We’ve all been there, right? You’re in the middle of a lesson and you have to step away. You have great paraprofessionals (or a great co-teacher, or a great student teacher, or a great related services professional, or whoever) so naturally someone steps up to keep the lesson going! Everything is great, until you walk back over, and you hear something being presented to the class that isn’t even close to correct.
Not wanting to embarrass your colleague, who after all was only trying to help, you vow you’ll just fit in reteaching that information when the opportunity presents itself and keep the day moving. Except, however, you know that this situation is much more common than any of us, I think, would like to admit, and you don’t want your students to be confused, exposed to incorrect or outdated information, or frustrated by having to repeat lessons that, in their minds, are over and done with.
So what do you do?
When you teach in an environment, such as a self-contained class, a co-taught classroom, or simply one where there are many small groups running simultaneously, it’s super helpful to script out how the content is supposed to flow ahead of time. I like to do this through instructional books. I base mine around the text of the curriculum, adapted for easy presentation by anyone! Here’s an example of one- All About Area.
In an instructional book, you can provide definitions, work through examples, point out important features and information, pose questions, and even give directions for games, assignments, and activities! Take a look at a couple of sample pages from All About Area:
By essentially giving your team a script to work from, you can ensure that the quality of instruction remains high even if you are called away to deal with one of the million other things teachers always have to deal with.
Especially now, when teachers may be teaching virtually, in a hybrid model, or providing remediation on a variety of topics at the same time face to face, having instructional books in place minimizes the amount of time you’ll spend worrying that parents, colleagues, and students are all on the same page. You are the expert on your subject matter, and by scripting out, in book form (or electronic book form if you keep the book online) you can ensure that your students are benefitting from your expertise and content area knowledge.
Once you have your instructional book written, you can base a whole unit plan around it! That’s just what I did with my comprehensive Differentiated Area Unit!
Once the foundation has been laid, students can reference the instructional book, as needed, to complete other activities and get ready for assessments, whether they are in the classroom with you or learning from home!
I want to hear from you! What are the topics that you find the hardest to explain to other adults? Weigh in in the comments!
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