Background Why investigate lesson plans? - SABEC 2014 1/16h0… · – Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy ... Why investigate lesson plans? • Scripted lesson plan

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Are lesson plans a teacher

development tool?

Catherine Langsford

READ Educational Trust

• Literacy NGO – in existence for 33 years

– work across South Africa

– in rural and urban schools

• Focus is on – teacher development

– resource provision

– monitoring and evaluation

• Wide range of stakeholders– teachers

– SMT members

– department officials

– parents

– partners (donors and government)

Who is READ?

• 3 projects– Gauteng Primary Language and Mathematics Strategy (GPLMS)

– Beyers Naude Schools Development Programme (BNSDP, Kagiso Trust)

– Rally to Read

• 35 semi-structured interviews– 17 teachers & SMT members

– 6 district officials

– 1 provincial official

– 1 DBE official

– 6 READ Educational Trust staff members

– 2 South African education specialists

– 2 international education specialists

Background

• Why the study?

– Lesson plans increasingly are becoming a feature of intervention projects – are they for us?

• Why use lesson plans?

– What are they?

– If and how are they used?

– Are they effective?

– Do they develop teachers?

Why investigate lesson plans?

• Scripted lesson plan

• Lesson outline

• Pace setter

• Teacher’s guide or textbook

What is a lesson plan?

(as perceived within projects)

• Advantages and disadvantages

• Teacher identity and professionalism

• Attitudes towards lesson plans

• Resources

• Differentiation

• Time allocation

• Sustainability

Common themes

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Respondents indicate

• Full curriculum coverage

• Transition between curricula can be smoother

• An external, standardised benchmark exists which can measure compliance, performance and hold others accountable

• Uniformity and consistency within grades, schools and districts is promoted

• Support and guidance when trainer or district official is not present

• Lessons have direction, focus, structure and routine

• Teachers’ pacing improves

Advantages of lesson plans

Respondents indicate

• Lessons are sequenced better

• Progression of skills and ability

• Use of a wider variety of texts, methodologies and activities

• Save teachers lots of time

• As teachers are more prepared, they have more time helping learners

• Support on integration (skills, CAPS, methodologies, resources) is provided

• Gaps in teachers’ content knowledge are filled

Advantages of lesson plans

(continued)

Respondents indicate

• Teachers’ confidence improves

• Classroom management, especially discipline, improves

• Written activities are promoted

• Teacher expectation of learner ability is raised

• It is easy for a teacher to cover for a colleague who is absent

• Makes support and monitoring easier for SMTs

Proof of the effectiveness of lesson plans (in GPLMS and BNSDP) is found in improved ANA results. These projects also report greater curriculum coverage. The result is that, at READ, we are focusing more on planning and curriculum management than previously.

Advantages of lesson plans

(continued)Respondents indicate

• Teachers’ creativity is stifled

• Teachers become overly dependent

• Planning skills are not gained

• Teachers become “lazy”

• A one-size-fits-all approach is used

• Lesson plans do not always fit the context

• Do not include expanded opportunities

Disadvantages of lesson plans

Respondents indicate

• Time allocations are problematic

• Too many activities to complete

• Pace is too fast

• Too much marking is expected

• Heavy on content and light on methodologies (or vice versa)

• Simplistic language is patronising

GPLMS used highly scripted plans, BNSDP used pace setters and Rally to Read uses more detailed pace-setter style plans. No format is the silver bullet. At READ, we use a differentiated approach (types of lesson plans for context and amount of scripting). We develop teachers’ planning skills gradually.

Disadvantages of lesson plans

(continued)Respondents indicate

• Stifling of creativity – were teachers creative to begin with? (underperforming schools) – many of these teachers weren’t planning in the first place

• Complaints about restriction are an indicator of professional development

• Saves time and reduces workload – leads to better professionalism?

• Lesson plan takes on teaching style of developer

• Lesson plans cannot remain constant across an intervention (scaffolding)

Creativity concern was most pertinent in GPLMS, is due to scripted nature of lesson plan. Less so in BNSDP and Rally. READ uses a differentiated approach.

Teacher identity and professionalism

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Respondents indicate

• Positive!

– Even Model C schools like them (benchmark)

– negative initially, especially from older teachers

– Some non-compliance

– No lesson plan, no work

• “I finally know what to do”

• Link between lesson plans and learner performance

• Symbol of conflict

• Feeling underconsulted

Positive reaction – we can expect that lesson plans will be warmly received by most. However, we

should be cautious of top-down models. At READ, we are doing more piloting of lesson plans

before rolling them out so that teachers’ input is incorporated and we have buy-in at all levels.

Attitudes towards lesson plans

Respondents indicate

• Generic vs bespoke

• What if school doesn’t have the same set of books?

• Teachers’ ability to match resources to lessons

• Unused materials

• DBE workbook

• Every organisation has their own priorities

Many resources in GPLMS, only DBE workbook in Kagiso, some resources in Rally. Historically, READ has tailored lesson plans around our books. We are reconsidering if faced with a project that doesn’t standardise resources.

Resources

Respondents indicate

� Differentiation is a must!• Ability, context, resources available

• Learners – 3 groups

• Fast/strong

• Average

• Slow/weak

– Multigrade classes

• Schools and teachers– One-size-fits-all approach is not practical – but slow implementation is necessary

– Inhouse professional development (team planning)

BNSDP: 10 new schools, gradual release for initial 20. Difference is a good thing! But it’s difficult to manage. At READ, we are helping teachers to differentiate their learners. We also are developing better ways of supporting stronger schools.

Differentiation

Respondents indicate

• Time allocations are too short– Learners are not on grade level

– Overcrowding

– What’s the point of rushing?

– Fixation with moving at pace of the slowest learners

• Lack of time for revision and consolidation

• The place of Group Guided Reading

• Homework

Complaints across all 3 projects. Time allocations are stipulated in the curriculum so no change there. READ is looking at ways of building in revision and consolidation into lesson plans. Mostly we are supporting teachers in terms of pace.

Time allocation

Respondents indicate

• 2 types

– Producing lesson plans

– Continued use of lesson plans in schools

• Supply must be coupled with monitoring (SMT capacitation)

• Will teachers really keep using them? (lack of ownership)

• Expensive to do differentiated sets of lesson plans

• What if the curriculum changes again?

• National catalogue for lesson plans?

BNSDP and GPLMS has strong district interaction which embeds lesson plans in the system. At READ, we are monitoring lesson plan use carefully. We simultaneously are developing teachers’ planning skills so that their capacity and sense of ownership sustains use. We are generating cost models for differentiated lesson plans.

Sustainability

• Responses to this study indicate that they are a teacher development

tool – especially if monitored effectively.

• At READ, we feel that the advantages of using lesson plans outweigh the

disadvantages.

• However, we respond to the needs of schools. If teachers need lesson

plans, we supply them. If they don’t, we respect their professionalism.

Are lesson plans a teacher

development tool?

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Thank you!

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