Blog #3

Getting to interview two different teachers about their approaches to lesson planning in regards to foreign language was a really good experience! The first person I interviewed was my CT, and the other was a language professor at Grand Valley. The questions I used were directly taken from those provided to us, but I also asked a few other in addition, such as what they thought about using 90% of the language in the classroom. 

How long before a specific lesson do you prepare it?

I had similar answers from both teachers that I interviewed about this question. Both of them told me they have a good, general idea of how lessons will occur throughout the semester/trimester before the first day even begins, but they continually edit the plan every week to fit the needs of the students. With some classes, they may pick up the material a lot faster, while others may need a little more time with a subject, so lesson plans would need to be adjusted to fit student needs. When I asked both of the teachers about the backward design theory; the Grand Valley professor told me that theoretically, every single lesson plan would be done in that way, but sometimes it just can not be done. The CT was similar in this sense, but with his plans, he focuses on the chapter objectives, and shares this information with the class, so that everybody knows what they will be striving towards.  

How do you decide what to do on any given day?

This already had a similar answer from both teachers; they both refer to the lesson plan they have prepared for the week, but if things need to be changed for the day, they can and will be changed. A good example of this was after our unit test, we saw a lot of areas were students were struggling, and my CT and I decided we would do a day of review with the students, instead of moving on to the next chapter as originally planned. 

Do you write down your objectives? How do you determine your lesson objectives?

Neither of the teachers I spoke to personally write down the objectives for every single day, because they are both to point to where they are so experienced, they know what they are aiming towards for every class period. When the question came of determining lesson objectives, similarly to the idea of lesson planning, their objectives are already predetermined by the overall objectives for the unit, but can be changed to fit the need of the students. 

Do you rely on a lesson format provided by another teacher, the course book, or a Teacher’s book? 

From the talks I had with both my CT and the Grand Valley professor, I gathered that both have developed their own style of lesson plans over the years, and have from the beginning stayed away from the lesson plans provided by the teacher’s edition of a book. They both agreed that those lesson plans are not optimal for use in the classroom, because those lesson plans were not written for the needs of specific groups of students in the classroom. 

I had very good conversations with both teachers, and it was very insight!