A Guide to Lesson Plans and Syllabi

Introduction
Being a teacher is a huge role not only to a classroom of students but also in society because they are responsible for educating next generations. Teachers have many genres of writing within their field. Two very important types of writing that are done for the classroom are lesson plans and syllabi. Understanding writing in Education requires more than just a familiarity with these forms. Being successful in the field also requires an understanding of community, technology, terminology and genres of education. Lesson plans are a teachers detailed narrative of how one class will be run. Teachers arent the only people involved in creating a lesson plan. They get a lot of help from the community within the field. This community is made up of other teachers, administrators, counselors, and district heads. There also is special terminology and technology along with creating lesson plans. A syllabus works along side lesson plans. Syllabi inform the students, as well as the parents of what is going to take place during a years/semesters time. This is very helpful to teachers as well because it keeps them on track and tells them what will be in a lesson plan on a given day. A syllabus, like a lesson plan, is created with the teaching community; collaboration is key. In the guild, I describe the goals and forms of lesson plans and syllabi. I will also touch upon the genres included within the field as well as the technology and terminology that go along with lesson plans and syllabi. I gathered my information from a primary research interview of a former teacher who wishes to remain anonymous so we will call her Megan Jones. She is a reading intervention specialist at a school in the Columbus area. She has a lot of experience in the classroom from teaching for about ten years and was very helpful throughout my research.

Community Goals for Lesson Plans

There is a community created among teachers in the education field. The goal is to bring each student to the next level of knowledge. This goal is accomplished with the help of lesson plans and syllabi. There are goals specific to creating a lesson plan, starting with finding what content standard is being met. The main community goal for teachers is to construct a dynamic lesson plan to successfully enrich their students with knowledge. The community works together to meet this goal. Collaboration is a huge part in creating every lesson plan. There is collaboration among teachers, among administrators and throughout people higher in the district. The community includes teachers within the same content area, grade, school and district. These people play a part in

creating the lesson plan. Teachers of the same content area: This community is made up of the teachers that teach the same subject. This communitys goal is to create lesson plans together. They collaborate on which content standard is being met. The community decides upon how the lesson will be run, what assignments, and evaluations that will be used for the students. Teachers of the same grade: The community of the all subjects in the same grade. It is important for the grade to collaborate to remain aware of what is going on in the other classrooms that the students are in. This makes it less likely to overload your students with too much work among all subjects. Teachers within the school: This community collaboration is important because you are all a part of the same team that is working together with every student enrolled Teachers within the district: It is very important for a teacher to be aware of what is going on within the district they are involved in. This would include a board of administrators that makes decisions across the district that affects each teacher and classroom individually.

From my research, Megan Jones shared with me that her community sits down to see and plan out what will be done yearly, monthly, weekly and daily. They collaborate as a department, as a core content level and with co-teacher/classroom teacher. The teachers differentiate and try to find ways for the students creativity to be involved in the lesson plan. They attempt to stray away from the typically note taking or worksheet approach while creating lesson plans. Although sometimes lecturing is the best way to meet a specific content standard, so note taking and worksheets are needed.

Community Goals for Syllabi

The way that teachers create a syllabus is very similar to the way they create a lesson plan. The first step is collaboration. The communities that collaborate for lesson plans also collaborate for syllabi. They do this before the school year starts with the teaching department of the grade. While creating a syllabus teachers use the curriculum map or the Ohio Core are very helpful while creating a syllabi. A big difference from lesson plans is that a syllabus is for the students and the parents of students. This is a change in audience, which means they must be created with grade level in mind. It is important to organize a syllabus off into sections with headings so students and parents know the main expectations of the course from beginning to end (Jones). Contact information is very important as well. This is the first time the teachers identity is being presented to the students and parents and you want to make sure you are available to them. For co-taught classes like the one Megan Jones teaches in, they sit down and create a separate syllabus so the parents are aware that there are two teachers in the classroom and both contact teachers presented as well. A syllabus for a co-taught classroom will also explain to students and parents why it will be helpful to the students and get information across in a class/years

time.

