1.) Is it always this difficult?
2.) Are lesson plans a guideline or law?
3.) Feeling discouraged.
1.) After reading this chapter it occurs to me that developing an entire curriculum is very hard and quite time consuming. I noticed that it takes a lot of planning and pro-activity to pull off a successful curriculum. One thing that I cannot get my head around is that I have been given the task to form an entire educational plan for children that I do not even know.
I feel that the skills to build a curriculum should be built up slowly and over a long period of time; hopefully starting in college. My greatest question is, does it ever get any easier to develop a curriculum.
Most concepts in life are made by growth; you start from nothing and eventually build upon mistakes and successes until something is made very simple. It seems to me that this rule should apply to curriculum design. But I see many obstacles to building upon successes.
With a constantly changing system of standards and expectations a curriculum must change with what our government or school district wants. Noticing that the outcomes of what students are to know by a certain time is always in flux, how can a curriculum ever be truly successful. My hope, and wish, is that I am able to create a type of curriculum that allows for my students to learn the maximum amount that their developmental ability allows them to.
2.)Another question that I came up with was that of the function of lesson plans. Are they to be taken as law or as guidelines. From experience I would say the latter is true, but the former also has merit to it.
A lesson plan can not take into account what happens in real time. It can only provide a basic structure for what is expected to happen. Because of this, I see the lesson plan as a blueprint that should be modified if it needs to be.
On the other hand a lesson plan has been specifically made for a certain class and needs to be kept to. If a teacher diverges away from their plan too much they might end up confusing their students and lose valuable time. A lesson plan is made to have a set amount of knowledge given, and any questions or interests should be held off until another lesson plan is developed to include them.
I realize that the statement I just made may seem harsh, but one has to remember that an interest for one person does not hold true for everyone else. In general, I am more for the belief that lesson plans are guidelines and are not set in stone. Yes, you must stick to specific things within the lesson plan, but the format and methods used in the lesson may be changed at will.
3.) I have been feeling very down recently because of lesson planning and designing a unit for music. I guess I never really saw how much impact I could really have on student's lives. I found that I have a lot of power that I am not sure I am ready for.
This power is one that controls what my students know and understand about music. This is very scary to me and I feel lost at times because I do not want to let my students down. I want them to be successful and have the best experiences that they can, and many times I do not feel like I am giving them it.
I guess that means that I am motivated to find the best way to teach children, but I feel very discouraged when I do not do a good job or I see a student struggling. One might say that my quest to try and educate every student is admirable. I, on the other hand, see it as a necessity.
I have been entrusted with the job to correctly teach students skills and techniques that will continually benefit them throughout their life time. I hope that there is a day when I can act more confident and allow my natural abilities to show and feel more comfortable in my teaching.
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