Leaving lesson plans for the next teacher

[DMZ]

I have absolutely no problem leaving a bunch of stuff in my apartment for the next teacher to use but I feel uncomfortable with leaving all my detailed lesson plans and materials for the teacher that takes over my job at my middle school. I worked my bum off putting together some amazing lesson plans and I just feel that my successor should have to do the same instead of hitching a free ride on my initiative. My reasoning doesn't make me feel a whole lot better about it though... am I being selfish?

[Paul]

Would you be perhaps more inclined to do so if your predecessor had hypothetically left you lesson plans?

[dmhr25]

I will not leave lesson plans for the next teacher.  Making your own lesson plans and games are an important part of becoming a good, and more importantly, your own teacher.

[flasyb]

Sort of like, "I struggled through this so the next teacher should have to struggle too?" I think that's the wrong reason to do it. You might say that not leaving your lesson plans would make the next teacher have to be more creative and challenge them to become a better teacher. Having them struggle because you don't like the idea of them having an easy time does seem a little selfish.

I'm only in my 7th month and I teach/live in a rural town. My intention is to write the next teacher a letter explaining certain things from lessons, the school, attitudes to the bus times so that they don't have to go through the confusion I did (I haven't even had an orientation yet). I'll leave all of my lessons in a file on the computer too. My only fear is that my lesson plans aren't good enough!

[DMZ]

I would... but that is indeed a hypothetical situation because he didn't leave me any lesson plans.

Come to think of it, he didn't leave me so much as a fork in my apartment either.

[dauphinalbert]

yes. what is going to happen to those lesson plans if you don't share them? would it be better that nobody use them? waygook.org is built on sharing stuff. just put them up here.

[eliseh]

I think I will definitely leave a few lesson plans or ideas behind for the new waygook -- the foreign teacher for me didn't leave anything and I definitely felt overwhelmed in the beginning.  The kids will be the ones to suffer if their new teacher is fumbling around the first few weeks...

[Darkeru]

Personally I'm going to. The previous guy did for me and I was grateful, even if they weren't detailed or explained well. They gave me an idea of what the school wanted, since when I previously taught it was smaller and more advanced classes only. I never directly used one of his lesson plans though, just used it for ideas and trying to figure out what they wanted.

[weirdgirlinkorea]

I hope this isn't received negatively, but I while understand your thinking, think about your first day. I don't know if you were already a seasoned teacher or not but I was not and while I do not hold it against my predecessor for not doing so (mostly because I doubt she ever wrote any to leave me), I would say I would have found it to be a huge help if there had been at least 4 or 5 lesson plans left behind until I got the hang of things. If it hadn't been for a 3 day mentoring session I went to (early on), it would have taken me longer to find Waygook. I really had no idea what to do for the first month and a half. I think it would be good to leave behind a few basic lesson plans that you found successful; such as body parts, greetings, feelings, food, and weather or colors and days of the week. Stuff like that could be a huge help to a newbie and help them to reflect the right image of NETs. At the very least leave them a letter on what the school expects of them (lesson planning, tape recorder-as in being one-, extra afterschool classes, no overtime, etc.) My opinion is a few lesson plans to get them started would be helpful, while still requiring them to do their own planning beyond the few you left.

[cindylici0us]

If you are leaving in the middle of the school year, it's not a bad idea to leave a few lesson plans (versus all of them) for the next co-teacher. For one, it'll be a better transition for your students (in terms of being used to a certain routines/classroom rules), and also, it will help the next native English teacher settle in positively, and see what kind of work is expected from them.

[GrenWhit]

It's a non-issue for me.  My school said they like my methods and asked me to compile my plans into a usable curriculum for the next NET.  Which kind of made me smug rather than upset.

[javdek1]

the man i replaced had been at my school for two years. he seemed to go through the computer and delete any materials that may have been useful to me (lesson plans, templates, etc.) yet left a lot of his music and movie files. Also he left no note and a whole bunch of useless garbage at the apartment. The few minutes it would have taken to leave a note explaining where to buy food, where there was a bank, etc. would have saved some wandering around and a lot of stress.
i look forward to leaving lesson plans / winter camp materials and having someone use them, scrap them, and/or hopefully improve them.

