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Lesson Plans and Teacher Musings - D. Peel
When I was a young, inexperienced History teacher of five and even ten
years, I used to pride myself on the fact that I didn't know how much we would
cover from week to week. Some years, in several classes, we didn't make it through
the final two units - the Civil War and Reconstruction. I'm ashamed to admit that I was actually
proud of that fact. I was "going with the flow of each class".
However, after 15 years experience, (now 30+ years) and the increased emphasis on State Mandated
Tests and Lesson Plans, I finally realized (I'm a slow learner) that there are 39 weeks in the school year (and in 7th Grade Social Studies we are blessed
with the fact that there are 19 units of study that must be covered).
That equals about 2 weeks per unit. Divide by 2 and you have weekly outlines.
It does however, take about a week of 8 hour days in the summertime to
figure out monthly
outlines and Basic
Yearly
Lesson Plan Outlines that parents appreciate and post on their refrigerators. The
plans describe WHAT students will learn but not HOW they will learn it. We FLEX those plans DAILY
through the use of compacting,
extensions,
differentiated
instruction, weekly
internet updates, I.B.I.L.
(Inquiry Based
Internet Learning) Projects, WebMagtm
mini-Web Quests, and yes, we even use Bio
Optic Organized Knowledge devices  .
(Click on the underlined
colored text for examples of how this all works.)
In the words of Confucius,
"Man who say it cannot be done,
must not interrupt man doing it."
It's interesting to note that the three teachers in our school who
have created websites to facilitate student learning . . . are teachers with
20+ years of
experience, and our official school webmaster, Mr. Travis.
Ms. Kaye - www.aSliceOfPi.com
Mr. Loest - www.itascamusic.com/pages/1/index.htm
Mr. Peel - www.HistoryClassroom.com,
www.ShowYourClass.com, www.dpeel.com
& www.Team7itasca.com
How flexible are you in
embracing
new ideas and technology ? Have you created any
websites to meet the individual needs of your students, flex your plans, provide for
compacting & extensions, and exceed state learning goals??
Relax, we can help you enter the internet age, set up your own
website (professional courtesy, no charge), & eventually create your own "Virtual Classroom". Email your questions to the Team7 webmaster, DPeel@itasca.k12.il.us
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Utilizing Modern-Day Multiple Intelligences and Multiple Learning Styles
should include
the use of the Internet as a means of Visual-Spatial, Logical-Mathematical,
and Intrapersonal learning/reinforcement & resource for Compacting and
Extensions.
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Animated Gif (c) 2004 D. Peel
Each year over 10,000 (mostly High School) students participate in this
Economics Contest.
Our Team7 Students are STATE CHAMPIONS!
They've won 1st, 2nd, or 3rd
EIGHTEEN TIMES IN TWENTY YEARS!
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Please Note: Social Studies is unique. (The last time I checked, Abe Lincoln
was still President during the Civil War!) Other Subject Areas may not
lend themselves to Basic Yearly
Lesson Plan Outlines. However, that doesn't mean that it can't be
done. "Nothing is impossible with time." - Napoleon.
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