Great Planning

When great lesson planning gets translated into great lessons, a strong teacher is essential. They make the difference between the student never quite getting it and the lesson being a success. But when lousy lesson planning gets translated into lousy lessons, even the greatest teacher can't help. The lesson is the product, and a great product needs a great sales person, in this case a teacher, to make it a success. It's a partnership of well crafted lessons and instructional sequences, and the teacher that makes it all go.

In most instances student do not just accept they need to learn what the teacher is teaching. They learn because of the benefits to them. A great lesson is more than the sum of its parts. It needs to connect to the student's life. These benefits are not usually obvious to the naked eye, but it is up to the teacher to demonstrate these benefits.

Students still need to know why they should want to learn what you're teaching. They need to be told, explained, and demonstrated what it will do for them. At our desks we make standards based data driven lessons. In front of the students, we sell hope, that is education innovation. The more I learn HOW kids learn, not what they learn, the less I have in common with teachers.