CLASSROOMCASE STU

STUDY

IMPROVING LESSON PLANNING

Terrell Green is an eighth$-$grade science teacher who has been teaching for two years. While he knows his content well, his lesson plans still lack organization. To spark intrigue

Mr$.$ Green has revisited his lesson plans and ish and interest in his students, he likes hands$-$on and fun activities. Last year, Mr$.$ Green's students worked in teams to create pop rockets with effervescing antacid tablets. To increase student interest, he added incentives by rewarding the team whose rocket flew the highest. However, he did not bring enough effervescing antacid tablets for one class, putting them a day behind. Also, his lessons took longer than he expected, and his closing activities were rushed and poorly executed. His students began side conversations when they realized that Mr$.$ Green was not going to have enough time to finish the lesson. Further, students were not required to submit lab reports and were graded only on class participation. This left students wondering about the main goals of the assignment and did not provide them with closure. trouble finding the problem. He has a good mentol of his lesson plans and briefly outlines his objectives developmental activities on paper. He puts little ab eration into the circumstances under which his stud will perform activities, however. He is looking for guidance.

FOCUS QUESTIONIS

What factors contributed to the problems in the so ence lesson?

What specific suggestions do you have for Mr$.$ Gre: to improve his lesson planning and to increase the effectiveness of the lessons?

How might Mr$.$ Green put more emphasis and accountability on students' assessment of their or learning?