I'm not much of a long-term planner. I like a vague plan, an idea of what we want to do in a year, but certainly not daily, or even weekly, lesson plans laid out in the fall. Maybe we would accomplish more if I did plan extensively, and maybe not.
I had to face this issue last week when I posted to the local groups that I had an opening in my 11-14yo science lab. Are we going to dissect? Well, probably. A mammal? I don't know. I have a rodent phobia that includes preserved specimens. I'm not proud of it but I can't deny it either. If the kids are enthusiastic about dissecting, then we'll do it. A fetal pig, perhaps. Since I have taught biology lab twice already, I haven't felt the need to lay it all out again. I did promise to do evolution and natural selection.
I can understand someone else's completely reasonable need to have more specifics laid out. Who wants to waste time taking her child to a class when the teacher, a stranger, may not be adequately organized. I had the moms of former students prepared to provide references that I consistently provided a cool learning experience, even if I couldn't tell you 4 weeks ahead what we would be doing.
But there was such a response to my posting that I didn't have any problem filling the opening. Now there are 6 kids, 2 boys and 4 girls, most of them 12yo. I am really looking forward to working with this group. PRM
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