ABSTRACT
Some people enjoy planning their days right down to the last minute, whereas others just coast through the day, doing things as they arise. The ‘planners’ tend to get more done but they can come up against problems and then ‘the best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men’ go awry. Most of us have some sort of semi-structured plan to our day based around key events such as times of buses and appointments. We all know that our plans may have to be changed as new circumstances arise and life teaches us to cope with these changes. In the classroom, we need to have careful planning to ensure that we achieve our teaching goals in the limited amount of time available to us. As teachers, we need to have clear plans about what we are doing and when we are doing it but, as with life in general, we need to be flexible and prepared to alter our plans. In many ways planning a one-hour science lesson is much more difficult than planning your own itinerary for the day because in your lesson you are concerned with the learning needs of each and every individual in your charge. It is, therefore, imperative that all your work is carefully thought out so that you can make the best use of the time available.
