planning

so yeah. i do a massive amount of planning for school. earlier this year (well, the last school year) i posted about a planning process called understanding by design that i was learning about. i've used it a couple of times now, and i've really liked it each time. i am always trying to internalize it for when i'm thinking about planning. i also am always trying to design my assessments first and then plan my lessons from there. like, i'm thinking about what my kids will need to be able to do by the end of this week, and the end of the unit, and then i have to decide how to get them there.

today i sat down with the intention of just planning the week (feeling like i didn't have time to plan the unit) when i thought to myself "i have to plan this unit or else i'll go crazy." i know, that sounds ridiculous. but after an unnecessarily drawn out unit this past 5 weeks, i just feel like i want to be efficient and effective in my teaching and to do that i need to have a longer-term vision of where we are going. so i took out my UBD template and started planning. i was worried that it would be really difficult, i wouldn't be able to do it, that i couldn't do it without a friend--but it turns out that i think that i did a pretty darn good job. jesse and i already talked over some of my ideas for the unit yesterday, so it came out a little bit more naturally. but it was really exciting to be able to sit down and use the process in an efficient way.

anyways--i should get back to planning tommorow. i hate being so last minute, but the intent of having my whole unit planned is to avoid always planning the night before. it's hard though.....