Lesson Framing

In my first couple of years as a teacher the Principle and Assistant Principal would conduct their weekly walk throughs to check in on classrooms and see what was going on. I happened to have a classroom with windows that faced the office, so I would see them strutting their way to my bungalow. My heart would race and I beads of sweat would form; I would get SO nervous. I wanted everything to be on-point and kids to answer things perfectly. Classic first year teacher. 

It was inevitable, they would pick that ONE kid that seemed to ALWAYS have his/her head in the clouds and they would ask, "What are you learning today?" From the corner of my eye I would watch and I would plead in my head, "We read the objective aloud at the beginning of class. Please child, the answer is on the board... just look up, you'll see it there. It's on the top of your paper, right on top."  Then one day, the Principal had a follow up question. The Principal asked, "WHY are you learning that?" I mean, I didn't even know how to answer that question. "Because it's on the test? Because they state told us that's what we have to teach?" I never really considered telling the kids why this lesson was applicable to previous or future lessons, how would help them get to college, or really why it was important to their lives. 

I started pushing "framing," explaining the purpose behind what we are learning, from consequences, to procedures, to lessons. I started framing my lessons, but I wasn't very consistent. Enter my framing stems. I put these on the board and it forced me to be more intentional about framing and helped me to be more consistent.

Since I started implementing this strategy, I feel like I have more intention behind everything we do in class. Although, my favorite part of this intentional framing is the student buy-in, they genuinely seem to be more invested in everything we do. In middle school, that’s priceless. Oh, and kids can explain to the administrators what we are doing and why. 

You can find lesson stems here on my teachers pay teachers site.