One Saturday, I was in the lobby of a hotel waiting for a friend from Baguio City (a journalist). He wants me to accompany him on a food tour. I was approached by a smiling face who introduced herself as my former student - Maidel.
She is now a department head in one of the public schools in southern Negros. That brief know-each-other-meeting ended with a coffee conversation in the food station near the lobby. Maidel appreciated my down-to-earth classroom management and my KISS method in handling subject matters (Keep It Short and Simple).
“Sir, lesson planning now is complicated. For fast learner teachers, that could be attainable, but for some, it could be burdensome. It is easy to teach from heart and mind. That only calls for mastery and entertaining strategy. Before, you told us that teaching is acting, and the actor-teacher should speak fluently and think critically for his students to follow. Learning could be easy if the students are informed, entertained, and educated.”
“Now, before reaching that level, a teacher should prepare a well-structured lesson plan for department heads like me to check. Objectives are not just goals for the day. A teacher should consider the three standards: content, performance, and learning. The content of the lesson should jive with those standards. Learning resources could be a teacher’s guide, learner’s materials, textbook and those coming from learning resource portals.”
At that point, I thought she was speaking Greek. As a former teacher, I am almost lost.
“For the procedures, there should be a review of the previous lesson or the presentation of the new lesson. A teacher has to establish the purpose for the lesson and he will be presenting examples, or show instances for the new lesson. It will be followed by the discussion of new concepts and practicing of new skills.”
“A follow up will be made on that before developing mastery that would lead to formative assessment. A teacher has to stretch the view of the students because there will be finding of practical applications of concepts and skills in daily living. The next step is to make generalizations and abstractions about the lesson. That will be followed by the evaluation of learning.”
“That is not the end because after 40 minutes of that masterpiece the teacher has a series of questions to ask as part of reflection on formative assessment, additional activities for remediation, understanding of the lesson, assessment of strategies, reaction of principal or supervisor observing, and effective use of innovations among others.”
I have a short reply because I saw already my guest coming down the stairs.
“All of those are only means for the total development of students. As a former teacher, I still believe that lessons should not be boring. I do not believe totally in structured lesson planning. An excellent teacher has his way of taming students to appreciate the lesson. The process should include thinking, speaking, acting [doing] and there should be visible commitment and dedication to values and virtues learned.”