I recently received an email from an EMBARC user asking for advice on how to fit a lesson into a 60-minute block of time. Here is my response...
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Hi there,
Let’s focus on how you can teach a lesson in 60 minutes. It will be a little different from the teacher edition...but not by much.
Think of a lesson as being broken into three 20-minute segments. Here is a lesson plan template showing what I mean:
http://bit.ly/EMLessonTemplate
The first section is fluency. Choose any two items from the following: Fluency activity from teacher edition, Application, Number Talk, Fluency game
Make sure you limit this time to 20 minutes only. On slide 25 is a visual of how I plan the fluencies for my week...
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13cO-JVRdhhN1Hys5RD0l6-dk8z4GxMUNVhO4sNtyiOk
Section 2: Concept Development
The second section is the Concept Development. Choose no more than 3 or 4 problems from the CD to do as examples. As you work on these problems, make this time interactive with lots of opportunities for students to talk briefly in pairs.
Teacher: "Talk to your neighbor. Why do you think we need to..."
Then briefly let students offer some thoughts before you move on with the lesson.
Section 3: Problem Set and Debrief
The third section is Problem Set & Debrief. Students will work on the Problem Set for about 10 minutes. During these ten minutes students will not work on ALL the problems. Rather, they will work on the “Must Do’s” that you have pre-determined will take about ten minutes to complete. The remaining problems are “Could Do’s” for students who need additional practice.
As students are doing the Problem Set, you might do some small group work with students who need a little help.
Each section is 20 minutes. Don’t let any section stretch longer than that.
At the end of the lesson, even if the entire class seems confused about the lesson, the next day you will teach the next lesson.
Trust me: the lessons grow in tiny increments, so even if the class is confused about a lesson, the best thing to do is MOVE ON to the next lesson.
I hope this begins to help you. Let me know if you have any other questions!
Cheers,
Duane