Effective Lesson Planning
Tips for Successful Lesson Planning
Know your learners.
Make sure to review individualized education programs (IEPs) to know the goals or objectives that should be covered. Know if the students need assistive technology or specific accommodations. Once you’re familiar with your learners, you will have an easier time planning how to engage them in a lesson.
Take the time to learn the scope and sequence of the curriculum.
No matter what subject you are teaching (reading, science, math, life skills), there will be a plan that details what content should be covered. Some states and districts have guidelines on where you should be in the curriculum throughout the school year. Having this “mental map” of where you should be headed instructionally can help you plan more effective lessons more quickly. Make sure to use any resources that are available to you regarding the scope or sequence of the curriculum.
Establish your own teaching routine.
Every teacher should develop a routine to introduce new content, review previously taught content, and summarize the lesson at the end. Once you have figured out what works best for you, use this system when you plan your instruction.
Manage your instructional time in segments.
Depending on how long each instructional period is (60 minutes, 90 minutes), you can “chunk” the time into segments (maybe 15 or 20 minutes). You then know that you will spend 20 minutes introducing your lesson, with another 30–35 minutes of guided practice in each lesson. By thinking of your instruction in time periods, you can also make sure that you are managing your time well when teaching your lesson.
Use your planning time to actually plan!
Teachers have many competing priorities and often use their planning time to address IEPs, parental concerns, and communication with other teachers. Although some of this is inevitable, try to find 1 or 2 periods each week when you turn off your phone, do not check email, and simply focus on planning lessons. Practice self-discipline, and stay focused on completing your planning. Make this a priority.
- The types of students you have in your class; including auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners.
- The type of learning and goals you’re aiming for. As an exercise, fill in this blank: “By the end of today’s class, I’m hoping my students will have learned or be able to ___.”
- The resources, materials, and teaching environment that are available to you, such as a classroom, a field trip, or selected readings in a study hall.
- Guided practice — With a guided practice you’re taking students back through what they’ve just learned, letting them add their own input as they gain confidence with the new information.
- Collaborative process — With partners or in a group, the collaborative process is all about students talking with their peers as they explore these new concepts. Circulate among your class and offer additional instruction or help when needed to clarify points.
- Independent practice — After the collaborative practice, it’s time for students to practice what they’ve learned on their own. Adapt independent practice according to the material you’ve just presented, such as using worksheets or having students write a short essay.
While there’s no single way to create a lesson plan, there are some important components that go into building each one.
Every lesson that you build is an entire segment that you create to teach your students something new. As you build a lesson it’s important to keep all your students in mind and ask the following essential questions before you begin:
This may seem silly — of course, you know who your students are … right? Before you can write an effective lesson plan, you need to really know your students. This includes information such as their interests, ability levels, whether they work better independently or in groups, any special needs that may require lesson tweaks, and their backgrounds. Knowing their learning preferences can also be helpful — some students learn better with visual aids, while others do better as auditory learners. You can incorporate videos to appeal to both kinds of learners!
Knowing your students’ prior knowledge of a subject can help you plan lessons. If you’ve been building lesson plans all along to follow a curriculum, you’ll already know what you’ve previously presented to your students; this allows you to continue with the flow.
Determine the best ways to get your students to learn. Younger students may do well with a lot of interactive teaching, while an older class may do better with a lecture and slideshow. After the first few classes, you’ll have a better idea of how to keep your students engaged.
You can break down the teaching techniques that you can use in your lesson plan into:
Once you’ve identified the components that need to go into teaching your class, you’re ready to use these eight steps to build your lesson plan:
To build a lesson, you first need to identify the objectives of each class. What do you hope to accomplish by the end of the period? Are there specific things that your students should know or be able to do? If you’re teaching younger students, a lesson objective may be that they’re able to identify animals that live in the rainforest after reading a chapter about animals in Brazil. For older students, this goal may involve having learned how to solve algebraic equations.
With this particular lesson, are you introducing new material or reviewing what you’ve already taught in a previous class? At the start of the class, be sure to let students know what to expect so they can stay focused on meeting your objectives. When reviewing material, some of your students may need more encouragement than others. Identifying these needs in your lesson plan will help you prepare.
Make a list of the resources and materials you’ll need to teach this lesson, such as paper, pens, and rulers. Don’t forget to include technology resources in your plan when appropriate — laptops, and gamified learning tools, like apps or educational websites.
What’s the point of a lesson if your students aren’t engaged? You want them to be interested in what you’re teaching. Thus, to prepare, you need to get them interested in what this lesson is all about. Give them an outline of what you’re going to be presenting. Then, introduce the subject more informally. For example, if you’re teaching students a formula, try deriving it from scratch to build their intuition for where it comes from. Or, if you’re discussing certain historical events, try to draw parallels between those and any current events so students can relate to the material.
Once you’ve set the stage for what you’ll be teaching, it’s time to present the information to your students. This is the time to instruct and use whatever resources you’ve included in your lesson plan. Involve your students in the process whenever possible so they’re engaged. For example, you could ask students to come to the board and solve certain problems or answer questions.
Whether it’s reading from a book, using props such as blocks for younger students, or displaying graphics on the screen for older students, it’s all about presenting information and concepts in a meaningful way. Don’t forget to account for the different learning styles of your students so you can use teaching methods that work for everyone.
After teaching new material, leave time for students to practice. There are three practice methods that, when worked in order, are a good way to reinforce what you’ve just taught:
Finish the lesson with a quick wrap-up. Do a brief overview of the lesson, including the main concepts the class learned. Ask students to identify the key ideas as a refresher, and leave them with a preview of the next lesson so they know what to expect.
Did you achieve your learning objectives? Provide students with the opportunity to show they know the material by using a short quiz or test. Depending on the results, your next lesson plan may include a review of information before moving on to new material.
Effective Lesson Planning - Ideas
Effective Lesson Planning - Extended Learning
Effective Lesson Planning - Videos
Comments
Post a Comment