A Response to the TPA Lesson Plan Format

           My initial response to this TPA format is that it could easily turn into four or five pages, considering all the material and info it is asking.  There are very many blanks to fill in, so many that the time to complete this could take longer than the class to teach the intended lesson.  I understand that teaching is all about preparation and reflection, and this form covers a good amount of the former, but this just seems to be overkill.   

            All aspiring teachers are well aware of needing to write lesson plans.  This format gives a satisfactory visual of that task.  What I found valuable and worthwhile with this is it does answer the lingering question on lesson plans, for all teachers.  Each lesson should have some “academic language,” or vocabulary.  That is an expectation for most students, let alone teachers, to come away with new, or learned language.  Of course, for teaching purposes we do need the “Learning Objective.” The only other part of the TPA that I found useful is the “Parent and Community Connections.” We as educators need to be proactive in reaching out to our communities and should always make it clear to the parents our availability to answer questions or concerns. 

            The only real question or concern I have about this is about how much info we need to answer each question.  The question: “What examples of personal cultural or community assets are you building your lesson on?” Is this our opportunity to begin a lesson with a piece of popular culture, or a topic that is of interest to our students?   

            All overwhelming aside, I can see some real benefits for beginning teachers to complete these daily.  This forces the teacher to step outside of the class and the confines of the lesson and see the whole picture.  This provides a roadmap, albeit a complicated one, to the beginning of class to the end, what the teacher intends for her students to get out of the class that day.  It keeps teachers on track and focused on a state-minded requirement.  This can only lead to efficiency in the classroom. 

            What is problematic, I see, with this format is the repetition.  In the part that covers “Lesson Connections,” the questions in that section, if not repeated, are bureaucratic and could be streamlined.  For example, prior knowledge and previous lessons and previous learning, I feel, could all be funneled into one question.