Genre
Genre is of course incorporated in the field of education. What genre is defined varies among people. Teachers dont just teach one form of writing, they attempt to hit upon all genres. The Ohio Core Content Map actually helps tell them what genres need to be taught (Jones). Some common genres taught are: Academic writing, including research Expressive writing, such as poetry Debate and persuasive writing Resumes and cover letters, in career courses

Teachers need to be well experienced in working with these genres. It is important for success of their students and classroom. They need to know how to construct different genres in ways that are suitable for the specific grade of students. In order for teachers to teach the lesson they need strong content knowledge of each genre. Focusing more on what the teacher does, a lesson plan is a genre itself as well as a syllabus. Lesson plans are a genre of writing that all teacher are very familiar with. Genres vary in complexity depending on the particular curriculum content standards being met as well as the subject. Some things that lesson plans might include: Content standing being met: Every lesson has a reason it is being taught and that is because of the content standard set by the state. Objectives: These aid in giving a clear statement to the students of what is being taught and what will be learned. Resources: It is important to share with your students where the information is drawn from. This way they can also refer to them on their own while studying. Materials: These are drawn out ahead of time. This is so teachers have everything ready for the students as for what they will need during the lesson and to meet the objectives. Assignments: Classwork and homework pertaining to the objective to help reinforce the lesson. Evaluations: Teachers must know how they will be testing their students on learning. Quizzes, tests, project or presentations for example. Accommodations: This is for students with exceptionalities. This is very important to have a plan for these students to be sure that every student is getting the highest level of learning.

A teacher creates a lesson plan with the students in mind. Lessons plans provide teachers with a written schedule to keep them organized while running class each

day. There is a general outline of a lesson plan that teachers can follow but it is completely to their discretion regarding how they run the classroom. The genre of the syllabus is closely related to lesson plans but have different components. Syllabi are created for both the student but also for the parents. The syllabus is given in the beginning of the school year or semester to inform the student what is expected of them in the specific class. In the earlier years of schools, including middle school, teachers typically require students to take the syllabus home and have their parent or guardian sign it so that they parents are involved in the learning process as well.

Lesson Plan Forms

There are general forms to creating a lesson. They vary in complexity. To the right there is a typical lesson plan form. How a typical lesson plan (see left) is formed varies because it is based on the teacher and subject. There is a general outline of a lesson plan that teachers can follow but it is completely to their discretion of how they run the classroom. A first year teacher would create a much more elaborate lesson plan than one that has been teaching for many years.

Syllabi Forms
A syllabus has much more of a general form that is generally followed. They typically include a tentative schedule of the year/semester. They also include the materials needed for class. This is an opportunity to tell the students what is expected in the classroom including rules, regulations and requirements. An important thing to include in a syllabus is important dates such as projects, quizzes, tests and presentations. This allows students to not be surprised about anything during the course because they are already scheduled. The syllabus is also an opportunity for teachers to explain their grading technics or procedures. Some teachers like to add a little bio about themselves in their syllabi just to be on more of a personal level with their students. To the left you can see a sample syllabus that Megan Jones sent me. This example for an English class that she co-teaches.

Being knowledgeable about this genre is important to a teacher. A syllabus is very informative and helpful to students and parents of students. It gives a clear idea of what to expect during the year/semester and strengthens the success of each student.

Technology
In the field of education technology is evolving and becoming more prevalent in the classroom. Students are becoming more knowledgeable about the use of technology and teachers are finding more outlets to include it in lesson plans. For example, today the use of smart-boards during lessons is very common. Smart-boards connect to the teachers computer and allow the students to be more involved and interactive. For technology like this, teachers have professional development to teach them how to use new technology and programs. Some other examples of technology used in the classroom are:

Microsoft Power Point and Prezi: These are presentation programs that
allow teachers to present information easily as well as add examples and style to engage students. Overhead Projector: This is also useful for presenting notes as well as class discussions because teachers and students can write on the overhead and it will be projected on the wall for everyone to see. This also helps engage the students. The ELMO: This is a new technology that is becoming more popular. It is an updated overhead that instead of projecting with a light, the picture is projected by a camera. This allows teachers to project more than just transparencies. For more information on the ELMO you can visit their website: http://www.elmousa.com/about-us Cell Phones: This is becoming more common in the classroom used for polling the students because students typically have their cell phone and you can create surveys and voting on a particular topic in class. Internet Resources such as You Tube: These can be used to give examples in a lesson. This draws students attention and also reinforces the lesson being learned. Khan Academy: This is also a new technology that is being introduced to schools. This is an interactive program fro math classes where students can challenge themselves with assignment. Teachers have the power to tract their students progress as well. For more information on Khan Academy you can refer to their website: http://www.khanacademy.org/about

There are other obvious technologies that teachers use while creating lesson plans and syllabi. Microsoft word and PowerPoint are typically used on a daily basis in the classroom. As for creating lesson plans, teacher co-workers sometimes use Google docs (Jones). This is an outlet where teachers collaborate together very easily because it fits into everyones schedule because they can collaborate on their free time and everyone still gets all the information.

