Streamlining vista services

We can no longer be driven by a relentless instructional pace that values coverage over learner engagement. This problem is compounded by the demands on teachers to fill out planning templates that are often tedious and one step removed from writing for the desired audience: the students. Many schools' current approach to lesson planning, whether synchronous or asynchronous, can be a roadblock to student motivation. Learners at every age should be able to decipher with ease the tasks and activities teachers plan for them.

If the task isn't clear and compelling, it curbs engagement. At the secondary level, it is difficult to motivate students when they are overwhelmed with a tsunami of daily assignments written in multiple styles from seven different teachers, no matter how interesting the tasks themselves might be.

As education consultants, we have been promoting a focus on what is essential in lesson planning for years. The school was seeking a timely response to the abrupt shift to remote learning, and the program director asked a key question:. How will we be able to communicate with the kids and the parents who will struggle with following the list of tasks, activities, and resources in the curriculum? Our teachers are asking for a simplified curricular approach in manageable chunks for lesson planning.

Certainly, educators across the globe can identify with the director's concerns. From the early period of the pandemic through the constantly shifting demands of the —21 school year, teacher and family efforts were remarkable, but the demands were incredibly challenging.

Teachers with the best of intentions were sending home packed activity schedules written in a wide range of idiosyncratic styles that were difficult for families to decipher. In April , we interviewed the primary and secondary principals of Hong Kong International School, who noted that when their school went into lockdown during the Hong Kong riots in November , they immediately saw how important it was to write lesson plans that spoke directly to parents and students.

They were right: It is crucial that our choice of language and approach in the communication of planned learning experiences shift directly to a student and family audience. Before the pandemic, the goal of writing lesson plans and tasks—in teacher-facing language—was to communicate the general teaching approach to school personnel.

These shorthand sketches were not intended for a broader audience. What crystallized for us this past year was that if we believe that students should be stakeholders and partners in learning, then they also must be the audience in our learning designs. To better account for this, we developed a new planning approach that streamlines the format of curriculum and lesson design: Learning sets , which communicate directly with students and their families to capture the story of the learning design.

Learning sets are an easy-to-follow series of connected learning experiences we call episodes , written in a narrative style. Learning sets consolidate critical elements of a unit plan, using a more granular daily approach, into a streamlined format.

They are designed to be visually engaging and easy to navigate through their use of language, style, and iconography. To create consistency and focus in learning sets, we use a grid organized around three student-facing action prompts: engage , examine , and demonstrate. These prompts direct learners to purposeful action. Learning sets can work in any planning approach, and educators can adapt them to a specific learner management system or Google Classroom.

If school leaders encourage use of this format to provide ease of communication, students and their families will benefit. A small team of teacher leaders from Vista High School in California were excited to test out our prototype. We shared the icons, learning set features, and visual format to support their curriculum design. Jody, one of the English teachers who designed this set, reflected:. The previous lesson planning template we had used was time-consuming with lots of boxes to be checked literally , which did not meet our needs.

The new template's value is in its organizational structure, especially with the various progressions built into the unit plan. As we worked with the template, we were able to see clearly where our units needed more development or differentiation. The icons served to visualize where we were not providing enough personalization or differentiation and were helpful in guiding students through the lesson. Students appreciated the template's organization and the clear statement of essential questions, expected outcomes, and formative and summative assessments.

Each learning set follows the same format but can be modified for individual situations, with targeted actions to engage, examine, and demonstrate learning with corresponding tools, tasks, and resources.

The following components are ones we believe to be essential:. A compelling storyline. What am I inviting the student to engage in? Feel free to navigate our site, enjoy yourself, and send your thoughts, ideas, and orders we would love to hear from you. Company Not Listed? Sign-Up Today! Airtech Streamlining. Send Message.

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