Detailed Lesson Plan
This is incredibly important. Due to outside work form the institution, some instructors (including myself) can't teach the same class every time, so we have a very detailed lesson plan that includes resources, day by day layouts and also we include a FAQ for adjunct instructors and let them know where students tend to struggle. This way we can have a consistent level of instruction regardless of who the instructor is.
Good points, I like the FAQ section, becaus if you teach certain courses more than once, you know where the student's seem to struggle.
A detailed lesson plan is very important also you should keep notes of important things that happen in class. If you are sick and someone has to cover for you it is important that they have as much information as they can.
Monte,
This is an excellent point. For some individuals, "simplistic" structuring works better than "complicated" structure. This premise falls in line with the "right brain/left brain" theory.
Tremayne Simpson
I don't know about too much detail tough. I tend to get lost if everything is too structured. I keep worrying about the details if laid out too much. I try to remember the exact order and feel stifled. I do better with an outline that I can fill in the details. I tend to stop and lok and see if I am in the right place at the exact right time. Then if I skip something it seems like I overlooked a lot of written materiel.
Good point. If someone has to pinch-hit for you, you don't want him/her floundering and the students lose out as a result. I've always had difficulty with lesson plans, determining what the "main points" were--always too many. I'm in process of re-doing my entire set of classes for a 2-week mini-course. I really need to determine clear objectives and go from there. Also shorten each presentation; cut classes into chunks, with short PEs to reinforce main points. Any advice is appreciated.
I beleive that a detialed lesson plan is important because I only teach 2 nites a week and sometimes it may be hard to remember where you left off when teaching the week before
Andres,
I agree. I also find that it is important to review/share the lesson plans from the prerequisite course, to make sure that the class is in alignment with the next one.
Tremayne Simpson
