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Planning For Instruction Evidence

Long-Range Planning

Long-range planning is the road map to student success throughout the year. It is the first stage in planning for student academic success and involves translating the Virginia Department of Education standards for both my earth science and biology courses, into methodically organized, appropriately sequenced units that include appropriate learning experiences for curriculum goals and content standards throughout the year with regard to the school calendar. 

Above: Virginia Department of Education's Earth Science Framework adopted by the Virginia DOE in 2010. To begin long-range planning, I analyze the DOE's SOL framework, for both my biology and earth science classes, which detail each standard's primary topics, essential understandings, and essential knowledge and skills each student is expected to learn by the end of that standard's unit. 

Familiarizing myself with this framework is of paramount importance as I successfully translate each aspect of the framework into effective content contained within unit and lesson plans. Once each standard, its primary topics, essential understandings, and essential knowledge and skills are internalized, I begin to identify key vocabulary and essential questions for each standard which will assist in later development of unit and lesson plans and their organization as well as help to identify cross-cutting content and skills which will be spiraled as focal points throughout the year in various units. This task is best accomplished through collaboration. The other two biology teachers and I meet twice a month for common-content planning to discuss what topics and skills should be emphasized in various units throughout the year.

Above: Biology Department Meeting Notes. Each common content meeting for the first half of the year is displayed above. During these meetings the two other biology teachers and I collaboratively plan to design and jointly deliver as appropriate learning experiences to meet unique learner needs. The consistency of these meetings shows that we value planning as a collegial activity that takes into consideration the input of learners, colleagues, families, and the larger community.

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Although this data (September 11, 2019) was during the second week of school, and after my long-range plan was developed, you can see the two topics identified as worthy of emphasis are scientific investigation skills and content vocabulary comprehension. These two topics were chosen primarily because of what our analysis of the previous year's biology SOL student data revealed: that students scored the lowest on questions relating to scientific investigation, as displayed by the artifacts below. Vocabulary was also chosen because a school-wide initiative was integrated to enhance cross-curricular and content vocabulary the previous year.

SOL ES 2019 Data full_censored.jpg
SOL ES 2019 Data.jpg

Above: 2019 Spring Earth Science SOL Reporting Category Average Scores. These scores show how we as a department came to the conclusion that a major emphasis within content throughout the year should be place on scientific investigation. This data and the clear decision made from the data also shows that I understand the strengths and needs of individual learners as I plan instruction that is responsive to these strengths and needs. Although the meeting notes are for biology and the data is for the EOC earth science SOL, the students whose scores are depicted above are the students who we are currently teaching biology to this year. This is one of many instructional focuses throughout the year which proves I take professional responsibility to use short- and long-term planning as a means of assuring student learning based on learning needs of individuals and as a group.

Below are my long-range plans for both biology and earth science, respectively. I have translated the essential understandings and essential knowledge and skills into key vocabulary sections and essential questions. Additionally, it is in each standard of my long-range plan that I include the content-related questions from previously released end of course (EOC) SOL subject tests as reference, as well as the learning experiences of lab and project based learning activities and assessments which are appropriate for the curriculum goals of each standard. The actions I have taken to create these documents displays my abilities to select and create learning experiences that are appropriate for curriculum goals and content standards and are relevant to learners.

The final stage in my long-range plan process involves converting the standards into units and strategically organizing them throughout the year in a way that makes the most sense with regard to progression of content knowledge. This is a very meticulous process which involves counting the number of A-days and B-days in each quarter, paying close attention to holiday and extended break dates, and assigning each unit a certain number of classes with target dates for completing the material contained in each unit. My rationale for the length of each unit is based largely on prior experience coupled with analyzing the breadth and depth of information contained in each unit standard.

 

I begin each course with the foundational skills and knowledge for that subject. For example, in both my earth science and biology classes we begin with laboratory safety, scientific method, and experimental design; skills which traverse all subjects within the realm of the sciences. The knowledge and skills contained in these lessons are of paramount importance and key identifiers of learning gaps in basic scientific inquiry. Below are my long-range plan timelines accounting for an entire year's worth of learning for both biology and earth science, respectively.

In order to prepare my students to achieve a successful passing score on their EOC SOL test--an incredibly important feat as this awards them class credit as they work towards their high school diploma requirements--I have intentionally planned for at least two weeks of content and testing strategy remediation and review in the classes immediately preceding the science SOL testing window, which lasts for one week from May 5th to May 11th each year. You will notice in the long-range timeline for earth science that the sub-standards of ES.8 are broken into different units. The reasoning for this is because through a thorough analysis of content standards and previous experience, I have come to the conclusion that standards ES.8d-f, which regard Virginia's freshwater resources, best fit into Unit 7 which contains content on Virginia's physiogeographic provinces and the renewable and non-renewable resources which are harvested in each of these reasons. Including content on the local freshwater resources throughout the state makes more sense and provides greater connection than if I were to prolong the content exposure of these sub-standards to my students in a later unit altogether. 

Timeliness of each unit is very important. When creating my long-range plans I give great consideration to end-of-quarter dates, holidays, and extended breaks, such as Thanksgiving, Winter, and Spring Break and adjust the start and end of quarters accordingly. The rationale behind this consideration is primarily centered around accuracy of data regarding student learning as well as the larger community in which I teach. The timeline of each unit within my long-range plan must remain flexible in anticipation of incorporating reteaching lesson days, as well as snow days and any additional unforeseen circumstances, if I am to enhance learning and meet each student's learning needs. This flexibility and foresight is a display of my belief that plans must always be open to adjustment and revision based on learner needs and changing circumstances.

 

Meticulous planning and deep understanding of the content standards allows me to organize the curriculum in a way which will yield the best possible understandings and connections for my students. Although each and every class period throughout the year for both A- and B-days is accounted for in each of these long-rang plan timelines, the timelines, target dates, and number of lessons must remain flexible enough to account for the incorporation of reteaching lessons as efforts to correct identified gaps in learning. Ultimately, these plans serve as a guide of content standard and unit organization from one topic to the next throughout the year, however, they are not set in stone and require a certain degree of flexibility if I am to ensure success for each and every one of my students. 

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