Instructional planning is an integral part of effective teaching. 
Classrooms today are richly diverse communities of students, and require insightful instructional planning. The professional practice standard of instructional planning is essential to effective teaching because it ensures the teacher has adequately prepared for the lesson and for the students being taught. The professional practice standard of instructional planning is demonstrated by aligning lesson objectives to the school’s curriculum and student learning needs, using student learning data to guide planning, and planning for differentiated instruction. Effective teachers are able to weave the Standards of learning, school curriculum, and student needs into meaningful lessons.
Student Data
Using KWL Charts allows teachers to determine student prior knowledge, as well as gauge student interest. This information
should be used to guide instructional planning. Reading levels should be used to determine small group instruction. Small group is an opportunity for the teacher to focus on areas pertinent to specific students.
Differentiated Learning
Small group reading instruction is based on the reading levels of the students. After grouping students based on reading levels, lesson planning is determined by the needs of the groups.
[huge_it_slider id=”7″]The Developmental Spelling Analysis (DSA) inventory is a comprehensive diagnostic tool. These inventories diagnose the developmental orthographic stage of each student and identify feature needs of the student. From these results, I was able to plan differentiated instruction for small groups, focusing on the feature needs of the students.
Running records are an excellent snapshot of a student’s reading fluency and comprehension. By conducting running records daily, I am able to see the progress my students are making, and determine which areas need continual attention.
Bloom’s Taxonomy
The goal of an effective lesson is to foster the higher level thinking of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Simply memorizing or repeating information does not indicate retention. For students to retain content, they must be able to move toward evaluation and creation.
[huge_it_slider id=”3″]
For further discussion, please see my paper on the Professional Practice Standard of Instructional Planning