Rituals and Lesson Plans
1. Lesson Plan Template
Lesson Planning
This course was originally taught in 2 1/2 hour blocks twice a week. You may be teaching on a daily or weekly basis, or you may be drawing from these materials to supplement your own curriculum. However you use the material, having a lesson plan helps you stay organized. It is also an invaluable tool if you are co-teaching.
This template is offered as a model to ensure that:
Goals and objectives are clearly stated
Rituals (tasks and processes that take place regularly) aren’t forgotten
General flow of the class is outlined; we believe that thorough preparation supports improvisation!
Materials or equipment are reserved or acquired in time for the class
Time is spent on reflection at the end of each session
Assessments are continually used to measure progress
Click to open: Lesson Plan Template
You are welcome to modify the template in a way that meets your needs.
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2. Rituals
“It takes more planning to be spontaneous”
This is one of our favorite quotes about lesson planning. During our feedback session at the end of the year, we received comments from students about how organized we were, and they could tell how much time we put into making sure each class was special.
Staff Rituals
One of our rituals was completing a lesson plan for each day, usually a week in advance, and then debriefing the class immediately afterward. This helped us remain flexible and responsive to student needs, kept us organized, and helped us keep on track with course objectives, goals and timelines. The template we used is in the next section.
A ritual we used in debriefing was “What worked? What would you do differently?” A ritual we used in planning was “What does this have to do with the students?” to keep our focus on what was truly important.
Class Rituals
“I’m better at not being too shy to talk to people.”
Check-In
We used a check-in at the beginning of every single class (more information on check-in follws this section). We believe check-in served several purposes:
An effective transition from socializing to focusing on the class
A way to build community and deepen relationships
Practice with self-monitoring, self-control, risk-taking, and active listening
Feedback to know where students were at in their thinking
An opportunity to practice a form of public speaking and exercise Voice as they formed their own opinions
Connect It
We asked students to share what they remembered from the previous class session and then told them the plan for the day so they could understand the flow of material and how it all connected.
Check-Out
We were less consistent with this ritual and used it when we felt it was necessary based on what we observed that day. It seemed necessary on days when we had more content than usual or had emotional discussions or interactions. More often, however, we found that the energy at the end of class was focused on leaving (since it was also the end of their school day) and getting to the bus on time.
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3. Check-In Processes
Check-In: A Ritual of Speaking and Listening
“I can speak my mind without being all ghetto.”
We talked with the students about the power of speaking and being heard. It is rare for us to speak and have a roomful of people actively listen to us, so this is a true gift we give each other. We brainstormed ideas about what active listening looks like: eye contact, not doing other work, body turned toward the speaker, not talking, etc. Organizing desks in a circle helped us create a circle of community and be able to see everyone’s face and eyes.
We allowed students the right to Pass if they did not want to speak, but we did encourage students who took this option too often to speak by talking about how it is unfair to hear other’s thoughts without sharing one’s own regularly, and that their voice is as important to the community as anyone else’s.
The process consisted of asking a question (we provided questions most of the time, and allowed students to suggest questions later in the semester) and then going around the circle to listen to each other’s responses. We let them know how much time we had for check-in and challenged them to meet the goal by being aware of how much time they took. A useful metaphor is a pan of brownies. There are only so many brownies in the pan, and if you take three shares, that means other people don’t get any. The one “rule” we insisted upon is that when someone is speaking, everyone else is listening.
Agreements
We recommend that the Agreements arise from the students instead of being created by the instructor(s). We facilitated a brainstorming session where students generated a list of desired behaviors. We combined ideas that were similar until we had a list of about 6 items. Keeping the list short (6 or fewer) is preferable or else it becomes overwhelming. Some of their Agreements were “Leave the drama at the door” and “Listen when someone is talking.”
“I got more mature and less goofy.”
It is important to post the Agreements in a visible place so they can be easily referenced during every class session. Upholding the Agreements is everyone’s job, and students must learn how to do this by watching the instructor(s) model upholding them respectfully and relentlessly. As the semester progressed, we saw students begin to remind each other to uphold them after watching us model how to uphold them consistently.
Talking Item
Passing an item such as a koosh ball or other interesting object is a great way to physicalize and underscore the rule of when someone is speaking, everyone else is listening.
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