Lesson Plan vs Lesson Planning
Lesson Plan vs Lesson Planning
Program leaders (directors/administrators) don’t love it when I say this, but I say it anyway: Lesson Plans are a piece of paper. That’s it. That’s all they are. Anyone can fill out a lesson plan. They don’t reflect where the children are in their development or show what a child knows. They are a piece of paper.
Lesson Planning is way more important than the paper on the wall. It is done with the child in mind. Early childhood professionals who truly support and guide the children in their care know the roles observation and documentation play in the lesson planning process.
These educators use their observations to guide their plans for young children—what materials to offer and how to extend their play (and learning). While they observe the children, they document the learning that takes place. This act of observing and documenting learning makes the learning visible.
The photos in this email are all evidence of learning. They were not MY ideas on a piece of paper. They were the worthy ideas of YOUNG CHILDREN. I was responsible for using my early childhood knowledge and experience to understand what was being learned, what skills they developed, and how to help them meet their developmental goals.
While I may have had a plan for the day, I understood that my role was to support the thoughts and ideas of the children in my care. There was no way for me to pre-plan for the children being obsessed with a set of bones they found in the woods, but I could extend the plan that the children created for themselves.
Young children are competent and capable of guiding their learning. When we spend more time observing and documenting their play and less time focusing on a piece of paper, we can make a real difference in the lives of our youngest learners.
Want do learn more about this topic? Check out the resources below:
Using Observation to Guide Your Teaching
How-to-Guide: Reggio-Inspired Documentation
Learning to Document in Reggio-inspired Education
Book: Pedagogical Documentation in Early Childhood
Observation, assessment and planning
Observing, Planning, Guiding: How an Intentional Teacher Meets Standards through Play
