the lesson?
When first creating lessons, I try to hit a few of
the standards and make sure there is a logical flow with previous units and
future units. If lessons jump all over the place, then kids have trouble
remembering previous information. I try to break each subject down into 8 units
(2 per quarter), and from there break it down into component lessons. But it
really depends on the subject.
3. What determines what materials and knowledge are presented in the
lesson and what are not?
It is highly dependent of the group of students. Some years I would have
students grasp lessons very quickly, so I didn't need to go into too much depth
or drill a point home through repetition. Other years, the lesson seems to be
written in Greek and the kids just don't get it. In those cases, you need to
rework it or change it or come up with an entirely new lesson taught in a new
way in order to reach the kids that aren't getting it. The more detailed the
lesson is, the longer it takes to plan. Because of that, I found my lessons in
later years to be much more complex because I could build on them each year
with what time I had. It helped already having the base of the lesson.
4. How long does it take you to plan a lesson?
It can vary widely. For simple things like vocab,
it can be very quick and easy to plan a lesson. For more complex topics,
especially when discussing literature being read in or out of class, it can
take hours. But once again, having the framework from previous school years to
build upon is a big help and a big time saver.
5. Do you already have specific activities planned or do you get
creative upon having to cover the material? Planned ahead homework assignments
or other assessments?
Most of it is pre-planned, but it is always a good
idea to have a collection of "in case of emergency" activities to do
in case the lesson ends up being much shorter than you anticipated. Also, if
you teach the same class to multiple groups, some groups finish quicker than
others. In those cases, you need to get creative with your remaining class
time. Likewise, I usually planned out homework in advance, but sometimes we did
classwork that the students did not finish in time, and it became homework.
6. Do you use a template? Why or why not?
For creating the actual lesson plans, no, because
our school did not collect them. But there are templates available for our
teachers to use for those that just like to be organized that way. I think
templates are a good idea overall as long as filling out the lesson plan
doesn't turn into a 5 hour drag that takes away from the teacher's teaching or
planning time. Paperwork should be quick and painless.
7. What do you think makes your lesson applicable and relevant to
students?
Grammar is hard because they'll often just ask you
"Why do I need to study this? I already speak English." I try to show
them it is applicable by (1) referencing when they would need to have good
grammar (job interviews, which career paths, writing for publication, etc.),
(2) Showing them examples of real-life stories involving improper English
(especially with humor, such as someone with a protest sign with incorrect grammar
or spelling error), (3) Including students in my tests and quizzes (this
doesn't necessarily make it relevant, but it does increase their interest and
investment in assessments when the quiz includes a story about them)
8. Technology, yes or no or always or never?
For ELA, technology is good for writing papers,
conducting internet research, creating flash card decks or pop quiz games, and
for looking up vocabulary in dictionaries and thesauruses. I try to keep it
50/50, however, because it is also important that students learn to use good
handwriting, learn how to spell properly without a spell check, and recognize
and/or write cursive.
9. What makes a lesson good?
If the kids enjoy it and remember it. It is hard to get both at once,
but it is really rewarding when you see them several years later and they
mention to you "That time we talked about X, Y, or Z in class".
10. What is your favorite lesson and why?
I would make up my own vocabulary lists once we
finished our vocabulary book. One of the lists was based on German loan words
and included "schadenfreude." That was a riot every year because 6th
grade kids thought it was just the greatest word in the world. They would tell
the funniest stories and they would ALWAYS remember that word for years and
years afterwards.
Jillian Tarkany (French Teacher)
1. How long beforehand do you plan a lesson?
That depends. I prefer to have everything in
order at least the afternoon before, but sometimes it happens the morning of if
there's a lot going on. Sometimes I'll sort of sketch out vague lessons
at the beginning of the chapter or make a list of things to cover for the week,
and that list gradually morphs into specific lesson plans.
2. What is your "process" of determining
what needs to be expressed through the lesson?
Since I already know my goals for the unit, this is
usually just a matter of thinking of what 1 or maybe 2 things can and should be
covered that day.
3. What determines what materials and knowledge are
presented in the lesson and what are not?
