When it comes to preparation, so many quotes come to mind. There is “By failing to prepare, be prepared to fail,” “prior planning prevents poor performance,” and so many others. Reflecting on my first year in the classroom I can easily recall the challenges I faced when I was not prepared because the environment was so new to me, so I did not have the skills to maintain complete order. As the year progressed, I the value of preparation increased dramatically. I understood that the time spent at home over the weekend preparing presentations, doing online searches for current engaging material, and after school gathering lab materials for the next day made life so much easier.
I recall the year the grade level structure changes and an additional content teacher was added. Since we all moved at a similar pace we began to run into the issue that our activities would sometimes conflict by occurring on the same day. There would not be enough lab materials to be used by more than one teacher on the same day, so we occasionally had to change our lesson. That is more effective preparation came in to play, we decided to establish a schedule in which each teacher would perform a certain type of lesson on an assigned day. For example, Monday would Wednesday would be my lab day and Friday my technology day and that rotation would be inverted for the other teacher.
Having a class with an established general routine was great for the demographics of the students I taught, and they loved coming in having an idea what they were going to be doing for the day. I would hear them in the hall making statements like “It’s Tuesday, so we’re going to do an illustrating lesson!” Most students would come prepared for the day, and even if a student was absent that had an idea what type of assignment they would miss and already have a strategy of how they could either complete it prior to their absence or upon their return.
Writing and arranging weekly lessons become a “well-oiled machine” due to our weekly content meetings and our established daily lesson structure. As stated in a previous article, as a first-year teacher, I was on my own in terms of establishing all my lessons and assessments. Within a few years of writing lessons, gathering resources, and organizing materials I was able to establish a document that contained lessons that ranged from the very first to the last day of school! All the sacrifices that I made of Sunday afternoons were not in vain and were able pave the way for new teachers that entered the building and followed behind me. As expected, modifications were most likely made and additional more current material added, but it was at least based on a foundation that was prepared for them.
Abraham Lincoln’s stated “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Many of us whether completing a job-related task, providing instruction, or meeting the needs of a student tend to just pick up the axe and start swinging! What if we spent time beforehand sharpening it by doing our homework? There were times when I may have found information about my students from their files prior to them entering my classroom, not to hold something against them, but so that I could be prepared for what was about to enter my door. It was more than evident that most of the discipline issues that I had occurred during transitional times that were not planned out well or when a lesson was not arranged well overall. The concept of preparation may be easier to grasp as a mature adult; however it is imperative that we implement it into our classrooms for our students. It should be a part of school and classroom culture. Let’s be prepared to take our students and those around us to the Next Level!
The Jeremy Anderson Group