Effective practice in modern teaching

Planning and preparation is, in my opinion, one of the most important aspects of teaching, and if mastered could be the difference in a lesson being a soaring success or a disastrous wreck. Over the last few years while embarking on my own Teacher training path, I have been fortunate enough to witness lesson of the same subject or topic delivered by different Teachers. Theoretically, these lesson should have been very similar, when in actually fact, they would often be quite different, often resulting in one being more successful than the other. It could be argued that every Teacher has a different style, as such, lessons could be very different on this factor alone. However, I have often witnessed such lessons where one person has planned extensively, almost to the minute, while another would chose to 'wing it'. For this reasons I have decided to look into the various aspects we as Teachers often consider and why, as well as the implications on the quality of learning taking place. Lesson planning can be a complex monster, but of the elements collected together and planned effectively could result in a shining example of modern teaching practice.

So why do we plan lesson?  

First of all we need to ask ourselves one simple question: what is lesson planning? In a nutshell, lesson planning is 'The process of deciding what you will teach and how you will teach it' (Handley, 2010), which is the short answer, but a great summery none the less. Lesson planning will cover all aspects of your teaching, everything from activities, key points, resources you will need, as well as other details such as meeting government standards. They tend to vary depending on the teaching course or regions. Gravells (2012) states that lesson that are planned well should follow a set structure, namely a beginning, a middle and an end, referred to as an introduction section, a development section and a plenary. There are plenty of reasons for this structure, all of which often benefit both the Teacher and the learners, but ultimately the formula laid out above will provide learners with a sense of continuity, and overall make the lesson and the tasks within come full circle. 

Setting expectations

No lesson plan could be concrete without the aims and objectives, which would obviously be laid out at the start of the lesson in order to establish the learners are clear as to what is expected of them. The question raised at this point is what makes good aims and objectives within lesson planning? 

One of the most effective factors to consider when setting objectives is to ensure that they follow the SMART system (Gravells, 2012). The smart system is an acronym, which has been designed (not only for teaching) to ensure any objectives or aims we set are possible in the context of the lesson. SMART essentially stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based (Bogue, 2005) and is excellent at ensuring we are able to set expectations that are both possible and relevant to the learning experience. 

Everything we have mentioned so far are only some of the key elements that form the essence of teaching and can result in great practice. This has certainly been true over the last few decades of teaching, but what about todays practice. What additional factors must the modern educator take into account?

Effective teaching

Planning a lesson is all well and good, and granted, knowing what your going to teach is a good starting point, but  its not an automatic guarantee that your going to be a good teacher. So what makes an effective Teacher? Research into this subject always seems to bring up similar results, and over the years they have seen some developments as the world around us evolves. 

If you were to run a good search for a list of the top teaching qualities the same results tend to come up: enthusiasm, motivation, hard working, passionate, friendly, approachable. All seem to follow this pattern. However, modern teaching, in my opinion, requires so much more of us than ever before, more so in some subjects than other. Let me explain. I myself am training to be a teacher of Music Technology and so far it is a fantastic and fulfilling experience to which every day brings exciting new challenges. Teaching a subject such as this, which has a backbone in the evolution of modern technology in the industry makes it even more challenging. The subject itself has its fundamentals, as it always has, and that will never change. As I look back on my own training when compared to the material and resources available today, its quite surprising how important it is to keep up to date with the material. Music Technology, for example, can change beyond recognition in a matter of years. The move from analogue and tape recording towards digital interfaces is a fine example. As a teacher of such an ever-changing subject it is crucial to keep my own skills and practice up to date and evolving along with the industry. I find myself on countless subject based websites looking for industry updates or changes, I even spend around £15 a month on subject based magazines and more on books! The point I am trying to make is simple: A good teacher keeps up to date with new and exciting concepts within their subjects, particularly more modern technology based subjects. Keeping material fresh and engaging is, in my opinion, just as important as the planning or practicing of the lesson. After all, you could be the most enthusiastic, fun or outgoing teacher in the business, but this won't mean a thing if your teaching outdated material. As teachers we should be looking for the new, the exciting, the innovating and the fresh approaches to our practice and our subject knowledge. Only then can we see the full potential of planning when combined with new ideas, effectively resulting in excellent modern teaching practice.

Reference

Handley, T. (2010). How to produce the perfect plan. Available: http://newteachers.tes.co.uk/content/how-produce-perfect-plan. Last accessed 24th Nov 2014

Gravells, A (2012). Preparing to teach in the lifelong learning sector. London: Learning matters . 62-66

Bogue, L. (2005). Use S.M.A.R.T. goals to launch management by objectives plan. Available: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/use-smart-goals-to-launch-management-by-objectives-plan/. Last accessed 24th nov 2014.