A Woman with a Plan: A Detail-Oriented Reflection on the ASSURE Lesson Plan Model

I had never done a lesson plan in my life, so one could imagine my heart palpitations, sweaty palms, and frizzy hair fits when it came time to actually do a lesson plan. Before this experience of writing my first lesson plan, I was under the impression that a lesson plan was a page worth of vague notes and a brief outline. However, when I was introduced to the ASSURE model of lesson planning I was both shocked and pleased by the excruciating detail, but the shock was only temporary. I’ve seen other lesson plan templates that were basic and seemed more like outlines as opposed to a plan and I am the type of woman who loves detailed plans. I enjoy knowing what I am going do to, when, how, and why. I love being prepared, on time, and ready with alternatives and while teaching will not always go smoothly, having the ASSURE lesson plan helps me to have a grasp on some sort of order in what will possibly be the very hectic world of teaching. With attention to detail both a pro and con of the ASSURE lesson plan, this lesson plan allowed me to work more easily with a piece of technology (Microsoft Excel). The ASSURE lesson plan did not prove to be the easiest form of lesson planning that I could have used, but this lesson planning experience task that would benefit the learning of my future students and myself, as a future teacher, by being able to set goals and reach them through clear objectives and details.

Whenever taking into consideration a lesson plan and anything that a teacher may assign his or her students, something that must be taken into consideration is standards. Standards must be taken into consideration, especially since the passing of legislation such as the No Child Left Behind Act. Of the standards that exist under the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T), one of the standards that was met through this lesson planning project was that as a teacher I would be able to demonstrate “introductory knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts related to technology” (Standard 1A) (Cyrus, 2008, p. 2). Through the preparation of this lesson plan I had to become acquainted with a piece of technology (Excel) that I was not familiar with. More than understanding how to operate Excel, I had to understand it enough to teach potential students to use it and teach them how to analyze data with it. Even the very ASSURE lesson plan was a skill related to technology.

According to the University of North Carolina at Ashville’s explanation of the ASSURE lesson plan, the ASSURE model was created to be a lesson plan that integrated technology into the classroom (2006). For this particular lesson plan I needed to be able to use a digital spreadsheet in a subject that spent more time in books and on Microsoft Word (English). But the task was to use a digital spreadsheet to examine something that students could count. Again, under normal circumstances, math and English are on different side of the boarder. However, the ASSURE lesson plan forced me into having to learn how to navigate my way through a digital spreadsheet program, but also introduced me to a lesson planning skill that was directly connected to technology, and with unfamiliar, not-so-technologically literature students, detail is essential to success.

In addition to gaining a new tool in my arsenal of computer literacy, I discovered that the World Wide Web is not necessarily this evil place for porn, but a very helpful place when not knowing what to do with a lesson plan style that I have never even heard of. While perusing the web for example, I came across a site that generates rubrics from teachers known as Teachnology: The Online Teacher Resource, which is an extremely useful tool when the lesson plan is not so clear in my head and rubrics are the last thing on my mind. I realize that the web is a valuable tool for the beginning teacher, but without, again, the attention to detail, a naïve teacher could be fooled. With the ASSURE lesson plan under my figurative ‘belt’ I know that lesson planning and including technology in my future classroom will be a lot easier. During the lesson planning process, I learned that lesson planning is time consuming and difficult for the novice lesson planner. While, I’m sure lesson planning will get easier with time and practice, for teachers, at least from my short experience with a lesson planning task, it takes a great deal of planning to plan and attention to every detail. Lesson planning is much more than deciding what to teach on a particular day. Lesson planning is about deciding what tools, materials, assessments, media, and methods you will use to convey a body of knowledge to a group of blank slated students and make it stick. I believe that the ASSURE lesson plan will provide a lot support for me to plan and making learning successful.

My favorite part about the ASSURE lesson plan model was the attention to detail and the need to be precise with explanations. I liked the idea of preparing the lesson as if the teacher was going to be absent the day of the lesson. It leaves little room for error or at least leaves little room for not coming up with a back up plan in case things do not work out. The ASSURE model requires teachers to prepare for lesson in advance especially because technology, which is not readily available in most classrooms, is going to be used. The detail that is or at least should be put into the ASSURE model lesson plan is time consuming, but when it comes time to being time effective and efficient in the classroom, where timeliness and learning count the most, its worth the extra efforts to be as detailed and concise as possible so that more learning and knowledge is exchanged.

While I praise many things about this glorious lesson plan model, the thing that I liked the least about the ASSURE lesson plan model was the thing I liked the most: detail. It is a strange love hate relationship that I am currently engulfed in with the ASSURE lesson plan. While I do appreciate and enjoy the attention to detail that the ASSURE model prescribes, at certain times in the six steps of creating an ASSURE lesson plan, I found the detail to be a bit tedious and repetitive, even nauseating. I tried to imagine myself preparing a lesson plan like this everyday. It felt robotic, kind of like technology has a tendency to be associated with. But I am sure I’d much rather be half robotic than look like a total idiot standing in front of my class not knowing what to do: like a frozen robot.

I began my lesson planning experience with no idea what to expect or what to do first. Despite the nauseating detail, I am glad that the ASSURE lesson plan was the first model of lesson plans that I was introduced to. Not only do I now have a lesson plan format that I am familiar enough with, but I also have a lesson plan that is meant to teach technology. Now that I know how to use a lesson plan that supports technology in the classroom, I feel that I’ll be able and not so afraid of using other tech-savvy tools in the classroom. Possibly, I could ask my students to keep an online journal on a Blogger account, or put up demonstrative speech on to a Multiply site, or even a working bibliography on a Delicious page. While I know that I cannot control the events within a classroom for an entire year, the ASSURE lesson plan gives me the confidence to at least know that I have a good plan to support and guide me in an intended direction where my objectives and goals can be met. While the ASSURE lesson plan has its pros (detail) and its cons (excessive detail), the ASSURE lesson plan is an excellent way for a novice teacher to maintain a sense of order.

References

Cyrus, J. (2008). ED451: audio visual education course syllabus. Retrieved September 18, 2008, from http://gaughin.thinkingdistance.org/mod/resource/view.php?inpopup=true&id=6569

Teachnology: the Online Teacher Resource. (2008). Rubrics. Retrieved September 15, 2008, from http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/

University of North Carolina at Asheville. (2006). The ASSURE Model. Retrieved September 18, 2008, from http://www.unca.edu/education/edtech/techcourse/assure.htm