Communities of Practice — Lesson Plans
What Are Lesson Plans?
Lesson plans are guides to full lesson cycles. Lesson plans should provide all the documentation and lists of materials necessary for any member to successfully duplicate the lesson in his or her own classroom.
Why Submit a Lesson Plan?
By sharing lesson plans, you empower other teachers with your experience and knowledge. Since the Community intends to facilitate growth in the teaching of reading, this forum provides the perfect venue for broadcasting the fruits of your efforts.
The Publication Process
In Progress
This phase indicates that you are still working on your submission.
New
This phase places the first draft of your lesson plan in the Community.
Under Review
This phase provides other members the opportunity to make comments on your lesson plan. These comments provide perspectives that can enrich your lesson plan and extend the objectives to include other grade levels and learning styles.
Waiting for Revision
This phase provides you the opportunity to "tighten up" your lesson plan and summarize your peers' comments.
Revised
This phase provides the facilitator an opportunity to make further suggestions. Your lesson plan is nearly ready to publish.
Published
Your lesson plan has become a permanent part of the Community's Library. Any member, regardless of his or her home room or Community of Practice membership, can benefit from your lesson plan.
The Role of the Facilitator
The facilitator advises you throughout the publication process. Work diligently with the facilitator to make your lesson plan as comprehensive and comprehensible as possible.
e-mail Notifications
You will be notified via your regular e-mail address when your lesson plan requires your attention.
Reading Lesson Plans
Members can read new, under review, and published lesson plans. Lesson plans under revision are nearing publication and can only be viewed by the facilitator and author.
Follow the instructions for " See Entering a Community. " located in Communities of Practice - Selecting and Joining .
Click on "Lesson Plans." You can click either the link in the top menu or the title of the section labeled "lesson plans."
Click on the lesson plan title to read the lesson plan.
NOTE: You may read any lesson plan in any community, but to submit a lesson plan or make a comment, you must join the community. Follow the instructions for " See Joining a Community. " located in Communities of Practice - Selecting and Joining .
Commenting on Lesson Plans
Sharing constructive comments on lesson plans may broaden and deepen the usefulness to other members. To make comments on any lesson plan, you must join that community.
Click on the "Add a Comment" link located at the bottom left of the lesson plan.
NOTE: If you have not joined the community, this link takes you to the "join" or "cancel" option as shown below.
Otherwise, the link opens the page for you to add your comment.
Add your comment in the "Comment" text box.
Click the "Submit" button.
Once you click the "Submit" button, your comment appears in the list of comments below the lesson plan.
Using Lesson Plans
Published lesson plans provide all the information required to successfully perform the entire lesson cycle in your own classroom. You will find uploaded forms and other texts, as well as a printable lesson plan cycle in many cases. Ideally, published lesson plans also include citations for the relevant TEKS, so you can see how the plan fits in your overall lesson schedule.
Submitting Lesson Plans
Your lesson plan could be invaluable to other teachers who may be struggling to teach a concept. This forum provides a way for other teachers to benefit from your knowledge and expertise.
Before entering your lesson plan, you should have:
A list of all required materials.
An electronic version of the lesson plan document in one of the following formats:
Microsoft Word (.doc)
Word Perfect (.wpd)
Knowledge of the TEKS related to your lesson plan.
Click on either the "submit a new lesson plan" link or "Submit Your Lesson Plan!" link on the lesson plans page.
Read the instructions.
Click the "Start Entering a Lesson Plan" button.
Type your title in the "Title" text box.
Type your description in the "Description" text box.
Click the "Save and Continue" button if you wish to continue.
At any time, you may click the "Save and Exit" button to stop and continue at a later time. You may also click the "Exit Without Saving" button, if you decide to start over. The bar at the bottom of each page shows your progress.
Click on the relevant grade levels and group sizes.
Fill in the class time required.
Click the "Save and Continue" button if you wish to continue.
Fill in the plan's objectives using the example above the text box.
.Click the "Save and Continue" button if you wish to continue.
Fill in the TEKS correlations.
NOTE: Click on the red text "Elementary Reading and Language Arts TEKS" to view an outline of the TEKS. Scroll down the outline to find the appropriate grade, paragraph, and subparagraph that corresponds to your lesson plan's objective.
