Mod 5: Unit 4: Act 3: Mentor meeting

For this activity I asked 5 questions to two teachers regarding how they approach lesson planning. The first is a Korean elementary English teacher with only 2 years of experience (one of my old co-teachers) and the second is a Canadian with over 10 years of experience who works at a university.

The following are the questions I asked.

1. Do you differentiate your lessons?

2. Where do you get your materials for the lesson plan?

3. Do you ask your students to evaluate your lessons?

4. How long before the lesson to you begin to plan?

5. Do you refer to your lesson plan during the class?

Korean teacher 

1. Unfortunately I do not use this technique in my class. In most Korean classes, we usually aim for the middle when it comes to our lessons. We try not to make a lesson too easy or difficult. I was never really taught how to differentiate when I was in my teachers training. It looks like it would take a lot of work to make sure that all students are being challenged, for example you would need a variety of worksheets for all the different levels I assume. I usually try to help the weaker students when we are doing in-class assignments. I also try to encourage the weaker students to speak by asking them many questions. The higher level students are usually quite bored because the material in the book is too easy for them. 

2. There are many sites where Korean teachers share a variety of PPT's, games, as well as video clips. I usually follow the lesson plan that the school provides but there are times when I can include some of my own material which is great.

3. Never! The lesson plans are already given to us and we can't change them. Some students find the book very boring and I feel bad but there is nothing I can do. This is why I show them videos or play games at the end of the lesson to get them excited about studying English. I include lots of songs which they love.

4. As I have said, the lesson plans are already set so there is little to think about which makes my job very easy but sometimes the content is very boring so it's hard to get the students excited about the class. On Friday, I look at what the next week's objectives are and then prepare the materials by searching the various websites if need be.

5. Yes, because I am a new teacher I don't feel very comfortable yet while teaching. I usually write all the objectives as well as all the steps on the board so I can use them as a guide while I teach my class. 

Welcome to Korea! The answers here, I would say, are quite typical. The big problem is that the teachers are expected to follow the teacher's guide to a tee. I mean, I have had co-teachers actually read out each word in the guide book during the class. The objectives are already written out , the types of games to be played listed, as well as the materials to be used. Differentiation is something that they may be familiar with (I think?), but do not employ in their class to a any degree. Of course, teachers will help the lower level students but there isn't a clear method in doing so. Since the lessons are already written out, it gives teachers here very little room to bring in their creative side. On  a more positive note, I have had teachers who hated the books so much that they used a lot of their own material to compliment the book. Overall, the teacher really didn't help me much with regards to lesson planning but it was interesting to see how different things can be between teachers (see below)

Canadian teacher

1. I have used several differentiation techniques during my time here in Korea, for example flexible grouping, assessment, inventories, tiered lessons. The one thing I do at the beginning of each semester is to do an inventory of the students interests. This way I can create lesson plans that best stimulate them. The hardest part of teaching here in Korea is getting the students "hooked", but once that is done, the rest comes easy in my opinion. I also use flexible groups depending on what is being covered. Sometimes I get the higher level students grouped with the lower ones, sometimes I group students according to their interests or sometimes I even let the students create their own groups. One thing with differentiation is that it doesn't come over night, this is something that you work on during your whole year and career. You add bits and pieces as you go along. Another key point is doing assessments before the lesson begins, this way you can get a good idea of what the students already know then you can prepare accordingly. 

2. The sites I use depend on the content that is being covered. Needless to say that I have collected a plethora of sites over the years that gives me easy access to materials. I also like to contribute to these sites as much as I take away. Its all about sharing ideas!

3. Yes I do. There is nothing better than getting the students point of view of how the lesson went. Remember, they are the ones who have to sit throughout the whole lesson, if they are not happy/bored, then the teacher should be aware of the reasons why so that changes could be made for future lessons. Unfortunately, students may not want to tell you the truth face to face so I give them a paper to fill out every once and a while. 

