Designing Effective Lesson Plans Emily Hambright – EDU 650

Important Elements of Lesson Design Knowing and understanding the topic you will be teachingKnowing and understanding the topic you will be teaching Identifying the students you will be teaching (Childre, 2009)Identifying the students you will be teaching (Childre, 2009) Develop activities based off of what you want them to learn and what they will be assessed on, not just the topic in general (Newman, 2013)Develop activities based off of what you want them to learn and what they will be assessed on, not just the topic in general (Newman, 2013) Defining and understanding the results you want from your studentsDefining and understanding the results you want from your students –What you want them to learn and where they should be in their understanding of the topic by the end of the lesson

More Important Lesson Design Elements Do not use a generic assessment tool to determine if your students learned the material or notDo not use a generic assessment tool to determine if your students learned the material or not Create activities that work for multiple types of learning styles so that all of your students will benefit from themCreate activities that work for multiple types of learning styles so that all of your students will benefit from them Keep in mind that sometimes it might be necessary to stick with one lesson longer than just a week in order for your students to completely learn and understand the materialKeep in mind that sometimes it might be necessary to stick with one lesson longer than just a week in order for your students to completely learn and understand the material

Why are Good Learning Objective Necessary? Having specific and “good” learning objectives enables teachers to focus their lessons betterHaving specific and “good” learning objectives enables teachers to focus their lessons better Helps teachers know how to assess where their students are at in terms of their learningHelps teachers know how to assess where their students are at in terms of their learning Without important learning objectives, lessons plans are almost irrelevant because there is no end result that the teacher is aiming forWithout important learning objectives, lessons plans are almost irrelevant because there is no end result that the teacher is aiming for –Why teach a lesson if you do not have a clear and concise goal in mind for your students?

Good Learning Objective Example Kindergartens being able to remember the key points in a story and the lesson being taught in the storylineKindergartens being able to remember the key points in a story and the lesson being taught in the storyline –This aligns with the Common Core Standards of identifying the main topic and retelling key details and major events of a text, and answering questions about it (Chief School Officers, 2010)

Common Lesson Planning Pitfalls Many teachers focus more on how engaged their students will be in an activity instead of what the students should be learning while doing the activity (Newman, 2013)Many teachers focus more on how engaged their students will be in an activity instead of what the students should be learning while doing the activity (Newman, 2013) Emphasis is placed on covering all of the text/chapters too often (Newman, 2013)Emphasis is placed on covering all of the text/chapters too often (Newman, 2013) –Rather than making sure all of the textbook is covered, only cover what is absolutely necessary and goes along with the objectives you have made based on the Common Core Standards

More Lesson Planning Pitfalls Only assessing students at the end of the lesson instead of continuously throughout to make sure they are learning and understanding the material (Childre, 2009)Only assessing students at the end of the lesson instead of continuously throughout to make sure they are learning and understanding the material (Childre, 2009) The point of lesson plans is to design activities that will help a student succeed, but too often teachers do not take into consideration whether or not a student will be successful in the topicThe point of lesson plans is to design activities that will help a student succeed, but too often teachers do not take into consideration whether or not a student will be successful in the topic –Stray away from just textbook activities and assessments, and take the focus back to what the lesson is teaching the students and the results of the students learning

Backward Design Strays away from the “traditional” way of lesson planningStrays away from the “traditional” way of lesson planning Focuses more on what teachers want students to learn and develops lesson plans from thereFocuses more on what teachers want students to learn and develops lesson plans from there

Backward Design Method (Newman, 2013) 1.Takes a topic and rather than instantly designing activities, first focuses on determining the objectives of the topic and results you want from your students 2.Then develops an effective assessment to determine if students reached desired results 3.Creates activities based on the assessment designed that will be most effective in students learning the material

Role of Common Core Standards in Designing Effective Instruction (Chief School Officers, 2010) Help to ensure that students are being taught specific skills that will benefit them in college and their careersHelp to ensure that students are being taught specific skills that will benefit them in college and their careers Leads to teachers being able to create the most effective assessments and lesson plansLeads to teachers being able to create the most effective assessments and lesson plans Guides teachers on what goals need to be reached for each student, which then guides the plans they develop and how they teach themGuides teachers on what goals need to be reached for each student, which then guides the plans they develop and how they teach them

Focuses on what the students need to get out of the topic (the objectives) Develops assessments specific to the learning objectives that helps to determine student success Recovers a topic that students struggled with because it is designed to ensure a student’s success in the area Focuses on the activities to be done and how engaged the students are in the activities Does not focus on what/if students are learning what they need to in order to be successful Uses assessments from a resource (i.e. textbook) rather than what is best suited for the topic/lesson plan Develops engaging experiences and activities for students Backwards DesignTraditional Model (Newman, 2013)

Kindergarten Lesson Plan (Chief School Officers, 2010) Step 1: Identify Desire ResultsStep 1: Identify Desire Results –Ability to recall and answer questions regarding key details from a story –Identify characters and main events –Can use prompting and support from teacher (Based on Reading Standards in the Common Core Standards for Kindergartners)

Kindergarten Lesson Plan (Chief School Officers, 2010) Step 2: Assessment EvidenceStep 2: Assessment Evidence – Students will be assessed in two ways to ensure that all learning styles and students have an equal opportunity to be fairly assessed –They will participate in group discussions asking and answering questions about the story read prompted and supported by the teacher and classmates –Students will also have the choice of either drawing or using the felt storyboard to depict a major event/part of the book that shows they understood what was going on in the story (they can also retell the story using the storyboard or drawing out the different scenes)

Kindergarten Lesson Plan (Chief School Officers, 2010) Step 3: Learning ActivitiesStep 3: Learning Activities –A story will be read (Three Little Pigs) during large group time –Teacher will begin a discussion about the story after it has been read –Students will then answer and ask questions asked by the teacher and their peers to show they understood what was happening in the story, the characters involved, and other details –Teacher will dismiss students to their tables to depict a main event of the story by either drawing it or making it on a felt storyboard. If a student does not want to do just one event, they may also retell the whole story to the class when they go back to large group to discuss what every student drew/created

Kindergarten Common Core Standard The lesson designed in the previous slides is in alignment with two of the common core standards for reading and literature for kindergarteners.The lesson designed in the previous slides is in alignment with two of the common core standards for reading and literature for kindergarteners. –“With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.” (Chief School Officers, 2010) –“With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.” (Chief School Officers, 2010)

References Childre, A., Sands, J. R., & Pope, S. (2009). Backward Design. Teaching Exceptional Children, 41(5), Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010, June 2). Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects. Retrieved from df df df Newman, R. (2013). Teaching and learning in the 21st century: Connecting the dots. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Teaching and learning in the 21st century: Connecting the dotsTeaching and learning in the 21st century: Connecting the dots