Эссе "Effective planning - means effective teaching"
статья по английскому языку по теме

                                                                        Муравлев Олег Вячеславович,

                                                                        учитель английского языка

                                                                        МБОУ «Завьяловская СОШ № 1»

                                                                        Завьяловского района.

Effective teaching means…effective planning?

     Planning is an attribute of human mind and an operational function of human

consciousness and thinking. The essence of planning comes from the core of the things. The core of the things is the structure of matter and interaction between the parts of it. Thus, in the mental and intellectual sphere planning is a purposeful structure of clearly outlined activities consisting of carefully and

deliberately connected stages of logically processed actions. The more well-structured the matter is, the more unique properties and higher capacity this matter does possess. Equally, the more well-structured and organized a plan is,

the more capacity it has, the more effective it is and the more output it may produce. In the book “The Phenomenon of Man”, a French philosopher and

scientist P. Teihard de Chardin says that “evolution is a growth of consciousness”. I would state that evolution is a growth of planned and conscientious activity.

     It’s absolutely true for all spheres of human life. A real success of any activity never comes by chance. You can achieve it only constantly using some effective management which, by all means, includes setting a goal, comprehensive planning, defining the ways of carrying out the items that have been planned. There is a saying: - “A success which is not planned is a planned defeat”. It describes the way successful people do their things. First of all, they

plan their achievements, they plan their success, they plan their activities to fulfill their projects. It’s worth noticing that everyone is able to plan effectively and act productively.

     And for all teachers planning is a vitally important and undeniable must.

Why can we say that evolution of effective teaching means the development of effective planning? Imagine starting a journey but with no idea where you are going. You are the driver of a bus full of pupils and you have to drive them for a particular period of time. But you have no map and don’t know where you want to go or how to get there. It may be a very interesting journey but it would be very easy to get lost. So, if the lesson is like a journey, then planning is like a map.

     Without planning a lesson could be chaotic and leave the pupils with no clear idea what they are doing and why. This kind of uncertainty is not good for effective learning or class discipline. One of the most important reasons to plan is that the teacher needs to set aims for the lesson. Teachers need to know what it is they hope to achieve in the class, what they want the pupils to be able to do at the end of the lesson that they couldn’t do before. Planning in advance step by step makes teachers feel firm and consistent in their own actions and behavior.

Pupils expect a structured classroom environment and planning is a way to make them work hard enjoying what they do and reach excellent results.  A well-planned lesson is always a subject of respect of the pupils. Planning gives you the opportunity of making the process of teaching more individual for different levels of education. Planning gives the teachers a chance to predict possible problems in the class and think about the ways to deal with them.

     Effective planning has to be based on the following principles. The main principle of planning is establishing a clear aim for every lesson. The second principle is providing the pupils with a proper variety of different kinds of work.

The third principle is applying flexibility because however well you plan you never actually know exactly what is going to happen in a class. Careful planning

is very important but teachers need to be able to adapt their plan during the lesson to meet the unexpected circumstances at the lesson. To teach effectively every teacher needs a lesson plan irrespective of a length of work, a scope of knowledge, a level of proficiency.

     Teachers as linguists have to be well aware of the fact that a language reflects the principles of the being. The word “plan” is included in the word “planet”. It means that our planet and space are developing according to “the plan”:  the principles of universe and the laws of nature which are unchangeable and eternal. The word “plan” comes from the Latin word “planus” which means “plane, surface”. Planning is like the system of co-ordinate in Maths. The necessity of planning here is strengthened by the ontological and linguistic proofs.

      I would also like to touch upon the social, philosophical, educational aspects of planning because “the teacher works at the most responsible task – he forms the person”. (M. Kalinin) In “The Phenomenon of Man” Teihard de Chardin uses the term “the planetization of man” explaining a movement of the contemporary world to “the harmonized unity of consciousnesses”. As “school is an enormous power defining the mode of life and destiny of nations” (D.Mendeleyev) , “a workshop where the thoughts of younger generations are being grown” (A.Barbusse), every teacher, “praeceptor mundi” (tutor of the world) in ideal, has to plan his educational activities in the course of creating

“a great union of educated people, the people of good will of all countries” (Erasmus Rotterodamus), having in mind the words of A.Solzhenitsyn “We need moral Russia”. The teachers of foreign languages may contribute greatly to the moral planetization of people, bridging the gaps between cultures, counteracting the imperialistic tendencies of globalism.

     Thus, the effective educational planning serves the aim of not only effective teaching, but, in the long run, it does influence favourably the planning of our planet’s prosperity and well-being.