RETHINKING LESSON PLANS
Alexandra Dragomirescu has been discovering her inner rebel as she develops a new approach to lesson planning
The way things are going in education right now, I think I am becoming a bit of a rebel. However, the purpose of this article is not to make a statement about myself, but to ignite something in you. I must confess, I should have done this sooner.
The benefits of rebellion
I am inviting you to rebel!
Not so much against the system and its policymakers, nor against the burden of bureaucracy or the piles of documents you must fill in. No! Rebel against the voice lingering in your brain, telling you… This is the right way to do it! This is the right — and the only – way to teach! The way you’ve always done it!
For years, I taught the pronunciation of vowels in our mother tongue pretty much in the same way I had learned it in school. I should explain that the pronunciation of some words vary in Romanian if marked with different accents, and kids are meant to learn the conventions. To be frank, I always found these lessons boring and, from their reactions, increasingly irrelevant to the kids. Sometimes, I tried to convince myself that it was my duty to enforce grammar rules on students. But deep down, I felt unsure about my teaching methods and was quite frustrated . . . until I decided to rebel against that inner voice.