Are you writing Lesson Plans or Learning Plans?

Audience: Math Teachers

I borrowed this topic from this month’s ASCD journal.  The editor posed this question to the readers in the opening letter and I admit it took me back.  It took me back to my “transitional” years as a teacher.  The years when I was teaching grades 4, 5 and 6 at Hadfield and I found myself shifting from a "teaching" platform to a "learning" platform.  These were the years, when I really began to ask myself some important questions about what I was asking kids to do with their time in my classroom.

What’s the difference between writing lesson plans and writing learning plans?

• Lesson plans are based on the standards, we can google the CCSS number and a pre-written lesson will pop up.  Print, copy and deliver for students.

• Learning plans are based on the learners.  We collect data on our learners with every interaction and we co-craft a learning experience with them that is responsive to what each student needs and aligns with student interests.

Learning Plans connect to an Essential Question and weave a coherent story that builds understanding.  

In math, it is easy to get very skill based in our learning opportunities.  There are many games and activities that build automaticity and give practice on skills and concepts that we know students need to be fluid with their math thinking.  

We should also spend time helping students look at the larger picture by framing conversations around the essential questions.  These essential questions help learners see the connectedness within math content areas and help them see math as a coherent study of the world around them.  

It is absolutely vital that learners see the purpose behind numeracy and how being flexible with your thinking is a life skill we grow while solving math problems.

Learning Plans are connected to learners through both where they are on a continuum as well as through contexts that are relevant and interesting to them.

We have built units on the SDW continuums that give our learners an entry point and the opportunity to move as far as they can on this continuum.  The data we collect from AVMR assessments, pre-assessments/exit tickets and CGI assessments, gives us information we use to tailor the instruction to meet the needs of individual learners. BUT ALSO, we consider the interests and passions of the learners.  Are we connecting them to a context for the math that is relevant to who they are?  Are we crafting tasks related to the world they live in and helping them find tasks that they want to solve?

Learning plans provide opportunities to learn that are actually connected to life.

I’ve been very excited to walk into classrooms and see learners exploring math as it relates to mini-golf and football games.  As students solve problems related to what they did this weekend or imagine math that connects to their STEaM/Inquiry unit of study, they are finding the empowerment that comes from understanding how math is a way to solve problems in the world around them.

So, thank you!  Thank you for creating contexts that learners CAN’T WAIT to dive into.  Thank you for finding ways to engage your learners in finding and solving problems that shape their lives!