These activities, some taken from ‘Reflective Teaching’, Chapter 9 and others developed for this web site, focus on planning and implementing a curriculum for the whole-school, on the curriculum programme of a single class, and on planning and implementing particular teaching sessions. They thus move through successive levels of detail, exactly in the way in which a teacher or trainee teacher must when planning their teaching programme. Whilst they connect to the necessary logic of planning within a National Curriculum framework, we must not lose sight of the unpredictable and uniquely enriching human relationships through which it is manifest. Reflective teachers are likely to aim to address the structured aspects of curriculum provision carefully, but with a view to this enabling them to interact with the children more empathically and responsively. When it comes to implementation, a combination of structure and responsiveness is likely to be most effective. The key judgement, which only the teacher on the spot can make, is what particular combination and form of structure and response is most appropriate. It is hoped that carrying out these activities will help teachers achieve their appropriate combination in the classroom.
Whole-School Curricular Planning
In this section, Reflective Activities focus on the aspects of curricular planning that pertain to the whole school. The first activity, taken from ‘Reflective Teaching’, is intended to help the teacher make connections between statutory requirements and other influences that impinge on whole school planning. Subsequent Reflective Activities examine the essential connections made between the values espoused by a school and the nature of its planning; the ways in which planning across a school provides breadth and balance in pupil experiences, including those that relate more to social development and orientation; the nature of a child's curricular experiences over a period of time; and the use of concept mapping to investigate the coherence which a planned curriculum has for children.
Structuring Schemes of Work
Reflective Activities in this section are concerned with considering the nature of activities in medium term plans, from the perspectives of balance, the nature of the tasks, the effect on pupil learning and their motivational value; reviewing medium-term planning for literacy and numeracy, looking for features that link to planning in other subjects; considering the extent to which sharing learning objectives and making connections between work in different subjects influences feelings of relevance for the pupil; exploring the extent to which themes linked to PSHE and Citizenship pervade the planning of the curriculum; questioning pupils to investigate the perceived relevance of a classroom programme of work; and reviewing a curriculum plan to analyse the extent of activity and direct experience provided for pupils.
Short-Term Planning
Reflective Activities in this section explore the extent to which weekly plans are significant in developing and modifying the curriculum; the resource implications of a planned curriculum programme; the extent to which pupils are clear about the learning objectives and outcomes of teaching sessions; the structure of an existing lesson planning [in the light of the ‘core elements’ of a lesson plan - ‘Reflective Teaching’, Chapter 9, Section 3.2]; the knowledge, concepts, skills and attitudes embedded in planned teaching sessions.
Evaluating Teaching
In this final section, Reflective Activities consider the use of ICT in a series of lessons; the use of the criteria of Scott-Baumann, Bloomfield and Roughton (1997) to evaluate a lesson; an examination of tasks in terms of their learning demands; aspects of the hidden curriculum that may be apparent in a selection of books, CD-ROMs and other resources for use in a primary school.
Notes for further reading
Diagrams and Figures
Reflective activites
9. Planning 