Lesson Plan Workshop California State University, Los Angeles October 29, 2010

Workshop Objectives  Identify and appreciate the purposes of a lesson plan.  Appreciate the additional goals of IMPACT LA lesson plans.  Identify the components of the IMPACT LA lesson plan and the need for each.  Be able to prepare a complete an IMPACT LA lesson plan to meet project standards.  Recognize, and be able to avoid, common mistakes in writing lesson plans.

What’s a lesson plan?  A lesson plan is a teacher’s detailed description of the course of instruction for an individual lesson or series of lessons.  A lesson plan is a plan or a frame work of how a topic is to be thought to the students in a class room.  A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class instruction.  The detail of the plan will vary depending on the preference of the teacher, subject being covered, and the need and/or curiosity of children.  There may be requirements mandated by the school system regarding the plan.

What’ s an additional function of an Impact LA lesson plan? It must provide adequate and appropriate information that will facilitate its shares use by other teachers in this project and those that may access it through the web. What does that mean to us? How will it impact what we do?

Lesson Plan Template

Lesson Plan Elements  Activity Title  Grade Level  Subject Area  Keywords  Learning Objectives  Engineering/Science Connection  Time Required  Group Size  Expendable Cost per Group  Educational Standards  Materials List  Prerequisite Knowledge  Activity Background & Concepts for Teachers  Introduction/Motivation  Vocabulary/Definitions  Procedure  Supplementary Materials  Assessment  Activity Extensions  Activity Scaling  References  Copyright

What Learning Objectives Are NOT?  They aren’t simply a list of the topics to be covered in the course.  Certainly, there will be a body of knowledge that students should know and understand by the time the course is complete.  But if the goals for what students should achieve stops there, there may be many missed opportunities for providing them with a more productive learning experience. Source: MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory

What Are Learning Objectives?  A learning objective should describe what students should know [cognitive] or be able to do [psychomotor] at the end of the course that they couldn’t do before. [They can also describe attitudes, appreciations, relationships.]  Learning objectives should be about student performance.  Good learning objectives shouldn’t be too abstract (“the students will understand what good literature is”); too narrow (“the students will know what a ground is”); or be restricted to lower-level cognitive skills (“the students will be able to name the countries in Africa.”).  Each individual learning objective should support the overarching goal of the course. Source: MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory

Writing Learning Objectives? Experts often talk about using the acronym S—K—A to frame learning objectives. SKA stands for: Skills: What students should be able to do by the time the course is completed. Knowledge: What students should know and understand by the time the course is completed. Attitudes: What the students’ opinions will be about the subject matter of the course by the time it is completed. Source: MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory

Writing Learning Objectives? It is best to identify the skills, knowledge, and attitudes the students should gain throughout the course by writing sentences that begin: By the time the students finish the course [or some subset of the course (i.e., lesson)], they should be able to... and then supplying a strong, action verb. Examples of verbs that define student performance in a particular area include: explain calculate listreport describe compare demonstrate analyze Source: MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory

Cognitive Domain Objectives Bloom’s Taxonomy of Objectives for the Cognitive Domain (1956), categorize cognitive tasks, usually in increasingly sophisticated order. Levels Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation Sample Verbs write, list, label, name, state, define explain, summarize, paraphrase, describe, illustrate use, compute, solve demonstrate, apply, construct analyze, categorize, compare, contrast, separate create, design, hypothesize, invent, develop judge, recommend, critique, justify

Psychomotor Domain Objectives Krathwohl, D., Bloom, B., & Masia, B. Taxonomy of educational objectives. (1956). Levels Observing Imitating Practicing Adapting Sample Verbs bend grasp handle operate reach relax shorten stretch write differentiate (by touch) perform (skillfully)

Affective Domain Objectives Krathwohl, D., Bloom, B., & Masia, B. Taxonomy of educational objectives. (1956). Levels Receiving Responding Valuing Organization Value Complex Sample Verbs accept, acknowledge, follow, listen, observe agree, demonstrate, describe, identify, select adopt, encourage, evaluate, foster, join, justify design, facilitate, organize, recommend, specify act, advocate, debate, promote, serve

Examples of Learning Objectives: From the introductory course in Aeronautics and Astronautics Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental properties of linear systems, by explaining the properties to others. From a course in managerial communication By the time you complete [this course], you should be able to formulate an effective communication strategy by selecting appropriate content, organizational structure, and media. From a physics course on electromagnetism The overall goal is to be able to explain the enormous variety of electromagnetic phenomena in terms of a few relatively simple laws. Source: MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory

Learning Objectives & Measurable Outcomes  Ideally, learning objectives should be accompanied by measurable outcomes, which describe ways in which students will be asked to demonstrate that they have achieved the learning objectives.  Methods of assessment of student learning can take many forms—exams (written or oral), papers, oral presentations, team projects.  Criteria for success (often called rubrics) should be developed so that students understand what is expected of them, and so that they can use feedback to see where they need to strengthen their performance. Source: MIT Teaching and Learning Laboratory

Let’s Create Some Learning Objectives of Our Own

Lesson Plan Assessment Rubrics

Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them) – Dr. Bob Kizlik

Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them) 1. The objective of the lesson does not specify what the student will actually do that can be observed. 2. The lesson assessment is disconnected from the behavior indicated in the objective. 3. The prerequisites are not specified or are inconsistent with what is actually required to succeed with the lesson. 4. The materials specified in the lesson are extraneous to the actual described learning activities and/or intended student learning. 5. The instruction in which the teacher will engage is not efficient for the level of intended student learning. 6. The student activities described in the lesson plan do not contribute in a direct and effective way to the lesson objective. A lesson plan that contains one or more of these mistakes needs rethinking and revision.

Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them) 1. The objective of the lesson does not specify what the student will actually do that can be observed.  Remember, an objective is a description of what a student does that forms the basis for making an inference about learning.  Poorly written objectives lead to faulty inferences.

Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them) 2. The lesson assessment is disconnected from the behavior indicated in the objective.  An assessment in a lesson plan is simply a description of how the teacher will determine whether the objective has been accomplished.  It must be based on the same behavior that is incorporated in the objective.  Anything else is flawed.

Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them) 3. The prerequisites are not specified or are inconsistent with what is actually required to succeed with the lesson.  Prerequisites mean just that -- a statement of what a student needs to know or be able to do to succeed and accomplish the lesson objective.  It is not easy to determine what is required, but it is necessary.  Some research indicates that as much as 70% of learning is dependent on students having the appropriate prerequisites.

Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them) 4. The materials specified in the lesson are extraneous to the actual described learning activities.  This means keep the list of materials in line with what you actually plan to do.  Overkilling with materials is not a virtue!

Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them) 5. The instruction in which the teacher will engage is not efficient for the level of intended student learning.  Efficiency is a measure that means getting more done with the same amount of effort, or the same amount with less effort.  With so much to be learned, it should be obvious that instructional efficiency is paramount.

Six Common Mistakes in Writing Lesson Plans (and what to do about them) 6. The student activities described in the lesson plan do not contribute in a direct and effective way to the lesson objective.  Don't have your students engaged in activities just to keep them busy..  Whatever you have your students do should contribute in a direct way to their accomplishing the lesson objective.

Discussion & Questions