The Double Plan
What is it?
The “Double Plan” theory is a strategy to enhance effective lesson planning by planning out what students will be doing along each step of the way. When most lesson plans are made, the focus on what the teacher will be doing, but this strategy helps the educator take it a step further. By creating a lesson plan that explains what you expect your students to be doing, it helps you as a teacher put yourself in their shoes, which will help keep them productive and engaged throughout the lesson.
Why should it work?
The “Double Plan” theory is a strategy that should work especially in terms of motivation and goal theory. A learner’s behavior is directed towards goals that can either be mastery goals or performance goals. Mastery goals reflect a learner’s desire to gain knowledge and skills, while performance goals reflect a learner’s desire to look competent in other’s eyes. The “double plan” is a strategy that can help teachers guide students to finding a happy medium between these types of goals. Research shows that having a performance goal mindset is mainly negative when by itself, however if it is paired with a mastery goal way of thinking, it can be beneficial to the learner. The way the “double plan” strategy can help impact goal theory is by having teachers design activities for students designing lessons that influence both performance and mastery goals. First, teachers can create activities during a lesson that promote application to a topic. For example, during lecture, a teacher may ask their students to write down three ways the current topic in history class relates to a previously discussed topic. This is something the teacher will expect and plan on her students doing that could segway into a discussion promoting mastery of a concept. In order to promote performance in a positive way, a teacher could plan on having her students complete the three points on relating topics in a specific time frame and tell them that they will turn in what is written down for a grade. This promotes performance-based goals because it enhances work ethic by giving students a structured time to complete the task. It also still allows for healthy competition among students by having a time limit because they innately turn it into a race. However, it is important that the time not be emphasized but the discussion because there must be a balance of mastery and performance in order for this to be effective. Overall, the “double plan” strategy helps teachers establish what is expected of their students while promoting positive goal theory. The trick will be finding a balance between the two that inspires engagement and productivity.
How will it look?
As a future educator, I am positive that I will utilize the “double plan” theory when I am constructing lesson plans. I think that by planning out not only what I am going to do, but also specifically what I expect my students to do will ensure that I am creating a well-rounded lesson that is engaging at every phase. I believe that I will utilize this strategy for every lesson and map out a chart with a side for me and a side for my students to make sure that I am actively engaging them through the lesson and promoting mastery goals as well as performance goals through their values. If I am able to connect what a student values to the lesson, I will be promoting engagement and ultimately creating an in depth lesson plan. Eventually, I feel that focusing on keeping the students actively engaged will become innate and my lesson plans will always incorporate the tasks of my students without having to map it out. One way to get my students involved in the double plan would be to ask them to create a lesson plan of what they want to learn more about given specific subject parameters (for example: telling time, primary & secondary colors, addition, etc.). As a teacher, I feel like it would be helpful to see what my students want me to elaborate on and how I can potentially incorporate more of their interests into my lessons.
The “Double Plan” theory is a strategy to enhance effective lesson planning by planning out what students will be doing along each step of the way. When most lesson plans are made, the focus on what the teacher will be doing, but this strategy helps the educator take it a step further. By creating a lesson plan that explains what you expect your students to be doing, it helps you as a teacher put yourself in their shoes, which will help keep them productive and engaged throughout the lesson.
Why should it work?
The “Double Plan” theory is a strategy that should work especially in terms of motivation and goal theory. A learner’s behavior is directed towards goals that can either be mastery goals or performance goals. Mastery goals reflect a learner’s desire to gain knowledge and skills, while performance goals reflect a learner’s desire to look competent in other’s eyes. The “double plan” is a strategy that can help teachers guide students to finding a happy medium between these types of goals. Research shows that having a performance goal mindset is mainly negative when by itself, however if it is paired with a mastery goal way of thinking, it can be beneficial to the learner. The way the “double plan” strategy can help impact goal theory is by having teachers design activities for students designing lessons that influence both performance and mastery goals. First, teachers can create activities during a lesson that promote application to a topic. For example, during lecture, a teacher may ask their students to write down three ways the current topic in history class relates to a previously discussed topic. This is something the teacher will expect and plan on her students doing that could segway into a discussion promoting mastery of a concept. In order to promote performance in a positive way, a teacher could plan on having her students complete the three points on relating topics in a specific time frame and tell them that they will turn in what is written down for a grade. This promotes performance-based goals because it enhances work ethic by giving students a structured time to complete the task. It also still allows for healthy competition among students by having a time limit because they innately turn it into a race. However, it is important that the time not be emphasized but the discussion because there must be a balance of mastery and performance in order for this to be effective. Overall, the “double plan” strategy helps teachers establish what is expected of their students while promoting positive goal theory. The trick will be finding a balance between the two that inspires engagement and productivity.
How will it look?
As a future educator, I am positive that I will utilize the “double plan” theory when I am constructing lesson plans. I think that by planning out not only what I am going to do, but also specifically what I expect my students to do will ensure that I am creating a well-rounded lesson that is engaging at every phase. I believe that I will utilize this strategy for every lesson and map out a chart with a side for me and a side for my students to make sure that I am actively engaging them through the lesson and promoting mastery goals as well as performance goals through their values. If I am able to connect what a student values to the lesson, I will be promoting engagement and ultimately creating an in depth lesson plan. Eventually, I feel that focusing on keeping the students actively engaged will become innate and my lesson plans will always incorporate the tasks of my students without having to map it out. One way to get my students involved in the double plan would be to ask them to create a lesson plan of what they want to learn more about given specific subject parameters (for example: telling time, primary & secondary colors, addition, etc.). As a teacher, I feel like it would be helpful to see what my students want me to elaborate on and how I can potentially incorporate more of their interests into my lessons.