This semester, I had the opportunity of implementing and instructing a lesson plan pertaining to cognitive foundations for my adolescent development class. I found this experience to be life changing, in the sense that this was the last validation or stepping stone I needed to know that I wanted to be an educator, not because of how I performed as an educator, but the amount of information I had the privilege of receiving from the amazing students in our adolescent development class.
Often times when policy makers or educators stress the importance of community and culture, it can often become mired due to the terminology reflecting an emerging buzzword in education, and when this phenomenon occurs, it transcends its original intent and often becomes an empty phrase that once had genuine meaning and intent. That being said, I cannot stress enough how impactful the community and culture of this particular classroom is, and it is not facilitated solely by one person, but it is a joint entity between the students and the educator to ensure that each voice is considered valid. I believe this community and culture derives from the first impression of the educator and how much they value the students in the class. I intentionally refrain from saying “their” students, or “my students,” as I feel that presupposes a certain top-down relationship between the educator and the students that can’t be reciprocated, I believe it is essential for an educator to be a facilitator, but it always bothers me when I have seen educators not regard what some students have to say is valid. Community and culture begins with an open and honest dialog from the educator. In this case, they lay out expectations and set the tone for the entire class, and this is a crucial point in which the educator decides whether or not they can open their mind to reciprocating knowledge between themselves and the students. I firmly believe there must be an equal exchange between students and the educator in terms of knowledge and perspective. My most meaningful classes have been discussion based, because there is a rare, but truly exciting opportunity in which everyone has an open form to express their ideas and thought without fear of judgement if it is implemented correctly by a facilitator. I’ve found that ever Professor of Education at Saint Michael’s College has excelled in this department, and for me, this sense of equality, and the conviction that the educator learns from students is something that I not only emulate, but it is something I strive to uphold.
When I began creating my lesson plan for my adolescent development class, I wanted to ensure that I could provide every opportunity for discussion whenever I deemed fit. I laid my lesson plan out in a way that I provided a cursory look into a subject within the chapter of cognitive foundations (the chapter I selected) and I not only wanted to connect terminology to real life applications (in this case how to engage students in the classroom), but I wanted students to provide examples in which they thought the definition would fit into the “real world.” For example, when talking about Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, I had students discuss how they as future educators could engage students in a math class when they might be musically oriented, or artistically oriented. This provided an opportunity for think-pair-share in which people could take the time to think about the definition of Multiple Intelligences, pick a specific intelligence, and demonstrate how it could apply to a engage a student. My lesson plan emphasized the importance of accommodating both the learning needs of students, but how to capture intrinsic motivators to keep students interested in a subject they otherwise are not fond of.
I don’t believe my lesson plan is perfect by any means (which can be referenced at the bottom of the page) but I don’t believe there is a perfect lesson plan. A plan is meant to be a strategic outline in which we can create a coherent network of ideas and information that can be discussed in a sensible way between students and the educator. Specifically, I found that I would often deviate from my lesson plan, which I felt comfortable doing, because when I found a natural flow of intellectual conversation between students, I found that point of engagement, when there were little pauses for participation, this, in my opinion, is where some of the best opportunities for learning begin, because it is an uninterrupted flow of thought and perspective that is pure. The terminology might not be quite there, but the intent and the passion shines through which provides a chance for there to be clarification, and connection of main themes within a lesson. My biggest fault was going significantly over time, but I was not worried about finishing the lesson, because I know regardless of how far we went into the lesson plan, students would leave with the information and confidence they need to further explore, but more importantly, they would leave remembering what we discussed, because I aimed to engage everyone in an equal conversation, which is paramount to a lesson. I respect the merits of a primarily lecture based format, but I believe that there is a propensity for one to disengage because they are not convinced they are on the same plane of conversation between other students and the educator, which is unfortunate loss of passion and deliberation, that being said, there are also brilliant opportunities to make a lecture work even better than a discussion, but I believe this is a stylistic choice, and not a necessity. I do however believe that there has to be point in which there is conversation, because it reminds students that the educator is vested in student input and perspective.
