The Carpenter's Maxim

My first week seemed like one big experiment. I had a vague idea where I wanted to go, but it kept changing. Each lesson drastically changed what I wanted the week to end up looking like, and I began to realize that I had neglected one of the first principles in teaching: begin with the end in mind. My final assessment kept changing because I hadn't thought it through.

My humbling realizations came to a head on Wednesday, when, after teaching my first period, I realized that my lesson plan simply wasn't going to work the way I wanted it to. I was tired from lack of sleep and frustrated that I had spent so much time planning the lesson and had to completely revise it for the entire day. I pulled my thoughts together during my prep period and found out that the goal for the day was workable and worthy, and that I simply needed a new plan of attack. I planned a new approach, created a new handout and made appropriate copies, and went into fourth period feeling confident.

When talking later with my mentor teacher, I brought up my weakness in planning, my uncertainty of the goal of my week-long unit and asked for advice. His suggestion?

• Determine your final assessment, what you want your students to be able to do.
• Ask yourself what they need to know in order to be able to accomplish this.
• Place the concepts in the most effective learning order.

His words of truth broke over me softly, like a gentle wave. Duh. I had learned this already.

I vowed to fend off future frustrations by planning the big picture before I planned the small stuff. To use the carpenter's maxim: measure twice, cut once.

I'm learning.