Dear teachers

Your high school students will spend their adolescent years in school. It is my hope that during
these years, your students will grow not only in maturity, but in attaining high standards at
school. It is my belief that students can achieve high standards if teachers, students along with
parents and guardians work together.

The following are a few expectations of teachers and students. If both parties live up to these
expectations, your students can achieve higher standards at school. The TEACHER PLANNER
is designed to help students achieve high standards.

(the expectation below are extracted from the document TRIPARTITE AGREEMENT FOR
SUCCESS developed 2009 by Loveda Jones, former director, HEART Trust/NTA. The full
document includes expectations of parent and Guardians)

Loveda Folkes (nee’ Jones)

THE SCHOOL

THE TEACHER

I will

 Plan lessons effectively and be effective facilitator of students’ learning

 Set the example by being punctual at school and classes everyday, except when
unavoidably absent
 Provide students with feedback and encouragement on their progress and work with them
to facilitate their success
 Encourage communication/feedback from students as a tool measure their own
effectiveness and provide better/ increase learning opportunities for students.
 Work at fostering harmonious relationship with students in a effort to create an
environment or trust, learning and mutual respect.
 Attend at least one PTA meeting each term and encourage a working relationship with all
parents of students.

THE PRINCIPAL

I will

 Administer the affair of the school in the best interest of all stakeholders ( school board
members, teachers and staff, students, parents and wider community) by employing the
“best practices” available.
 Ensure the maintenance of a learning environment accessible to all students thereby
enabling them to reach their full potential.
THE STUDENT

I will

 Attend school and classes on time every day, except in cases of approved absence
 Participate in classes and work diligently to achieve high standards
 Exhibit exemplary behaviour and endeavour to be a model student
 Take responsibility for my own learning by setting achievable goals and diligently
working to achieve them, by seizing the opportunities that teachers and institution
provide
 Always show respect for self and all others – teachers, staff, fellow students, parents/
guardians.

“I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I’m the decisive element in the classroom.

It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather.

As a teacher, i possess a tremendous power to make child’s life miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.

I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal.

In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de- escalated

And a child humanized of dehumanized.

Haim Ginott
 Dear teacher

Welcome to a new school year. This TEACHER PLANNER is designed to help you plan your activities
effectively so that you can demonstrate the highest standard of performance of which you are capable so
that you can help your students to achieve high standards.

Use it well and soar to new higher height Loveda Folkes (nee’ Jones)

WHY PLAN

Planning is important as it help the teachers to

 Define targets clearly

 Develop and outline a clear purpose for lessons
 Organize and structure lessons efficiently
 Monitor and evaluate students’ achievement systematically
 Organize and be engaged in on-going learning
 Foster supportive and co-operative relationship between school and home
 Improve the quality of teaching and standards of education

WHY A TEACHER PLANNER

The TEACHER PLANNER:

Is a valuable resource to help you outline and organize your lesson plans and other
teaching resources
Has a section for you to record your goals for each term of the school year
Contains an outline for an action plan for each term to the school year.

Will the TEACHER PLANNER help the teacher to be more effective?

Definitely! The teacher PLANNER outlines several strategies which, if used effectively, will enable the
teacher to assist students to raise their standards of achievement.

Let’s examine a few of these strategies:

Setting Goals

It is important for teachers to set goals – general goals and specific goals. Setting goals and
planning to achieve them are the keys to teacher being effective. Please be reminded that short
term goals must be SMART.

Smart clearly state the target you intend to achieve

e.g. i will administer at least one test to each class each
month.
Measurable Goals must be measureable so that the teacher can measure
his/her progress.
e.g. i will help students to improve grades in mathematics by
at least 5% by the end of the term
Achievable Be realistic and set goals that are attainable
Not achievable I will give each class six (6) tests each week
I will keep up-to-date in my subjects area by reading
5000 pages of related material each week.

Achievable I will give each class a monthly test

I will keep up-to-date in my subjects area by reading

10 pages of related literature each week.
Relevant The goals the teacher sets should help him/her to grow
personally and academically and help students to attain
higher standards.
Time - bound It is important that teachers set time lines ( when the target
will be achieved)
Eg: i will grade and return all assignments to students not
later than three (3) days after they are collected and students
will also receive feedback.
 PERSONAL GOALS

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WRITING EFFECTIVE LESSON PLANS

What is a lesson plan?

A lesson plan is a detailed plan for what students will need to learn and how it will be taught. It
is a reference point for delivering instruction and engaging students in learning. The key
components of a lesson plan are:

Objectives
Content
Teaching and learning activities
Assessment strategies
OBJECTIVES

Objectives describe what it is that students achieve in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes.
They are descriptors of what students will be able to demonstrate as a result of a learning
process. Objectives are formulated with an active verb describing what the student will be able to
do.

Why are objectives important?

Objectives determine the content and the assessment strategies

teachers know what students are expected to learn
the focus instruction shifts from teachers to the students
students know what they are expected to learn

In writing objectives it is important that you determine what kind of higher level thinking you
would like students to engage in. Objectives are generally organized into three categories known
as domains. These are:

Cognitive domain
Performance domain
Affective domain

Cognitive domain

This involves the mental processing of information and extends for from recall to evaluation.
They are learning outcomes that will enable students to demonstrate their knowledge,
understanding, awareness, analysis, creativity and skill of evaluation.

Performance

These are outcomes that will enable students to apply their knowledge in completing a practical
task.

Affective

These are key skills that the students could develop but are not necessarily assessed. It can be
described as values, personal feelings, beliefs that result in tendency of the learner to act a certain
way.
CONTENT

The content should be aligned to the objectives and help in the attainment of the objectives.
When selecting content, attention should be paid to

 Sequence
 Continuity
 Integration

Sequence

It is important that content is present progressively in order to build on previous knowledge

acquired. Basic concepts should first be introduced to prepare students to absorb more complex
concepts. Attention should, therefore, be paid to how the content is organised while increasing
students’ breadth of the subject matter.

Continuity

The content should build on previous knowledge acquired by the students and in the process
expand their learning. These should be a clear connection of what they previously learnt.

Integration

Content should be integrated across subject matter. Examples should be used from other subject
matter to illustrate particular concepts. In this way students will not compartmentalize their
learning and will begin to develop a unified approach to learning.

TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

Learning should be designed to involve the students as an active part of the process. The teacher
should not dominate, but should provide opportunities though the selection of appropriate
activities to allow students to discover their own learning. It is important that the teacher does
not rely on giving lecture from the textbook as the main method of instruction. Student should be
presented with issues and problems and the teacher should facilitate instruction to help students
solve these problems. Examples of teaching strategies that will involve the students include:
 ACTIVITIES INVOLVING STUDENTS
Activity Matrix Pass a problem Questioning
Brainstorming Projects Based Learning Simulation
Discussions Role-play Technology
integration
Drama Roundtable Guided discovery
learning
Fishbowl Group work Jigsaw

1. Assessment

Assessment is collecting and making judgements about the extent to which learning goals
have been achieved. It is closely aligned with objectives as it is a systematic way of
measuring the extent to which objectives have been achieved. Assessment can be formative
or summative. Formative assessment is given to student throughout the lesson while
summative assessment is given at the end of the term. Tests are not the only method of
conducting assessment. The teacher should identify various methods for conducting
performance – based assessment.

ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES
Written assessment Teacher observation Labs
Checklist Paired tasks Problem sets
Quiz Concept maps Self-evaluation
Fishbowl Portfolio assessment Peer-evaluation

Teaching is the profession that makes all other profession possible

Anonymous