Click the "Add TEKS" button to continue.
Click the "Save and Continue" button if the information is correct and you wish to continue.
Create a list of required materials.
Fill in the title of the material in the "Title" text box.
Fill in the description of the material in the "Description" text box.
Fill in the quantity of materials required in the "Quantity" text box.
Click the "Add Material Without Uploading" button, or
If you have a file containing the list, you may submit an electronic version of materials. Type in the location of the file in the "Locate File" text box, or click the "browse" button to browse your drives for the location.
Click the "Upload Material" button.
Rights to Post
If you created the materials yourself, you have the rights to post them. If you have any serious doubt about rights ownership, you should not post the materials.
NOTE: Use of copyrighted materials for educational purposes does not protect you from legal action. Your school librarian may be able to help you determine whether you can legally post a resource.
NOTE: You may remove any or all materials at any time by checking the box next to the material(s) you wish to remove and clicking the "Remove Selected Material(s)" button.
Click the "Save and Continue" button if you wish to continue.
You may create your own lesson plan document or use the optional lesson plan template. To use the optional lesson plan template,
Click on the "optional lesson plan template" link.
Fill in the information.
Save the file.
Follow the instructions below to upload your lesson plan document, whether you created the file yourself or used the template.
Type in the location of your lesson plan document in the "Locate File" text box, or click the "browse" button to browse your drives for the location.
Click the "Upload Lesson Plan Document" button.
Check to make sure that you uploaded the correct document. If not, click the "Remove Lesson Plan Document" button, and upload the correct document.
Click the "Save and Continue" button if you wish to continue.
Review your lesson plan.
At this point, you may edit your lesson plan by clicking the "Edit Lesson Plan" button, or you may click the "Exit Without Submitting" if you wish to edit at a later time.
When satisfied, click the "Submit Lesson Plan" button.
Your lesson plan now enters the review process.
Editing Lesson Plans
You may edit your lesson plan while there are no responses by clicking the "edit" link below your lesson plan.
Click on the"edit" link below your lesson plan.
Use the same options as you used during the submitting process. You may use the option bar for editing. Click on the section you wish to edit.
Option Bar for Editing
Click the "Save and Continue" button before proceeding to the next section, if you wish to continue.
Revising Lesson Plans
To assure consistent quality throughout the Community, all materials permanently published to the Community's Library (such as Classroom Stories and Lesson Plans) must meet standard requirements of spelling, grammar, etc. Your peers and your facilitator may suggest ways to improve your submission.
Revisions provide you the opportunity to enhance your story using your peer's and facilitator's comments and summarize those comments. The system sends you an e-mail when your lesson plan is ready for revision.
The options available during revision are similar to the options available during editing, but with some differences.
Option Bar for Revising
The most notable difference is that the bar at the bottom of the revision screen highlights the four areas that need to be addressed during a revision.
Starting with the instructions, step through each section that requires revision.
Summarize all comments.
Preview
Read the confirmation.
The instructions for revising are different from those for editing.
Click on "Lesson Plans."
Click on "Revise."
Read the comments on your lesson plan.
Click "Start Revising Your Lesson Plan."
Using the revision bar located at the bottom of the page, click each section to revise. Be sure to save each section before going to the next section.
If your Lesson Plan Document requires revision, remove the posted document, make the necessary revisions, and upload again. Be sure to save before continuing.
Click "Summarize Comments."
Summarize the comments on your lesson plan.
Click "Save and Continue."
Click "Preview Revisions."
If you are satisfied, click "Submit Revised Lesson Plan."
Your lesson plan is now eligible for publication.
Published Lesson Plans
The system publishes lesson plans that have successfully gone through the publication process to the Library, where all members may view and benefit from the documented experiences.
In Library
Click on "Library" located on the sidebar on the left side of the screen to view all lesson plans in the library.
Adding to Your Personal Library (My Library)
Maybe you would like to include a lesson plan in your personal library (My Library).
From the Library
Click on the title of the Community of Practice containing the lesson plan you wish to add to "My Library."
Click on the title of the lesson plan you wish to add to "My Library."
Click on the "Add to My Library" link above and to the left of the story title.
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