Kelli Houston

EDAD 570
February 14, 2016
Negotiated Contract Language Analysis

Problems the Current Policy Contract Language Creates

The current lesson plan policy for All Saints Catholic School states, A lesson plan book will be provided for you
and should be visible at all times and easily accessible to a guest teacher. Plans should be written so that they can be
clearly understood by anyone. This policy description is too vague and does not outline specific guidelines. The policy
states that a lesson planning book will be provided for each teacher, but the policy does not state what needs to be written
in the lesson plans. The policy does not require teachers to state their goals or objectives. The policy also states that the
lesson plan book should be visible at all times. The policy also does not require teachers to turn in their lesson plans to an
administrator to be reviewed or evaluated at any time. The main problem that the current policy creates is that it
discourages consistency in planning among the classroom teachers. Some teachers may devote a substantial amount of
time to planning effective lessons, writing a detailed summary of their instructional activities, and outlining their goals
and assessments, while other teachers may not be writing lesson plans at all. This is a problem because all teachers need to
be held accountable for quality teaching every day, all year long.
Rationale for Change
Effective teaching is well thought-out, well planned, and aligned to specific educational goals. In order for
teachers to focus on student learning, the teachers needs to know what they are teaching, how they are teaching it, and
why they are teaching it. Teachers need to plan their lessons by writing down their objectives, instructional activities, and
assessments in order to teach effectively and increase student learning and growth. Lesson plans will ensure that there is a
clear plan for quality instruction and that the teacher is aligning instruction to the current curriculum.
Since the principal is the instructional leader of the school, it is important for all lesson plans to be reviewed
weekly by the principal. Each teacher will be assigned a day of the week they are to submit their next five consecutive
lesson plans. Each day, the principal will review that days submitted lesson plans from teachers. After reviewing the
lesson plans, the principal would be able to make sure all areas of the curriculum were being covered at all grade levels.
This might help eliminate certain content knowledge and skills gaps that seem to exist at All Saints. Teachers would also
have specific guidelines set forth by the principal and could receive constructive feedback. This change would help us to
align our standards, expectations, teaching and assessing strategies, and technology use at all grade levels.
Anticipated Resistance to the New Negotiated Contract Language
The new proposal to the lesson plan policy would likely bring some resistance from the classroom teachers and
maybe even from the principal. The teachers that are not used to developing weekly lesson plans might find this to be too
much work and take up a lot of their time. Teachers that are used to writing their lesson plans a certain way might not like
the template they are to use. They may want to continue using their previous method of writing lesson plans. Also, if the
lesson plans are to be submitted electronically each week, this may cause some problems for the teachers that do not use
technology that often and are used to doing things on paper. This new policy would also create more work for the
principal. The principal would have to find the time to review the weekly lesson plans from all of the classroom teachers
and occasionally provide feedback. The principal would also need to make sure that certain lesson plans can be
electronically stored using an effective organizational system that could be accessed in the future. The principal could
keep exemplar lesson plans to show teachers expectations of what lesson plans should look like. The principal may also
want to keep problematic lesson plans that may impact the evaluation of staff members. The principal would also need to
put more time into visiting classrooms regularly to make sure the lesson plans are being followed and to see what
adjustments needed to be made.
Since the proposed policy includes a lot more teacher accountability, further policies may need to be implemented
as well. While the principal should try to work with all of the teachers to maintain a consistency in the writing of the
lesson plans, this might not always be possible and some differences may exist. Even though the teachers would be using
the same lesson planning form, some teachers may be very detailed in their writing, while others are not. It would be up to
the principal to provide the guidelines on how detailed the information needs to be or if it is alright to have a variance.
There would also need to be additional policies on what would happen if a teacher did not submit a weekly lesson plan for
review, if it was submitted late, or if the plans were not being followed.
Proposed New Policy Negotiated Contract Language
Lesson Plan Policy
Proper planning is critical to the appropriate delivery of instruction and an increase in student performance.
Lesson plans serve as a daily guide for teachers to ensure proper delivery and timeliness of the curriculum.
All classroom teachers at All Saints Catholic School are required to develop, submit, and utilize lesson plans for
the instruction and assessment of the curriculum. These plans will focus on the objectives aligned to the curriculum and
the instruction leading to the mastery of the concepts.
Teachers will utilize the schools lesson plan template. Lesson plans for the entire week need to be submitted to
the principal each week before the close of the school day on the last day of the preceding week. Lesson plans will be
detailed enough to be followed by a guest teacher. The plans need to be relevant, coherent, and include instructional
activities to maximize the use of instructional time. Lesson plans should incorporate a variety of teaching strategies and
assessments, and must address different students needs.
It is the principals responsibility as instructional leader to monitor and review each teachers lesson plans and
implementation. The principal will maintain documentation of each teachers timely submission of lesson plans and will
keep an electronic copy of any lesson plan that is problematic and exemplars. The principal will provide written feedback
at least once per quarter to each teacher regarding that teachers lesson plans and suggestions to improve instruction.
Expected Benefits
The biggest benefit to the proposed lesson plan policy change is an increase in more effective and higher quality
instruction. This will in turn lead to more student success. In addition, the new policy will create more consistency
throughout the school. Grade levels should have an easier time aligning their standards and expectations. Students should
see more consistency in teaching and assessment styles from one grade to the next. The principal will also take a more
active role in the classroom. The principal will have a better understanding of what is going on in the classroom, gain
ideas for professional development, and be able to better identify and assist struggling teachers. Teachers will also have
more insight on what instructional practices they should keep, change, and/or fix.
 Teacher

Week of

Subject

Class Hour
Lesson Plan

Day/Date Big Idea/ Lesson Activities Assessment Materials/Resources/

Objectives Technology

Common Core
Standards:

Common Core
Standards:

Common Core
Standards:

Common Core
Standards:

Common Core
Standards: