As a second-year emergency certified teacher, it’s refreshing to discover a lesson plan format as detailed and organized as the ASSURE lesson plan. Because emergency certified teachers don’t actually get any real formal training in the field of education, we are often thrown into the job, learning everything about the job on our own.
There are many things that you end up learning on your own: how to record attendance, how to issue admit slips, how to manage your classroom, etc. However, no one ever tells you how to read an IEP report, how to make a syllabus, or how to effectively construct an amazing lesson plan. Those things require much research as well as seeking guidance from teachers who possess years of teaching experience under their belts.
Fortunately, if you’re willing to go the extra mile to learn all these things, you can succeed. The first year may have been difficult, but the mistakes and experiences acquired have shaped me into an ever-improving educator. As I entered my second year of teaching, things became more fluid as I learned how to navigate through the world of teaching. Yet, I am far from knowing everything; I am far from being the best teacher in the world.
Apparently, lesson planning with these strict guidelines isn’t easy. A lot of thought goes into planning the lesson, especially when you have to incorporate technological aspects into your lesson. The assignment does, however, coincide with the NETS*T standards: “Teachers plan and design effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology. Teachers design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners” (NETS*T standards, para 2).
The assignment was something new to me and a bit challenging because I had never heard of the ASSURE lesson plan before, and I knew nothing about the format. However, what really made the assignment difficult was trying to incorporate a lesson in my content area (English) with the Microsoft Excel program. I decided to stick to my original idea: analyzing what themes were dominant in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and comparing it to five films that share similar themes and story lines.
The general public is most definitely familiar with Romeo and Juliet (there are four American film versions alone), but many truly do not understand how modern and relevant the story continues to be over the past few decades despite its old-English prose. I decide to bring that to light with the lesson that I had planned. Using modern technology as instructional tools in is a true testament to a teacher’s commitment in enhancing curriculum in today’s classroom. Better put, scholars such as David Wizer and Patricia Ryan see great potential in the up rise of technology: “We see these future teachers as conversant with a robust range of technology and media that will enhance teaching and learning of content and communications with future students.”
Works Cited.
NETS*T Standards 2008. Alta Vista. Retreived April 17, 2009, from http://www.iste.org
A Standards-Based Technology Integration Path at Towson University. Dogpile. Retrieved April 17, 2009, from
http://www.citejournal.org/vol4/iss1/general/article4.cfm
Friday, April 17, 2009
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