Have you heard this saying, “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail?” Or this one, “Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” Maybe Winnie-the-Pooh (as written by A. A. Milne) said it best, “Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”
As many of you began implementing the Tabor Rotation Framework you asked how I help schools plan for small-group, differentiated instruction. Here are some suggestions…
1. Gather Materials to assist with planning.
Some suggestions:
*All the data you can get your hands on
*Scope & Sequence, Time Lines from District or State
*Bring all the resources available such as textbooks, teacher’s guides, investigations, internet web sites, manipulative lists, old lesson plans, etc.
*Any information about the students’ interests and learning styles
*Public-Release tests from the state for your grade level and several grades above you
*A large year-long calendar
*Blank Tabor Rotation Planning Guide
*Skeleton planning guides
2. Give each participant an active role in the planning process so that you “sink or swim together.” One person could do the writing on the large chart paper or board, one person could be looking through the curriculum guides, one person could be looking through the paper resources, one person could be taking notes on the computer, or one person could be on the internet looking for resources.
3. Determine the most difficult concepts to learn/teach for the year.
*Think about why they are the most difficult.
*List the methods for instructing these concepts in the past.
*Compare your list with the rest of the school.
*Look at the disaggregated data from the school the students attend after they leave your school.
4. Locate the difficult concepts in your current scope and sequence.
*Plot these difficult concepts into a year-long school calendar so that you will know which concepts to teach in Teacher Time.
*Highlight concepts that will need to have mass or distributed practice for mastery.
5. Create a large “skeleton” planning guide for the first grading period. Put the most difficult concepts into the Teacher Time section of each week. Put testing dates, holidays, shortened days, field trips, etc. into the calendar.
6. Determine additional concepts for each week of instruction. Keep in mind the concrete-to representational-to abstract sequence for deep understanding of a concept.
*Place the concepts that lend themselves to the use of manipulatives in the Manipulative Station.
*Place the concepts that lend themselves to games in the Games Station.
*Place the concepts that have technology or other support in the Technology/Application Station.
7. Begin completion of the skeleton for the first week. Put the initials of the person in charge of gathering the information beside the activity.
a. Determine the Teacher Time content.
b. Determine the Manipulative, Games, and Technology/Application content.
c. List the important vocabulary for the concepts to be studied that week. Determine methods for instructing the vocabulary so that it is meaningful, applicable, and robust.
d. Place simple concepts in the Whole-Group Mini-Lessons. Determine methods for instruction that will be engaging.
e. List the connections students might make to these concepts in their own life.
f. List 1-2 comprehension strategies that lend themselves to the instruction occurring during the week.
g. Sketch concepts into an Application Menu for Thursday & Friday Independent/Partner Application.
h. Create Application Menu of Options or list alternate independent/partner activities for Days 4 & 5 when the teacher is meeting with Readiness Groups.
i. List concepts for each week on the Differentiated Readiness Sheet in preparation to go “Clipboard Cruising.”
j. Think about pre-assessment, formative assessment, and summative assessment needs. Place those into each week.
8. Repeat for the remaining weeks of the grading period.
Remember, “It pays to plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”