Again, it mostly has to do with the unit as a
whole. In French 2 and 3, those units are the textbook units normally,
with maybe a little bit of adaptation. In French 4 and AP, because I am
preparing them for advanced real-life communication, the textbook units seem
very artificial, so I create my own units. Sometimes those units are
concepts in francophone culture (the deportation of Jews in France, creole
music in the Caribbean and Louisiana, Marie Antoinette), sometimes they are
themes that are just important to be able to talk about (family-children
relationships, the environment, cooking). Those topics are all broken
down into small components and from there it's just a matter of what I can fit
into 45 minutes.
4. How long does it take you to plan a lesson?
If it's from a textbook and course that I've taught from for 2 years or
more, than it can take just a few minutes.
If it's something newish but I have taught something similar or already
have materials for it, it can take 10-20 minutes.
If it's something I'm teaching for the first time
and I don't already have any materials for it, I expect it to take at least an
hour.
5. Do you already have specific activities planned
or do you get creative upon having to cover the material? Planned ahead
homework assignments or other assessments?
I LOVE when I have the chance to get creative about it but that depends
on the amount of time I have and what else is going on. If it's the end
of the quarter, I'm sorry, but grading is taking precedence and lessons will be
much less creative. But if I have the time, I love to create something
new. My favorite is to teach through media, so if I can find a pop song
or news story or image or poem or whatever from a francophone source then I can
build on that it the students really prefer that to the textbook or
worksheets.
In class, to assess along the way, I ask questions
to the class at every step. Sometimes I call on volunteers, but I also
have a stack of note cards with each student's name on them so I can call them
randomly. I love this because the students all know that they can be
asked anything at any time. When I use the cards, I don't accept "I
don't know" as an answer. I'll help the student get there by giving
hints or re-explaining or giving them time to look it up, but I think it's
really important that every single person is accountable for the information.
This is tough at first and feels like a lot of time is wasted, but a few weeks
into the school year, they are all used to the process and I really think it
makes them pay attention and push themselves more.
I give very little homework and it's usually basic grammar practice that
I check only for completion and go over by having the students write their
answers on the board or read out loud.
I give difficult quizzes frequently but it's not a
large percentage of the final grade. In levels 2, 3, and 4 I give a test
around every 3 weeks. In AP I give a quiz each Wednesday and a
test each Friday because there is so much to cover. Their
quizzes are also very difficult but they can use their notes.
6. Do you use a template? Why or why not?
Every year I plan to do this and never do! I
don't think I'm a template person. The way I write lessons is I have them
in a binder on loose-leaf paper, usually labeled by the day of the week.
After that, the information is listed on how it comes to me instead of how it's
listed for other lessons. For me, this makes it easier to put the most
important reminders first.
7. What do you think makes your lesson applicable
and relevant to students?
With teaching a foreign language, this is easy! I teach what they
will actually use when they go to France of another Francophone country!
Like I said, I use as much media as possible. I try to use very current
media, but even if it's not, it's still authentic.
We also talk a lot about what's going on in our lives. Every Monday,
we chat for however long the class wants to, in French only, about the
weekend. I also like to every once in a while make a worksheet about
Despicable Me or Taylor Swift or something else in pop culture.
The funny thing is, sometimes when it's more
real-life, the students don't do as well on it because they are used to lessons
being very systematic and basic. For example, I have one worksheet where
you have to answer questions about Batman using a new grammar structure.
Even though the grammar you use is incredibly basic, they have a hard time with
it because they want to just be able to copy a model and fill in the new words
instead of actually thinking about the answer. Some students say they
would rather have a fill-in-the-blank activity instead of one where you have to
come up with ten sentences yourself, even if it's on a topic they like. A
lot of students just want to get the work done and get the good grade instead
of learning how to use the information in a more real-life way. But for
me, I know that the latter is more important and do my best to show the
students why it should be our priority.
8. Technology, yes or no or always or never?
Sometimes =) In a foreign language class,
it's all about communication. Face-to-face communication is still important,
so a lot of my class is us talking to each other. But technology is great
for presenting information and showing media.
9. What makes a lesson good?
It's good when the students are engaged and
interested AND they also get information that they can put to use. For
this to happen, it needs to be somewhat predictable, so they can follow it, but
at the same time not monotonous. A lot of students will ask "When
are we ever going to use this???" so we need to be pre-emptive in showing
them from the very beginning of the lesson a believable way in which they will
use this. A good lesson needs to be at a good pace, which is hard to
have, especially in a big class. It needs to include visual and auditory
presentations and assessments.
