Proposal to Create a Reference Manual for TNTX 1200 (Step 2) for Teach North Texas Pre-service Teachers

By Sophia Desir

Executive Summary
UNT math and science majors who complete the TNTX 1100 (Step 1) education class move on to TNTX 1200 (aka Step 2) where they are faced with the challenge of writing their own lesson plans. A pre-service teaching reference manual would be useful because it would guide give pre-service teachers on how to write a modified 5E lesson plan for other types of lessons like labs or activities that make it difficult to maintain the 5E format. This manual will benefit pre-service teachers time because they would not have to spent lots of time trying to decide how to maintain the 5E format, make better activity time estimates, and prevent the need to rush through lesson activities in order to have time for the assessment at the end of class. This manual will provide example templates for the 5E lesson plan as well as a revised template for labs. I can complete the rough draft in 4-6 weeks. The labor, materials, will cost the department nothing, as I will do all the printing. If the rough draft is successful then you will receive a hard copy by the end of the fall semester, ready for the use by the new step 2 students. I will also create a digital version of the manual to be available for download.

The Need for a Reference Manual

A reference manual will serve as a helpful guide in the Step 2 education class because the Step 1 class served as introduction to teaching, but the lesson plans were already premade and included their own supplies. In Step 2, pre-service teachers and their partners had to write their own lessons and make them fit into to 5E format. Following the 5E format creates becomes difficult for pre-service teachers and their partners due to problems such as: 5E time restrictions that reduce effectiveness of lesson General 5E format not specific on how lesson may be modified to fit other types of lessons and their activities

This makes the overall lesson planning phrase time consuming because pre-written lessons need to be converted to fit the required format. Sometimes necessary lesson activities either have to be cut short or eliminated to fit within the specified lesson time limit. Because lessons had to constantly be adjusted or changed, teaching partners spend less time understanding what they will do will teaching their lesson which causes some partners to have unequal teaching roles. 5E Lesson Time Constraints Ruin Lesson Effectiveness

When pre-service teachers begin writing their own lesson plans they will follow the general 5E model (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate). Each section of the 5E models offers a suggested time for each section to take, but more often than not, the time restrictions either make the lesson drag on longer than necessary or do not offer enough time for the lesson activities to take place. While the times can be changed, it is still difficult to correctly assume how long a certain section of the 5E will take. It is important to get through the entire lesson and to make sure that the students understand the main concepts before they take the postassessment. Because of time issues students have to rush through the assessment, which often causes the class average for the postassessment to be very low. This makes it difficult to determine how effective the lesson was and what the students actually learned. 5E Format Hard to Follow When Planning Other Types of Lessons The 5E plan doesnt specify how to plan lessons like lab activities and have to be adjusted by the teacher to fit the general model. For the math and science majors in the program, this discourages them from spending the amount of time that is necessary to create an efficient lesson plan. For lesson activities originally created or those found online, pre-service teachers find that they have to cut out useful parts of the lesson to fit the general model, which can make the lesson even more tedious to write because you have consider how effective the activities will be because parts of it have been removed. The need for a reference manual with pre-made template of how to create a activities, specifically lab activities, in the 5E model will not only save time but also make the lesson planning phase go smoothly.

Proposed Solution: A Reference Manual for TNTX (Step 2) Students

A way to make the lesson planning process more efficient and less time consuming would be to create a reference manual with templates that alter the 5E lesson plan to fit certain types of lessons, like labs and hand-on activities. These templates would also list options for time constraints so that each section is given a realistic timeframe to be thoroughly completed. This will eliminate the need to rush through useful activities just to get the evaluation part of the lesson so that the students will be better prepared to pass the assessment. The manual will include specific instructions for creating lesson plans for labs, hand-on activities, and efficient review activities. Additionally, the manual will have tips on how to evenly divide the lesson plan so that each teaching partner is given an equal amount of time to instruct students and lead class discussion. The manual will also address how to take pre-made lessons and fit them into the 5E framework in less time, so that teaching partners can spend more time learning/memorizing the lesson plan to make the actual lesson go smoothly with little to no confusion about whos doing what. There will also be a guide on how to create effective post-lesson quizzes or worksheets that assess student learning.

I will begin the manual with a table of contents followed by a description of the general 5E format. The manual will first be divided into to main sections: middle school and high school, before organizing the manual by chapters. Each chapter will feature a template of a particular modified 5E template with suggestions for teaching. The following is the proposed structure of the manual: Table of Contents 5E General Model Suggestions for converting lessons to 5E model Suggestions for teaching partners Section 1. Middle School 5E lab template 5E activity template Assessment guide Section 2. High School 5E lab template 5E activity template Assessment guide

Work Plan
I can complete the reference manual during the next 4-6 weeks. I will email a rough draft in those next three weeks. Please email any comments or suggestions. I will work on the improvements and follow your suggestions.

Qualifications
I have completed two semesters in the TNT program and think that something like this would have been very helpful to have while I was in step 2.

Budget
I will make a digital version of the manual available for download and create two physical copies at my own expense, more can be made if requested.

Conclusion
A reference manual will outline specific teaching templates for those new to writing their own lesson plan. The manual will allow pre-service teachers to spend less time trying to fit a lesson plan into the strict 5E model, more time improving their lessons to fit time constraints, and increase the effectiveness of the learning process in their mentor teachers classroom. I hope this manual will be a useful guide and hope you can offer suggestions on how to improve it.