What is a Lesson Plan?
A lesson plan is a detailed guide for teaching a
lesson. It's a step-by-step guide that outlines the teacher's objectives for
what the students will accomplish that day. Creating a lesson plan involves
setting goals and developing activities.
A lesson plan is a detailed description of the course of
instruction for the class. It is an essential part of good teaching. To
create a lesson plan, a teacher selects the desired learning target. It
provides daily learning targets for activity ideas, assessment ideas etc.
STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVE LESSON PLANNING
A lesson plan is the instructor’s road map of what students
need to learn and how it will be done effectively during the class time. Before
you plan your lesson, you will first need to identify the learning objectives
for the class meeting. Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and
develop strategies to obtain feedback on student learning.
A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates these
three key components:
*Objectives for student learning
*Teaching/learning activities
*Strategies to check student understanding
Specifying concrete objectives for student learning will
help you determine the kinds of teaching and learning activities you will use
in class, while those activities will define how you will check whether the
learning objectives have been accomplished.
Steps for Preparing a Lesson Plan
Below are six steps to guide you when you create your first
lesson plans. Each step is accompanied by a set of questions meant to prompt
reflection and aid you in designing your teaching and learning activities.
(1) Outline learning objectives
The first step is to determine what you want students to learn and be able to
do at the end of class. To help you specify your objectives for student
learning, answer the following questions:
*What is the topic of the lesson?
*What do I want students to learn?
*What do I want them to understand and be able to do at the end of class?
*What do I want them to take away from this particular lesson?
Once you outline the learning objectives for the class
meeting, rank them in terms of their importance. This step will prepare you for
managing class time and accomplishing the more important learning objectives in
case you are pressed for time. Consider the following questions:
*What are the most important concepts, ideas, or skills I
want students to be able to grasp and apply?
*Why are they important?
*If I ran out of time, which ones could not be omitted?
*And conversely, which ones could I skip if pressed for time?
(2) Develop the introduction
Now that you have your learning objectives in order of their
importance, design the specific activities you will use to get students to
understand and apply what they have learned. Because you will have a diverse
body of students with different academic and personal experiences, they may
already be familiar with the topic. That is why you might start with a question
or activity to gauge students’ knowledge of the subject or possibly, their
preconceived notions about it. For example, you can take a simple poll: “How
many of you have heard of X? Raise your hand if you have”.
You can also gather background information from your
students prior to class by sending students an electronic survey or asking them
to write comments on index cards.
This additional information can help shape your
introduction, learning activities, etc. When you have an idea of the students’
familiarity with the topic, you will also have a sense of what to focus on.
Develop a creative introduction to the topic to stimulate
interest and encourage thinking. You can use a variety of approaches to engage
students (e.g., personal anecdote, historical event, thought-provoking dilemma,
real-world example, short video clip, practical application, probing question,
etc.).
Consider the following questions when planning your
introduction:
*How will I check whether students know anything about the
topic or have any preconceived notions about it?
*What are some commonly held ideas (or possibly misconceptions) about this
topic that students might be familiar with or might espouse?
*What will I do to introduce the topic?
(3) Plan the specific learning activities (the main body of
the lesson)
Prepare several different ways of explaining the material
(real-life examples, analogies, visuals, etc.) to catch the attention of more
students and appeal to different learning styles. As you plan your examples and
activities, estimate how much time you will spend on each.
Build in time for extended explanation or discussion, but
also be prepared to move on quickly to different applications or problems, and
to identify strategies that check for understanding.
These questions would help you design the learning
activities you will use:
*What will I do to explain the topic?
*What will I do to illustrate the topic in a different way?
*How can I engage students in the topic?
*What are some relevant real-life examples, analogies, or situations that can
help students understand the topic?
*What will students need to do to help them understand the topic better?
(4) Plan to check for understanding
Now that you have explained the topic and illustrated it
with different examples, you need to check for student understanding – how will
you know that students are learning?
