Designing a Language Course is a Work in Progress
The classroom is like an ocean: always in flux. Even if the students are the same, their levels of energy or interest or attention or enthusiasm in a given moment continually shifts. What the teacher says, how students feel about each other, the events of their day before the beginning of class, how much sleep they’ve had the night before, the hardness of the chairs, the movement of a ray of sunlight in the room… all these things affect us as humans.
So “designing a language course is a work in progress,” at its most fundamental level, refers to the volatility of the students as humans. In designing a course, one must take into the account the fluidity of the classroom mood. For example, say I’ve come up with a plan I find intriguing. I must always remember that is based on an preconception of an idealized class, and consider my plan in light of reality.
It is a work in progress because, as the book notes, changing one facet of the plan — needs assessment, for example — triggers a chain reaction of revision throughout the whole process.
It is a work in progress because every group of students is different. Even if it were possible that the abilities and learning styles of the target students could be identical from one class to the next (impossible by definition of humanity), group dynamics and other factors will necessitate both overarching (planned) and spontaneous changes (during the class).
It is a work in progress because one is continually reflecting on successes and lack thereof, and modifying and fine-tuning accordingly. Maybe one of the language objectives turns out to be inadequately addressed. We change something to sharpen our plan, which prompts a series of other changes.
In writing, when I change one word somewhere, it may shift the entire nature of the piece, precipitating a string of changes throughout. And in writing, when a reader reads and comments, I discover things I need to change: add, delete, refine. And when I go away from the writing and come back to it with fresh eyes, I make more changes.
Like a work of art, as something involving the human heart and mind, a classroom plan is never truly finished.