"Before anything else, preparation is the key to success."
-Alexander Graham Bell
"Yes, you know how long it takes when you change grades," I answered.
"Yes, I know," she replied.
Lead time matters when it comes to good teaching for many reasons:
Knowledge
First, it's important to know and understand the curriculum well with depth and breadth. When you are familiar with the standards, knowledge, and skills related to the curriculum you are better prepared to teach in a personalized and differentiated way. Knowing the curriculum allows you to anticipate the struggles, strategies, and enrichment students will face throughout the unit, and anticipating this helps you to choreograph the teaching/learning day so that it's smooth, student-friendly, and focused.
Materials Prep
Next, lead time gives you time to prepare the curriculum materials. The preparation for blended learning includes the following:
- collecting related books for your classroom library.
- finding posters and making signage for classroom displays.
- identifying online videos, games, and information sites for student access.
- creating a website to host all links and information for 24-7 access.
- reviewing all in-house curriculum materials.
- personalizing and enriching current materials to meet present students' needs.
- embedding new standards into the unit.
Scheduling
Understanding well the unit goals and focus helps with scheduling too. For example if the unit includes some heavy skill areas that relate to skills that are challenging for some of your students you'll know to schedule those lessons at times when specialist supports, technology, or even parent help are available. You may also schedule less important aspects of the unit during times when some children are out of the room for focused learning events leaving the prioritized unit elements for times when the whole class is there. Further, if a unit has a connection to a season, special community event, or field study you may schedule it at that time of the year. Also, with lead time, families can plan ahead to participate, attend special events, or contribute to the learning.
Extra
Lead time also gives you time to connect the unit to extra special events such as national contests, special grants, global connections, and field studies. For example if you wanted to Skype with real-world scientists in their lab, that takes time with regard to making connections, scheduling the Skype, and preparing the class (We tried this for our research project this year, but the lead time was not enough to schedule it well). Similarly if you want to study the unit with a class in Africa, you might make that connection through Google Classroom Connections which again will take time, but has the potential of greatly increasing student engagement, world view, and content learning. Contests can be motivating for students too so for example if there was a simple machines contest, we might match the study with the contest dates and scope to inspire greater motivating, focus, and possible result.
As with most well done endeavors, lead time and prep for learning makes a significant difference when it comes to teacher preparedness, student engagement, and learning. And even though that lead time may challenge current systems, summer schedules, or available materials, in the end, the up front planning creates greater learning peace, harmony, and satisfaction for students, teachers, and families.
