Lesson Planning

Expert lesson planning is a balance. Some lessons should provide an aspirational framework of knowledge, a context of genre and history that build the field surrounding a text. Other lessons should frame such knowledge with social-emotional experiences. Within this should be tests, reflection, debates and project-based work. 

Underpinning lesson planning is the hidden curriculum of the school as well: to what extent should individual teachers be providing content differently (rather than different content)? To what extent are students expected to learn exam-based content? How will students approach difficulty in texts? Considering this as the department level is another consideration in lesson planning.  

My thoughts are currently this:

a) Lesson planning should differ depending on the stage of the students.
b) Work that involves students returning to work or notes is empowering and sophisticated. 
c) Exam work should frame KS4 and KS5: there is still room for project work and consolidating hard-core study with social-emotional experiences. 
d) An emphasis on public speaking and arguing a dialect should be promoted frequently. 
e) DIRT time should be built into lesson time regularly.
f) Lessons planning should reflect the wider sense of rhythm needed by the teacher. 

One-off lesson planning picked from the internet or otherwise fails to acknowledge the need the social rhythms inherent in learning. However, it can frame the knowledge needed by students, which is often deprioritised massively. 

My final thought is this: young teachers can teach decent one-off lessons with aplomb and vivacity. However, it takes the expertise of a veteran to judge how to adjust the rhythm of the class.