“I don’t know what the fall is going to look like so what can I even prepare now!?” – all teachers everywhere.
First let me debunk a common myth – “teachers only work 180 days a year.” Ah, yes. While in theory this is possible, I’ve literally never seen it done before. See, here is the issue. At our core, humans prioritize self-preservation. IF a teacher were to only work on the days they saw students, those would be awful awful days. Long story short, I challenge you to find a teacher who doesn’t use their summer to prep for the following year.
That being said, how are we supposed to prep this summer for an incredibly uncertain fall? We must plan for anything, but there are some things you can plan which will be applicable to almost all potential falls:
1. Your curriculum
Hopefully you know at least one of the classes you’re scheduled to teach this fall. While you probably don’t have enough information to flesh out a day-by-day plan for this class, you can at least start on some general planning.
- Decide what topics you want to cover. Look at those good ole’ Common Core or other state standards.
- Create a scope and sequence. This is basically a document listing the name of each unit you plan to teach and underneath those, the names of the lessons. This is just a rough draft, but it’s a nice road map.
- Gather some general resources. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Just Google your class, unit, or lesson topics and find some resources that you can link to your scope and sequence document. I often find that when sweeping the web I stumble upon websites that will be useful for way more than just one lesson.
2. A great syllabus
A syllabus may be one of the most underrated documents in teaching. Let’s make this year’s useful and cute. For now, make a rough draft including your class description, contact info, and tips to succeed in your class. Later when we’re able to add more details, we can make it into a cute infographic!
3. Some day 1 ideas
“But what will day 1 look like!?” I’m not sure, but I want it to be cool! I recommend doing some Pinterest searching and just keep a list of ideas for now. Think ENGAGING! EXCITING! Something DIFFERENT!
Stay tuned for more blog posts about each of the topics covered here! This summer I will be hosting “plan-with-me’s” where we can flesh more of this out!
And if you’re ready to PLAN NOW, grab a copy of my ‘20-’21 Teacher Planning Workbook which covers these topics and much much more.
Planning about planning,
Julia
Julia Ziac 