Michigan to post lesson plans online

Under a new Michigan program, lesson plans from the state's best teachers

will be posted online, providing practical support to help teachers meet

state education guidelines.

The state is currently recruiting teachers to submit a resume, cover

letter and two lesson plans for evaluation. The state will choose 48 teachers — one for each grade level (K-12), and one for each subject (math, social

studies, science and English) — who will then attend a two-day orientation

and training session in August.

They will then submit up to 100 lesson plans during the next school

year. For each lesson plan accepted, they will be paid $100. Those lesson

plans will be posted on a Sample Curriculum and Plans for Education (SCoPe)

World Wide Web site for the 2001 school year. The site address has not yet

been determined.

The goal is to provide a practical method of meeting state curriculum

standards to inexperienced, substitute and elementary teachers and others,

said Stephanie Van Koevering, special assistant to the state treasurer,

who is working on the program.

"We're looking for really good, outstanding teachers that are able to

get these concepts across and submit their lesson plans so others can learn

from them," she said. "We also need to start leveraging out teachers by

providing them with more information on a daily basis," she said.

Once the site is available, teachers will be able to log on and access

a year-by-year curriculum guide for the four subjects as well as daily lesson

plans, including classroom activities, homework assignments and assessments.

The plans are for guidance and do not have to be used.

All plans will use the content standards measured by the Michigan Education

Assessment Program. That program tests students at the end of high school

to determine how well they meet state curriculum standards.