Think about specific questions you can ask students in order
to check for understanding, write them down, and then paraphrase them so that
you are prepared to ask the questions in different ways. Try to predict the
answers your questions will generate.
Decide on whether you want students to respond orally or in
writing. You can look at Strategies to Extend Student Thinking, to help you
generate some ideas and you can also ask yourself these questions:
*What questions will I ask students to check for
understanding?
*What will I have students do to demonstrate that they are following?
*Going back to my list of learning objectives, what activity can I have
students do to check whether each of those has been accomplished?
An important strategy that will also help you with time
management is to anticipate students’ questions. When planning your lesson,
decide what kinds of questions will be productive for discussion and what
questions might sidetrack the class.
Think about and decide on the balance between covering
content (accomplishing your learning objectives) and ensuring that students
understand.
(5) Develop a conclusion and a preview
Go over the material covered in class by summarizing the
main points of the lesson. You can do this in a number of ways: you can state
the main points yourself (“Today we talked about…”), you can ask a student to
help you summarize them, or you can even ask all students to write down on a
piece of paper what they think were the main points of the lesson.
You can review the students’ answers to gauge their
understanding of the topic and then explain anything unclear the following
class. Conclude the lesson not only by summarizing the main points, but also by
previewing the next lesson.
How does the topic relate to the one that’s coming? This
preview will spur students’ interest and help them connect the different ideas
within a larger context.
(6) Create a realistic timeline
You should know how easy it is to run out of time and not
cover all of the many points they had planned to cover. A list of ten learning
objectives is not realistic, so narrow down your list to the two or three key
concepts, ideas, or skills you want students to learn.
Instructors also agree that they often need to adjust their
lesson plan during class depending on what the students need. Your list of
prioritized learning objectives will help you make decisions on the spot and
adjust your lesson plan as needed.
Having additional examples or alternative activities will
also allow you to be flexible. A realistic timeline will reflect your
flexibility and readiness to adapt to the specific classroom environment. Here
are some strategies for creating a realistic timeline:
*Estimate how much time each of the activities will take,
then plan some extra time for each
*When you prepare your lesson plan, next to each activity indicate how much
time you expect it will take
*Plan a few minutes at the end of class to answer any remaining questions and
to sum up key points
*Plan an extra activity or discussion question in case you have time left
*Be flexible – be ready to adjust your lesson plan to students’ needs and focus
on what seems to be more productive rather than sticking to your original plan
Presenting the Lesson Plan
Letting your students know what they will be learning and
doing in class will help keep them more engaged and on track.
You can share your lesson plan by writing a brief agenda on
the board or telling students explicitly what they will be learning and doing
in class.
You can outline on the board or on a handout the learning
objectives for the class. Providing a meaningful organization of the class time
can help students not only remember better, but also follow your presentation
and understand the rationale behind in-class activities.
Having a clearly visible agenda (e.g., on the board) will
also help you and students stay on track.
Reflecting on Your Lesson Plan
A lesson plan may not work as well as you had expected due
to a number of extraneous circumstances. You should not get discouraged – it
happens to even the most experienced teachers!
Take a few minutes after each class to reflect on what
worked well and why, and what you could have done differently. Identifying
successful and less successful organization of class time and activities would
make it easier to adjust to the contingencies of the classroom.
For additional feedback on planning and managing class time,
you can use the following resources: student feedback, peer observation,
viewing a videotape of your teaching, and consultation with a staff member
Conclusion
To be effective, the lesson plan does not have to be an
exhaustive document that describes each and every possible classroom scenario.
Nor does it have to anticipate each and every student’s response or question.
Instead, it should provide you with a general outline of
your teaching goals, learning objectives, and means to accomplish them. It is a
reminder of what you want to do and how you want to do it.
A productive lesson is not one in which everything goes exactly as planned, but one in which both students and instructors learn from each other.
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