During week 8 of the school term, the year 12 major works for Design and Technology and Construction were being marked for the Higher School Certificate. This meant that the junior students could not complete their usual practical lessons because the senior years take a preference. A supervising teacher promised the major works would be removed by my lessons but they weren’t. I then had to take my classes for theory lessons. This put me on the spot as I was not prepared for the theory lessons. The activities presented to the students were unit related but students then became unsettled because of the change in plans from practical to theory. Most students stayed this way during the theory lessons which distracted other students from staying on task and concentrating on the content.
To improve my teaching practice from now on I think I will have a planned theory lesson as a back up for each class in case this occurs again. This way I will have content to follow and therefore students can obtain clear directions about the learning goals to be achieved by the end of the lesson. According to Kizlik (2010), "teachers create lesson plans to communicate their instructional activities regarding specific subject-matter. Almost all lesson plans developed by teachers contain student learning objectives, instructional procedures, the required materials, and some written description of how the students will be evaluated." A backup lesson plan will then add more structure to my lesson. This strategy fulfils Element 4.1.1- communicates clear directions to students about learning goals.
Kizlik.B, (24/06/2010), "Lesson Planning, Lesson Plan Formats and Lesson Plan Ideas", Education Information for New and Future Teachers, retrieved on: 21/09/2010, from http://www.sites4teachers.com/links/redirect.php?url=http://www.adprima.com/lesson.htm
-------------, (2004), "NSW Institute of Teachers Professional Standards", retrieved on: 21/09/2010, from http://www.nswteachers.nsw.edu.au/Main-Professional-Teaching-Standards.html
