I have spent a lot of time thinking about this idea of being "schooled up." After being observed recently, my advisor has asked me to list some things before the procedures (Standards, concepts, focus question, etc). I was fine with all of them except the focus question was giving me a little trouble. After talking with my co-op about my frustration with lesson plans, we decided to try me running a rehearsal with out a plan and also teach a 7th grade general music class with just my co-op's notes of activities to do. Perhaps this is sacreligious, however, I felt so free. The rehearsal and class went so well. The lessons flowed so much better and I felt that the students were really engaged. I tend to go back to my written lesson plans and make sure that I have hit everything that I wrote, however, not having mandatory points to make and just a general idea of what sort of things I wanted the students to come away from the lesson with made the lesson more REAL for me.
Of course, I realize that I do need to write lesson plans as a requirement of the profession. I have come to the conclusion that while it is important to have a thought process behind lessons - know what, why and how- it is listing all of these things and thinking about the 8-step lesson model that might end up holding us back as educators if we let it.
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I had a student teacher that had a lot of problem with lesson writing also. She found that some of the lesson ideas she had did not fit the model that she had learned. Not all lessons - even really good lessons - are going to fit the same model.
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