Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CBP]

First-timer here. I'm wondering how you stay organized with your lesson planning and what you're teaching when and to which class. I'm guessing that once I've settled into a routine with my hogwan I'll have less of a need to keep a calendar/chart, but at this point it's hard to visualize. This feels like a silly question, but any suggestions? I'm thinking of making my own three-month spiral-bound calendar with room for notes, lesson planning, and other daily stuff. (Can't stand lugging a year around with me!) But, really ... suggestions? How do you manage this? Thanks!

[SuperHero]

I type each days lesson plan into a MSword template I have and print it off b4 going to class.

[tabbyfoof]

If you could see the cluttered room I'm in now, you might not want to read what I do. Then again, maybe you'd read it very carefully, as a kind of cautionary tale of how a person shouldn't stay organized.

That said, the spiral-bound thing is fine, but I've found that binders with loose leaf are even better. That way, I can add pages in if I want. After I'm done with a unit in the book, I can file away the lesson plan in the binder, and then put any handouts in plastic sheet covers as the next few pages. If I find something later I want to add, it's easy to do. This stays at my desk, by the way.

I have a file folder for each class where I keep the attendance sheet stuck on the prong thingies. I also keep corrected exercises in it that I have to give back, as well as handouts and memos or anything else I need to distribute to the students. For handouts, it's good to make a copy for each student that comes regularly and if one's absent, write that person's name on the handout and give it to them when they come back so they can catch up.

Then I have a thin spring clip file thing for the lesson I'm doing, my copy of any handouts (with answers written in non-xeroxing yellow highlighter ink) plus maybe a list of 'emergency' activities (also known as an "Oh $hit! File"). Those would be quick 5- or 10- minute activities you can do if you've finished your plan and you've still got a bit of class left. Ask other teachers for help with this one.

Make sure you've got extra board markers, too.

Oh, and I also carry a discreet steno-type notebook for monitoring pair and group activities. I write down mistakes, questions, or language points I'll need to address after the activity. Keeping it in a notebook means I've got it saved to use for review later as well.

Finally, try not to get too worried. You sound very conscientious, and I'm sure your students will pick up on that and appreciate that quality in you. Don't worry, try not to be nervous (easier said than done, I know), and you'll be fine.

Good luck, CBP!

[CBP]

Tabby, that's exactly what I've been wanting to know. Thanks! I'm now able to really visualize how I'll want to stay organized. And the stenopad is an excellent idea as an ongoing record of grammar problems and whatnot. I guess it doesn't matter what your classroom looks like if your teaching is effective. Anyway, I'm off to an office supply store.

[tabbyfoof]

Superhero has a good point, too. Actually having digital files of lesson plans makes them easy to edit, store, and transfer, so that way's great if you've got your own computer and printer access.

The thing is, no matter what any of us say, you'll end up finding your own planning and record keeping groove. A lot will depend on what resources your school has, how much storage space you have access to, how far your classes are from your central planning area (i.e. you don't want to lug too much stuff if you're having to go a long way), copy facilities, etc. About the only guarantee I can make about your first bit of time here is that there's a lot of trial and error about everything.

It's nice that you're thinking about all this, but try not to worry too much. You'll figure it out. And your school might already have the supplies you need so you might want to put off buying anything.


Again, good luck!

[CBP]

Initially I'm going to need to handwrite things and have files like what you suggested. I'll want to be able to see things all at once and have quick access to previous assignments and whatnot. That much I know. Eventually I'll probably transition into something more computerized. But that's a bit too streamlined for me right now. I have a learning curve ahead of me, that's for sure!

[ChopChaeJoe]

I use a lesson plan that I keep track of in a notebook, or on any scrap paper if I don't have the notebook, to cover, enforce, and reinforce the day's lesson. Somedays the class flies through it and you have time for games and/or silliness ( I like to teach numbers into the quadrillions with a few extra minutes.)

Other times you have material for the next clas or even two. If I've learned anything aout teaching it is that students do not learn on a consistant basis. it's an up and down war and what I think is a lost cause on one day I think of as preparing them to finaly learn the next day.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

My desk at work is an organised disaster, and so is my coffee table at home where I keep some of my work-related shit. I thought I might get round to cleaning my desk during exams but it never happened. Right now on my desk at work I have 70 B4 handouts for my grade 3 MS classes tomorrow - for the same lessons that got cancelled last Monday - but I'll have to come in early tomorrow to photocopy something for my grade 1 MS classes tomorrow. Hopefully the printer and photocopier are working if I'm the first one in. Then I'll have to think up something for my grade 2 MS classes and my one grade 3 HS class the next day. I'll start by flipping through my phonics / pronunciation / dialogue book where I've marked M / T / W / Th / F whenever I've done a segment with classes on a particular day. Who knows what lessons may be cancelled next week at the last minute for whatever reason, in what classrooms the A/V aids may or may not be working, or where the incompotent new MS Konglish teacher may need my help.

Yeah, all in all I've got things pretty well organised.

[thegadfly]

I think the 3-ring binder with looseleaf is the best idea, as it is something to which things can be added or from which things can be pulled out of during the actual class. I think the computer files are a waste of time and effort, however, unless you use your laptop to display your notes during class and type your notes during class. I have used many LESSONS time and again, but I have never re-used an entire LESSON PLAN...my lesson plans get me through the day and class, but are probably not going to ever be recycled...the notes I jot down about my advanced 5th graders will not apply to the same class I teach next year, so going to the trouble of putting them into a computer file is wasted effort.

According to my own use of terms, a lesson plan is a series of lessons to be employed on any given day with any given class, along with the notes necessary to provide continuity and address weakenesses/concerns specific to the class. For example, I teach a lesson on connotative differences between synonyms, but the examples I use, the homework I assign, the time I spend on it in class, and the practice I might associate with the lesson will vary from class to class and year to year. The reactions to the lesson, as well as the followup lessons I might think about using will be noted in my lesson plan.

I use looseleaf in a binder for lesson plans, computer files and printouts for lessons (which are added to the binder as part of the day's lesson plans)....

Also, a lesson does not achieve "permanent" status (and enshrinement in a computer file) until is has been used multiple times and polished to a high sheen. Lesson plans (and the lessons contained therein) are and should be modified on the fly, according to the needs, abilities, and flow of the class. Lessons that work time and again to teach a certain concept should become part of your bag of tricks, but it a lesson doesn't work after two or three or five tries, abandon it entirely. For me, being plucked from the binder is quicker than being deleted from computer....

[CBP]

All great stuff. Keep it coming.