Learning Intentions - Medium And Short Term Planning

[green hippo]

Hi,

I've been on a planning course today which has helped in some respects and confused me in others!

 

With regards to medium term planning the main point that they were getting across was that they should be focussed on LEARNING NOT TEACHING, in other words, they should be mainly about the LEARNING INTENTIONS and not the activities. They did say that it is ok to have topics as long as you're taking into account the interests and needs of the children - explaining that the topic is the context for the learning. The other point they made about medium term planning was that it should in some way address the balance of the curriculum - suggesting having a focus for each half-term e.g. CD for this half-term. However, I feel that if you are following a pre-set schedule of curriculum coverage then you can't truely meet the needs of your children. I still do medium-term plans which consist of possible learning intentions, possible adult-led activities and possible enhancements but am finding that these are often done in vain as I find that the learning intentions (as well as activities/enhancements) change from my week to week assessments (if that makes sense?). They also said that planning shouldn't really be about coverage as you might not need to cover one area as much as another depending on needs of cohort - so no need to tick of what ELGs have been covered in planning. What are your thoughts about medium term planning? I have read many discussion on the forum about thinking about activities and retrospectively planning the learning outcomes???

 

What I found helpful and reassuring was their support for LESS planning - was told that there is no need to use a continuous provision sheet (unless you want to), only need learning intentions for adult-led, no need to record every last decision i.e. responses to observations etc - DO NOT DO PLANNING FOR OTHER PEOPLE (course leader is school advisor also!) as long as there is some evaluation on planning. Also, no need to plan a Letters and sounds activity everyday (can be a whole class circle-time (5mins), part of rhyme-time/story-time or other activity) - this in in Nursery classes.

 

Thought?

Green Hippo xx

[Beau]

Thanks for sharing that - the points you have raised are very interesting. I think what is clear is that everyone really needs to develop a way of working that suits them as a team, levels of experience and stage of development of the children. What works one year may not another and it is good to be constantly evolving what you do.

 

I think that keeping paperwork to a minimum is important for everyone's sanity and making sure that you maximise the impact of the paperwork you do do!

[Guest]

Thanks for sharing green hippo. I totally agree with the comments Beau has made.

 

I also agree with the advice DO NOT DO PLANNING FOR OTHER PEOPLE, in other words the priority of planning is that it is a tool for informing practice, not a means to evidence your practice knowledge for others to make jugement on.

 

I did find the following two statements contradictory.

 

The other point they made about medium term planning was that it should in some way address the balance of the curriculum - suggesting having a focus for each half-term e.g. CD for this half-term

 

They also said that planning shouldn't really be about coverage as you might not need to cover one area as much as another depending on needs of cohort

 

You sound to me as if you have a system that works well for you and your children and one that you are consistently reviewing, but it is always good to discuss others points of view and experiences, so thanks again for sharing this training info you've had.

 

Peggy

[green hippo]

You can see why I found this training confusing!! I think that we need to show in some way how we are covering each aspect to show we have a balance. In my setting all aspects are covered in some way through the continuous provision and the daily routines which are written on our long term plans for each area and I will continue to record which aspects are covered each week. I am also going to highlight those that run through all activities (e.g. many of the PSED). This will allow us to see if there are any gaps in aspect covered by focused activities.

I'm still unsure of which way to go with regards to medium term planning? Should I be making sure that the learning intentions I had decided upon for the topic are covered in some way and add to these weekly or will I end up with too much that needs covering at any one time?????

Any suggestions?

Thanks

green hippo xx