TPA

General Reactions to TPA lesson plan:

Now that I am in my second quarter of the Education program, I have mixed feeling concerning the ed TPA. First of all why does lesson planning have to be so in depth and every second of your lesson plan to be planned out. I understand that for new teachers we have no idea what we are doing and it makes our lessons run move smoothly, but to do one lesson plan is so much work. It takes me a full day to sit down and really concentrate on my TPAs. I have to constantly take breaks because it is so mentally draining. New teachers are getting worn down by the constant work they are doing in just lesson planning. 

What in here seems valuable/worthwhile?

The part that I always find useful in the TPA is the assessment part. Figuring out in advance how you are assessing students learning is very crucial. You can’t wait until the last minute to decide how it will occur, the assessment is the center of your lessons. Also the part about differentiated instruction is important because not all students learn the same and some of them have special needs that need to be addressed. You have to distinguish how all your students will learn and how will you help those that need the extra help. 

What questions and concerns to you have about the TPA lesson plan?

The only concerns I have that it is always changing. Every time I look at the template there is something new. Once I am out of college, I will be forced to self teach the new lesson plan to me. This makes it hard to keep up and eventually I will give up on it all together because nothing will be the same as when I learned it. Already I am seeing some changes in the format and I am worried about the future of the TPA lesson plan. 

Useful exercise for beginning teachers

As I have already stated, this TPA lesson plan really gets new teachers to think in depth about their lesson plans. It gets you to look at ALL aspects of teaching and what your main goal is. Another useful thing about the TPA is that it is structured and keeps new teachers focus on what the lesson plan is. 

Problematic about the format?

The part about teacher involvement is always problematic only because it is so hard to find mature ways of telling the parents what is going on in class. Majority of schools have a grade book online that parents can always check. However, that doesn’t give parents a good idea on what the class is really doing. It’s silly to have parents sign off on students homework, we are trying to get them to be responsible for themselves. New teachers struggle to find ways to get parents involved and aware of what is being taught in their classrooms.