Planning

Although I know I still have a long way to go and a lot of things to learn I feel I'm growing and I understand a little bit more every day. I find extremely useful my readings from Tomlinson and Wiggins & McTighe, they reveal so much useful information about how good planning should look and feel like. I have to admit that many times (maybe every time) I have planned lessons and activities with children I thought like the teacher in Tomlinson's 5th chapter: "I thought all they were supposed to do was read the story and do something with it". Or, better still, I thought that the list of criteria I use to select my activities has to have "being fun for kids" at the top of the list. It's not that I was not aware of the existence and importance of objectives and assessment strategies, but they were always in the background, eclipsed by other things that I considered to be more important. I am starting to view planning, objective writing and assessment in a new light. It is an important change of perspective. I feel I am much more critical with myself, with the lessons and units that I am trying to plan and with the teachers that I observe.