[willinkorea]

I have to prepare lesson plans and materials for every lesson I teach, having been giving nothing to start with. When I do leave, I think that I'll leave all my materials for whoever follows, but only lesson plan templates - not actual lesson plans.

Every class is different, and even for the four classes I teach in each year group, the same lesson content and structure isn't necessarily universally suitable. Leaving complete lesson plans simply encourages laziness, and instils a poor work ethic and approach to lesson planning from the outset. I've no problem with my having done work that my successor may not have to if I give them  my lesson plans, but it's not right that someone come to rely on lesson plans designed for different teachers, with different teaching methods, for classes with different characteristics and behaviour patterns. That's simply poor teaching.

This job is the easiest most of us teaching here will ever have - there's absolutely no excuse for not taking time to properly prepare lesson plans appropriate to the lesson content, the strengths of the teachers involved and the specific classes.

[grandfromage]

I'm going to leave a month's worth of lesson plans, a letter, links to useful sources, and probably a couple other lists of ideas and things for the next teacher.  And a document full of good stores and restaurants and such around the apartment.  I wasn't left anything useful (though I was given the last teacher's e-mail, and we exchanged a lot of good information) so I don't want the next person to be as overwhelmed and lost as I was at first.  Seems like the courteous thing to do.

[sonicfife]

Think about your students:  If the next teacher is inexperienced, they will suffer for it.  But if your lessons are available as a resource, the students will receive the same quality education as when you were there.  Your legacy will live on forever!

If the next teacher is a quality teacher, he/she will probably not use your lessons as is and will "make them his/her own."  The lessons will be better than either of you could have created on your own ... isn't that the entire point of this website?

What harm comes to you by leaving them?  I left all my lessons for the next teacher at my former school, and both the new teacher and my former co-teacher called me (separately) months later and thanked me.  Win-win for everyone!

At my current school, I teach 2nd grade and another foreign teacher teaches 1st grade.  I don't share my lesson plans with him, becuase then I would be SCREWED.  I have no problem with being selfish when the alternative will cause me harm. 

[yewon]

I made my lesson plans to improve my students' English not to satisfy myself.
If another teacher makes a good use of it and my students may benefit from it, I would be more than happy to leave all my stuff at school.

[emwsu]

I would leave them, Even though they aren't that great, or detailed. It is something to help the next person figure out the level of the students and how the school works. I didn't have anything left for me and it took me a bit to get it figured out. Or ecen save them from repeating lessons!

The school might clear the computer off of anyfiles you leave the next person. I think that is what they did at my school, or they gave me a different computer as it had nothing on it when I came. My apt was also empty beyond a few odd pieces left behind, but no dishes or useful things. I would also write up a few tips on buses and how to get to places.

[GrenWhit]

BTW I'd leave mine even if not asked, especially after reading the lesson plan time thread today.  I'm a little disappointed by how many people are saying 30 minutes or less like its a good thing.  I doubt the next teacher will use everything - I tend to run a tight class.  The kids have fun with it, and more structure makes the games/activities go better, but I haven't run into many people here who use a similar approach, maybe because it doesn't look like what a cool teacher would do. 

[Aladruic]

From my experience, I came into a brand new apartment (furnished pretty well thanks to my co-teacher) and a school computer that had a nice letter from the previous teacher, as well as some materials from his lessons.  I was new to teaching, new to lesson-planning and especially new to the culture here.  Yet, I still came here with an idea of what I needed to do as a teacher (aided significantly by the orientation I was given upon arrival).  While I may not have had the exact format for planning lessons, or known what the textbook contents were, I still had a strong idea of what I was supposed to do.  Because of this, I didn't end up using any of the old teacher's materials. 
I guess my point is I wouldn't have a problem leaving any and all materials that I planned this year for the next person to use, keeping in mind that they will probably show up with some level of mental preparation on their own.  I don't understand not sharing materials with new teachers, especially since everyone seems to reiterate the point that no lesson can be completely copied. 

[Damien]

It depends. I would not leave ALL of my lesson plans, but it is a solid argument. I wish my previous teacher would have left a few ideas behind, but I do not want ALL of their ideas. I will leave a few good selected lesson plans. These will be lessons that the students responded to well and will more help the next teacher jump into the school. I wish the last teacher would have helped me some, because I had NO idea what level my students really were the first class. I planned for low level students and found out mine were FAR below my expectations. My first few classes bombed because of it.