Teaching as Theatre
“Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre.” — Gail Godwin
What’s your style of lesson planning? Detailed plans with standards references and time span or a loose idea filled with improv…
I have learned that there are two basic camps of lesson plans. And which one you choose as a teacher defines your classroom.
In college, we are taught to make detailed lessons plans complete with standards correlations. For a 45 minute class period, the written plan is often 3-4 pages long. We are then expected to follow the plan and write a reflection at the end detailing the pros and cons of the lesson plan. Now from a starting point, I get the idea. However, as a everyday working method, this is crazy! To write out these detailed plans it would take hours of planning. And that’s not even adding in the actual research for ideas or activities.
I did this in college. I was the obedient student making my detailed lesson plans for the professor. Once I got into student teaching, those just went out the window. I was too overwhelmed with the many other needs of the classroom. Writing out detailed lessons just seemed like a waste of time. Unfortunately the gods of the university decided that we had to write them out for our portfolios. So what did I do? Just write down the 3 I needed for the portfolio, but of course.
Once I got a real teaching job, I had to reevaluate the idea of lesson plans. What type was I going to be? Initially I toyed with the idea of detailed ones. And then I woke up…
On one hand, I am not a detailed type of person. I tend to fly by the seat of my pants. I usually have an outline of a plan, a basic framework. Then I fill in the details as I go. More of a improv style of theatre. Creating as a I go. Following as the students move.
On the other hand, those detailed plans take way too long to make. I did not have time my first year of teaching. I was teaching 7 subjects over the year plus taking care of my twins. Detailing my plans seemed like a waste of time. In fact I have now gone 3 years using the improv method and it seems to work great.
Unfortunately administrations and school districts want to make sure that all teachers are using the detailed plan method. They want to have a paper trail for the teaching. A way to assess the teachers. I can see where they are coming from, but it seems to be the antithesis of teaching. Do we want systematic teaching? Everyone by the books, same day, same page. Or do we want creative teachers? Following the interests and needs of the students. Creating an organic flow in the classroom.
I for one fully embrace the improv method. And hope that even with the push for standardization, we retain the creativity at the heart of teaching and education.
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