4. I usually have my lessons ready at least a week before I have to do them. I don't like doing them earlier than that because it's always good to know how the students are doing in the present lesson so that you can make adjustments for the next one. If the students are struggling with a certain topic, then you can include that in the next lesson as well. If you prepare too far in advance, its hard to incorporate that thing into an already finished lesson plan.

5. Not really! I have been doing this for a while and now have it all memorized more or less. I know what the objectives are for each unit, the materials I need to use as well as the way I will go about teaching. This was not something that occurred over night. There was a lot of trial and error in the past on my part but I think now I have it pretty much controlled. Of course, there are times when adjustments are needed

So, as you can clearly see, the differences between the two teachers couldn't be any clear. I was glad that I interviewed such polar opposites because it gave me a better idea of what takes to be a good lesson planner. Although the Korean teacher didn't give me much, the second teacher gave me more than I could chew. He was very informative and gave me lots to think about. In the last 6 years, I was never expected to write any lesson plans, so this is very new to me. The whole process is complicated before there are many things to think about. The good thing though about having  a lesson plan is that it serves as a guide for managing the learning environment. If the lesson plan is sound, then the class should produce good results. If not, then the lesson plan should be reanalyzed and changed for future classes.

Activity 4: Blog Post Summary

I think of all of the topics we have covered so far in the Teach now program, this has been one of the more challenging ones for me. The reason being is that I have never had to deal with "real" standards during my 9 years of teaching here in South Korea. As I have mentioned before in many past blog posts, my job here is fairly simple. I try to create fun and stimulating lessons based on the topics in the book(I never actually use the book itself because it is very boring and not nearly challenging enough for most of the students). I make sure the lesson objectives are met according to the teacher's guide (for example: students must be identify different colours) but it seems that no standards are in place at my school. We teach the topic but they are not really tested on it. To make matters worse, in Korea, students pass the grade no matter what kinda score they get, they may know nothing about a subject but because of their age they will go to the next level. It just seems that no real standards exist here.

After spending a lot of time on the Common Core Standards Initiative web page, I am much more aware of the steps needed in order to make sure the students meet the standards set by the state. I must say that I was very overwhelmed with the amount of information on the page but I did like the fact that it was very well organized and clear. The CCSI is important because it allows for all students to get the same kind of education throughout the states (although I'm sure it's not 100% perfect). Before the CCSI, each state had set their own standards for what the students should know and that made it hard to know how well they were doing overall compared with other states. The CCSI sets clear, strong, and consistent benchmarks to make it easier to compare where students are in the scheme of things.

One thing that Taylor mentioned during the last VC that really surprised me was that in some states, they not only have the standards already unpacked for the teachers but the lesson plans for each of those objectives are prepared in advance. I guess for a teacher just beginning their career, this takes a lot of the stress off the teacher because they don't have to spend copious amounts of time deciphering the best way to teach a standard to their students. On the other hand, for a veteran teacher, having all the lesson plans already
set for them may stifle them creatively. I really found the video on unpacking a standard in very useful, it should you exactly how to break down the standards into clear objectives.

One teachers dissects all these standards into individual goals, they need to create the curriculum (lesson plan). Proper teacher training is essential to ensure that they are creating proper lesson plans that get the students to meet those set standards. A good technique to use is backward mapping since it allows teachers to break the standard down into smaller chunks (different objectives to meet the one standard). Backward planning is effective to set academic objectives first, then writing lesson plans to meet those goals.By doing this, the student's success rate is much higher.Teachers must also develop assessments that gauge if the students have met the standard. This can be done using several techniques such using Rubrics, Concept Maps,and Group Quizzes.


Standards, although helpful with regards to giving you direction, doesn't actually help you get there. It is up to the teacher to come up with the lesson plans that will eventually lead them to reach those standards. I look forward to being in a school where there are standards to meet because I think that'll push me a little more to make sure that my lessons are not just well planned and executed, but actually meet the standards set for the school.