What to Teach?
What to teach? I remember starting out and wondering what exactly to teach. This overwhelming feeling will leave you lost in a sea of thought bubbles. My best advice, especially with starting out, is to find and print your state standards. Build your lessons by trying to achieve the standards set forth by your state. For example, I teach English. Many of my standards deal with citing textual evidence, analyzing central ideas, writing claims, etc. When I design lessons, I still read and target the standard. These standards most likely have great importance to student and teacher evaluations as governed by your state. However, teachers will complain about being told what to teach. You decide how to teach the lesson and what materials to use. Don’t let negativity bring you down when preparing a lesson.
After printing out the standards, check out if your class has a physical or digital textbook. Follow along with the textbook. Most of these educational textbooks will have activities aligned with teaching standards. Check out educational websites and look for free or paid resources. TeachersPayTeachers.com is a great place to find free content as well as paid. Please check the reviews before purchasing products. Paying for poor quality work is pretty annoying.
Also, talk to your colleagues. I hope that you have a mentor or a buddy teacher. This person can be a great resource. You will feel very alone in deciding lessons for your class. The responsibility of it can be nerve-wracking. If you care and you’re trying your best, that’s all that really matters. It’s okay to have a terrible lesson. I still do. It happens to everyone. This lesson could be something you love and hold on to or something that goes right into the trash. You’re learning!
Brainstorm a list of concepts and ideas to be taught in your content. Create a checklist if you have time. Keep this information in your lesson plan binder. Listen, I didn’t do this my first few years. I spent many nights planning the night before feeling clueless. Take your time and be easy on yourself.