10. What is your favorite lesson and why?
Oh I have so many favorites!!! I'll give you 2--one from
lower-level and one from upper level.
For lower-level, the one that comes to mind first
is an introduction to 2 relative pronouns. I love it because it's so hard
but my students get it really quickly. Instead of starting it by
presenting the relative pronouns, I give them sentences (in French) that
have relative pronouns in them but they have to fill in a blank with a
noun. I make the sentences extremely basic at first but then they get
more complicated, and I make them as realistic as possible.
Here are some examples, translated into English.
A class at school that I like is ______.
A channel on TV that is boring is ______.
A food I eat a lot is ______.
_______ is movie that I've seen more than 20 times.
_______ is the best-looking actor/actress.
First I call on students to read their answers. Then we go back
and translate all the sentences to make sure we all know what they all
mean. We go through this process with both relative pronouns. Then
I explain that "that" is a relative pronoun and have them write that
down. Then they have to underline "that" in every
sentence. Then I'm able to explain it deeper, compare the two pronouns,
and do practice sentences that require them to choose the relative
pronoun. It works because the students can see how relative pronouns are
useful in real-life, they have a list of relevant examples to consult, and it's
been broken down in an extremely basic way.
For upper-level, my lessons are not so much
presenting grammar and vocabulary explicitly, but are about
communication. Something I do a lot is present news videos from
Euronews.com. Usually I show the students the topic and ask them what
they already know about it (in French, or in English if I do this for lower
levels). Then we watch and listen to the video and ask them what they saw
and heard. Then I give them a transcript of the article with blanks and
they listen 4 times and complete the blanks. Then we go over it and translate
or re-phrase parts of the most important parts. Then we answer
short-answer questions about it. This usually takes up a class period,
and the next day we'll go more in-depth with it and maybe analyze the point of
view or compare it to another article on the same topic or have them write
sentences with certain words/structures in the article or do more listening
practice with it. (This can be done in lower-levels too, but you have to
choose an article on a topic they already know about, make the fill-in-the
blank section only a short excerpt or only like 5 easy blanks, and emphasize
that you don't have to understand every detail in order to get the basic gist
of the report.)
Summary and Reflection:
Both Steven and
Jillian are fairly experienced teachers. Each have been in the field for about
a decade, which compared to my measly two (almost three!) years seems like a
lot longer. They are also close friends of mine, and incidentally, when I am
having an issue related to school or parents or kids, I will give either, or
both, a shout. I also believe that a good deal of my lack of planning after the
first year has to do with the fact that neither of them planned a ton after
their first years. Both know their material and the standards/objectives that
need to be taught, and as result, they already have planned internally how to
handle the lessons.
From these
interviews, I figured out that I have adapted a good deal of my “lesson
planning” from these two teachers. I plan way far in advance by breaking down
the units into quarters and semesters. I have a general idea of what needs to
be accomplished by a certain time, and I throw together the week’s timeline of
events either the Monday before or the Sunday afterwards. We all tend to become
comfortable with what we have used because so far it has worked with pretty
good results from our students academically and socially. We all also tend to
lean towards thinking outside of the box when it comes to activities and
education because it makes the lessons more memorable for the students. Teaching
is supposed to be about getting the students to respond to the material being
introduced in class, and making it relevant sparks interest and intrigue,
allowing students to actually be invested in the lessons. Discussion is a huge
forum for student involvement, and I think that I have stolen that from Steven
and Jillian.
Sometimes I kind
of wish I did more lesson planning that was done bit by bit, and I realize that
is the entire purpose of this module unit, but in the same movement, I wouldn’t
change the way I do things either. I like being able to be understand the
concept of a lesson plan and a template, but in all reality, isn’t a lesson
template just a compilation of objectives, standards, assignments, and assessments?
There really is no one unique template that is correct for every teacher on the
face of the planet. I honestly think that there is no right way to lesson plan
if you come out with the same results of having the lesson broken down and
prepared for your class. I’d like to think that as long as my students were
absorbing the material and then able to use it in classroom assessments or
outside of the classroom, and enjoy it, then I have done my job correctly.
True, there will a person telling me I’m not doing it the “right way” or the
“Common Core way” or in the school template, but if I’m getting the results,
then I think my “template” is pretty okay.
