ABSTRACT
Sitting in the staffroom, you will hear teachers ask what their colleague has just taught so that they can do the same, or you will hear them wonder out loud what they are going to do with Year 9 that afternoon, and it may cross your mind to wonder whether these teachers who have been around for ages actually plan anything. During your ITE programme you will have been shown how to write detailed lesson plans on complicated forms and you know for a fact that no established teacher does any such thing – a glance at their planner just says ‘To His Coy Mistress’ or ‘Act 2 cont.’ in the lesson slot. So why bother? It is hugely time-consuming fi lling out a plan with the timings next to every task. It is exhausting having to think of new and interesting approaches to every topic, and how to provide a suitable variety of activities within and between lessons. It takes hours to compose the worksheets or the Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) fl ipcharts that the pupils just take for granted and do not treat with the awe and respect you think they deserve.