All of these technologies are important to a teachers success in the classroom. They need to know how to utilize these programs to enhance their classroom. These programs allow for students to be more evolved in their learning and will be very helpful incorporated with lesson plans.

Terminology
Lesson plans play a huge role for teachers and for students. Lesson plans are
important to successfully facilitate the classroom. It helps teachers organize and have a schedule of what need to be taken care of in a days time. A lesson plan for one day is connected and collaborated with the previous lesson plan as well as the following. A lesson plan also is important for a student. Students run a schedule while in school and the lesson plan on incorporated in to this schedule. The teacher tells students how the class is expected to run for the day. The role of the syllabi is to inform the students of what is expected of them during the classs term. This role is very important because it sets the precedent of class. It provides the student with some clues on how class will be facilitated and what the role the student has within the classroom.

Content Standards are standards that describe what students should know and
be able to do in core academic subjects at each grade level. Content standards are set by the state. Teachers must create lesson plans and syllabi based of the content standards because they must be met each year. This is to keep grade level constant across state.

Curriculum is set across a K-12 level by the schools and is also created based on
the content standards. This means that the state does have influence on them but they differentiate across districts.

Common Core State Standards are built to provide a clear understanding of

what is to be taught. This helps both teachers and parents in helping their children. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers, (http://www.corestandards.org)

Professional Development is a service that is provides to teachers by the

district to update content knowledge and pedagogical skills of every teacher. This is very important for teachers to continue to strengthen their skills and knowledge to always make sure they are giving their best to their students.

Conclusion
As is evident from this guide, understanding writing in education necessitates an understanding of a diverse set of social dynamics, as well as forms and technologies

that are used by teachers. I hope that this guide helps to gain content knowledge in writing lesson plans and syllabi as well as advances the knowledge of technologies and terminology in the discourse community.

Appendix
Interview conducted October 28th 2013 through email with Megan Jones. What are some of the different roles or positions while creating a lesson plan? o As for lesson plans, our district does not require this, however, when we sit down to see what we will do yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, here are some things we do: o COLLABORATE as a department o COLLABORATE core content level o COLLABORATE co-teacher/classroom teacher How do you go about constructing a lesson plan and syllabi? o When writing or creating a syllabus for our classes we first like to collaborate with other teachers in the same subject. For example, for English 9, we collaborate in the summer and all through the year. This helps keep a main focus on what we will be teaching throughout the year, when and what core standards we will be teaching, through what materials and how, and how we will assess students. From there, we then individualize the syllabus to each teacher. o It is important to remember who the audience is. In this case, grade level of student and for parents to understand. It is important to section it off into sections with headings so students/parents know the main expectations of the course from beginning to end. Contact information is a must!!! o For the co-taught classes, we (Mrs. OConnor and myself) sit down together and even create a different syllabus for these classes so parents can see that two teachers are in the class and how two teachers will be teaching and how it will help the students and get information across. Using the curriculum map or the Ohio Core is a big one for guidance. What types of tools and technologies are used in creating lesson plans and syllabi? o Lots of staff is now using Google Docs. We have professional development on many new technology and programs that are offered for use to sign up for. (Schoology, Google Docs, etc.) o Technology-we use overhead, ELMO, Phones for polling the class, PREZI, YOUTUBE, Khan Academy, etc. What kinds of genres are used the teaching profession? o We do not just teach one form of writing--we hit upon all genres, as that is what we need to follow on the Ohio Core Content Map. However, all four years we practice academic writing, (research), expressive writing, poetry, debate/persuasive, etc

References
Common Core State Standard Initiative. 2010, http://www.corestandards.org Jones, Megan (anonymous). Personal interview. 28 Oct. 2013. E-mail.