August 26, 2008

We had a staff meeting that was a complete monumental waste of time. We have a new lesson plan format this year. No surprise there. It pretty much changes every year. And, of course it becomes more difficult each year.

Today's staff meeting was about how to fill out the lesson plan. But, instead of us making out a lesson plan that we could actually use, we did an exercise where we practiced making a lesson plan. This means we made out lesson plans for things like cooking and exercising.

Ok, first of all lesson plans are supposed to be a guide for the teacher. Something to help us remember what we are going to teach each day. But, our lesson plans have become something that is all for show. It's a horse and pony show. They have to be displayed so that any visitors can see them if they come in the room. And, they are written so you really need to keep it with you as you teach. Which is insane.

There is no reason why a lesson plan should contain information that I need to keep with me so I don't "forget" what is there. It should be something I consult as I'm preparing materials for the lesson and glance at at the beginning of a class to make sure I'm on the page I should be on, figuratively as well as literally.

Second of all, we are all professionals. NONE of us are first year teacher's so the whole process was a bit insulting. A simple question and answer session for anyone who needed clarification of what kind of information we need for our show would suffice with time to actually write a lesson plan we need. Especially since these DAMNED things are designed in a way that they take more time to write than an actual lesson would take to teach. Because, Lord knows we don't have enough to do as it is.

I also find it extremely stressful that I have to re-write lesson plans every year on material that I taught the year before. It's understandable when we have a new series or curriculum. But, for things that we've had more than two years, it's just almost spiteful that we are expected to reinvent the wheel each year.