[Robin Long]

October 2, 2024

Dear Teacher Hotline – Macroplanning

Hello everyone! 👋

Thanks for coming to the Voc Talk Café and if you weren’t able to make it, no worries! You can read the session summary below, and follow the links to check out the curated resources!

• presentation

• agenda, discussion notes, and shared resources

• interactive tool

• customizable tool

• session recording (not available quite yet!)

Summary

In today’s Voc Talk Café we we explored macroplanning as an essential tool for organizing learning goals and guiding teacher support. Using a spreadsheet helps teachers organize activities and goals within a set timeframe, ensuring alignment with the program of study and coverage of all course content. Key elements include scheduling, prior skills, formative assessments, and administrative details. While primarily for teachers, it’s crucial for creating the syllabus that students use, situating learning objectives in real-world contexts and showing how new knowledge builds on prior skills.

It is especially useful for pedagogical consultants working with novice teachers, facilitating discussions on lessons, topics, and subject matter, with guidance from the evaluation framework (such as inforouteFPT) to prioritize content. Adding verdict rules in a separate column can help streamline planning. Keeping a master document of macroplans supports consistency, and for a less linear approach, a mind map could be a helpful alternative. Both tools are vital for structuring and enhancing student learning.

Do you have an idea for a Voc Talk Café discussion topic that you would like to discuss with your fellow teachers across the province? Let us know! We can help you set it up! Thanks to all who participated in discussing this very interesting subject, and I look forward to the next session!

📱👩‍🍳 Robin