Coursework - Essay

Mahra Bahkeet Mohammed Alrayhi.

H00328199

ECE 3503
Garnel Desravins
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Planning for lessons in early childhood is one of the essential steps in teaching and a

part of educating and behavior management. Suitable classroom planning will keep the

teacher organized and on track while teaching which will lead to teach and give more.

Besides, that will enhance the children’s understanding of what they are going to learn and

will keep them feel secure instead of lost. Furthermore, it improves and develops both

teacher and student’s awareness of the lesson and knows the steps.

In this essay, I will discuss the three kinds of planning in education which are; Long-term

planning (LTP), Medium term planning(MTP), and short-term planning (STP). And find

the advantages of each, the differences and the similarities.

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LTP: Long-term planning (Five weeks or more):

A long-term plan is a schedule that shows you how you have logically grouped and

sequenced the learning goals for your teaching course into units that lead to achieving the

goals by the end of the school year. Besides, it should contain and provide an overall

summary of the aims to be completed in each subject area, based on the curriculum and

the students’ needs in the classroom.

There are steps the must be followed to plan for an effective long-term plan which are;

First, use the standards to define the learning goals and that will show each standard is full

cut of what students are expected to know or be able to do. Second, group learning goals

into units and the learning goals defined in different standards, come together in units based

on their commonalities. Third, order the units and plot them on the school calendar. By

completing this step, that will help in enhancing the content of understanding by thinking

deeply about how your units build upon each other to maximize student understanding and

reach your big goal. Fourth, continually check your plan and that because reviewing the

plan is needed to alter the plan frequently throughout the year to respond to ongoing with

the continuous changes assessment data and to align it with your big goal and summative

assessment.
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Teachers use LTPs to inform their medium-term plans which cover a term or a half-term

and offer more detailed planning. Furthermore, planning for the long-term plan lead to

several advantages and benefits which are; It drives students and teachers to purposefully

prioritize works that will lead to the achievement of the goals. It allows you to know and

observe your progress towards to achieve your end-goals. Moreover, the long-term plan

encourages to think about the goals and what do you want the students to be able to learn

and do by the ends of the year. Also, having a plan provides you with the comfort and

security and to know what you are going to teach during the year and to sit up and organize

you teaching aims.

MTP: Medium-term plan (Three weeks):

Medium term plan or weekly plan, is a plan that takes three weeks and sets out a sequence

of work in a subject area for a period usually a half term, whole term and sometimes for

several weeks or teaching hours. Also, it includes a brief outline of different themes,

learning outcomes and activities that are planned for the students during these weeks as

medium-term planning.

Medium term planning leads to several benefits which are included in; Explain the learning

objectives of each lesson and how the outcomes will be measured, indicates the learning

and teaching activities that are planned to achieve those outcomes, ensures advancement

from the beginning of the unit to the end.

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STP: Short-term planning (One week or two):

Short term planning or daily planning, is focusing on what does the teacher need to observe

on the children during the day and the areas to emphasis based on his or her prior

knowledge of the group. A short-term plan often includes details such as differentiation

that will ensure the lesson is planned for the needs of all the pupils in the class as well as

opportunities for day-to-day assessment.

When the medium-term plan is detailed, making a short-term plan need not be detailed as

well as the medium-term plan. Furthermore, the learning objectives, outcomes, and

teaching activities will already be described, so the task of short-term planning can be more

focused on fine setting to suit a teaching group rather than planning the lesson from scratch.

A successful medium-term plan will result in a range of possible formats and ideas for what

a short-term plan or resource might be.

To compare and contracts between the three types of planning, it focuses over a longer

period of time and that could be for five weeks or more. The long-term planning is focusing

on the curriculum to draw om wider departmental, local and school events. While the

medium-term plan focusses on specific objectives and assessment outcomes that refer to

ADEC or EYFS curriculum.

The medium-term plan is linked to the long-term plan which provides the opportunity for

the students to develop their levels through the key stage. It supports the students to work

and develop their experiences and understanding by providing the activities according to

the outcomes that are sit. The medium-term planning should include the evaluating part to
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assist the students understanding by providing assessments and that could be by

observation, worksheets and even interviews with the students. The short-term planning,

by planning for a good and successful medium-term plan will result in ideas for what a

short-term planning will be. The detail of the plan will include a rich learning experiences

that depends on what happened previously in teaching and link it with what will happen

guided by the long and medium-term planning.

To compare between the three kinds of planning in education, there are points that shows

the different between long, medium and short-term planning which are; the long-term plan

is not detailed as the medium-term plan and that because the long-term plan is for five

weeks or maybe more so there is no need to make it specified as well as the medium-term

plan which is only for three weeks while the short-term plan is for one or two weeks and

is not detailed because it is already planned and explained in detail in the medium-term

plan. So, the short-term plan will be focusing more on the fine setting to suit a teaching

group rather than planning the lesson from scratch. In addition, these differences between

Them will help the teacher to achieve her aims of what she planned for the students to be

improved and able to do by the end of the year. It continuously shows the teacher what will

be the next step to develop her student’s skills.

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To sum up, the weekly plan need not be specified, but name the types (For more details about

the weekly plan, look at the appendix Pic (1), page (7). According to EYFS curriculum, the long,

medium and short-term planning should include the seven-learning development which

are; Personal, social and emotional development, communication and language, literacy,

physical development, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive arts & design.

That shows the students areas of development and achievements during the school year.
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Appendix (Pic 1):

(Planning for Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage , n.d.)

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References:

long term planning. (2018). Retrieved from

http://teachingasleadership.org/sites/default/files/Related-
Readings/IPD_Ch3_2011.pdf

Long term planning - general introduction. (n.d.). Retrieved from sites:

https://sites.google.com/a/pdst.ie/pdst/guidance-for-long-and-short-term-
planning/long-term-planning---general-introduction

Planning for Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage . (n.d.). Retrieved from
islingtoncs: https://www.islingtoncs.org/node/148

Short term planning. (n.d.). Retrieved from re-handbook: http://re-

handbook.org.uk/section/managing/planning-a-scheme-of-work/short-term-
planning

What is a long term plan (LTP)? (n.d.). Retrieved from twinkl:

https://www.twinkl.ae/teaching-wiki/long-term-plan-ltp