Lesson Planning

Successful Lessons Engaging and challenging Attaining the goals and objectives Exciting and fun Connecting learning content with students’ prior knowledge and personal experiences Staying focused on the learning Reinforcing Depth and breadth (depth is more important)

What do you intend for your students to learn? Do you know your students well? What do they know? What can they do? What might interest them?

Teachers’ Preparations Define the scope of objectives and tasks. Master the learning content. Prepare audio-visuals (pictures, OHPs, etc.) Gather resources, ideas, activities, and hardware or software. Prepare handouts and other materials. Rehearse.

Constructivist’s Approach Vygosky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) Scaffolding Teachers as facilitators I + 1 Theory

Bloom’s Taxonomy Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis Evaluation

Create an adequate learning environment Space to hold all students and all students can see the teacher’s talking and demonstrations. Movement Both teacher and students are visible to one another. When gathering students to the rug area, make sure they don’t squeeze or bump into each other. Watch the lighting and temperature.

Plan a lesson Think ahead the scope of the lesson and what elements you should include for the lesson. Over prepare Decide tasks and activities Consider diversity

Rationale Why is this lesson significant? How is the content of this lesson appropriate for students? How does this lesson fit in the current curriculum? How will the learning in the lesson impact students?

Objectives What will students gain in this lesson? Make it short and relevant. For a minute lesson, it is unrealistic to include too many objectives. The objectives should be measurable so that you will be able to assess if you have attain your intended objectives. Student will be able to (SWBAT) The learners will (TLW)

NJCCCS Following the curriculum standards. Making adjustments.

Get to know your students Who can do what? What they like or dislike Who has special talents? Students’ family background

Hooks – get them excited and help them get the picture Pictures Stories Questions Transitions Activities

Large group instruction Centers (Train students and get help) Small group work (grouping is important) Pairs Individual work

Strategies for successful activities Don’t use the worksheet too soon before you present information and make sure the majority students understand. Don’t give out answers too soon. Give them sometime to think about the answers to questions. When students are making random guesses, provide some clues to teach them to make educational guesses. Ask questions. Use visuals. Connect students and involve all in activities.

Sequencing Arrange the tasks to flow from easy to hard. Provide information and structure tasks in small chunks. (Students have short attention spans.) Break down hard concepts into smaller ideas and provide tasks for students to gradually develop the knowledge/ ability and grasp the concepts. Whole group instruction > demo > practice > small group > individual help

Assessment Formative assessment vs. summative assessment Observing students Questioning Feedback Follow-up checking Making modifications

Provide help Prepare cheat sheets; Provide steps to solve problems. Reinforce the steps and help student master the information. Have better students to help the worse ones. Provide references from previous tasks. Provide teacher modeling. Provide individual help.

Wrapping up the lesson Summarize the learning content and experiences. Ask questions to assess students’ understanding. Give assignments or homework. Announce the follow-up plans.

Differentiating Instruction Identify students’ needs. Customize activities to address individual’s needs. Customize assignments or tasks so that the learning disabled students can learn. Consider cooperative learning. Need to have specific plans for specific students.

Bad Lesson Plan Examples Too sketchy Objectives are too many. Objectives and activities don’t match. Cannot assess students’ achievements.

Concerns Have your students learned something new? Is your lesson decorated with bells and whistles with little or no actual learning? Is your teaching content too easy? Is your lesson entertaining but not challenging? How much control do you have over your students’ learning?