Teacher and Lesson Plan

Write a Lesson Plan Guide How to Develop a Lesson Plan We have received several questions regarding how to write a good lesson plan. We went ahead and asked our experts, did some research, and have included some tips and guidelines below. To begin, ask yourself three basic questions: Where are your students going? How are they going to get there? How will you know when they’ve arrived? Then begin to think about each of the following categories which form the organization of the plan. While planning, use the questions below to guide you during each stage.

Goals Goals determine purpose, aim, and rationale for what you and your students will engage in during class time. Use this section to express the intermediate lesson goals that draw upon previous plans and activities and set the stage by preparing students for future activities and further knowledge acquisition. The goals are typically written as broad educational or unit goals adhering to State or National curriculum standards. What are the broader objectives, aims, or goals of the unit plan/curriculum? What are your goals for this unit?

What do you expect students to be able to do by the end of this unit? Objectives This section focuses on what your students will do to acquire further knowledge and skills. The objectives for the daily lesson plan are drawn from the broader aims of the unit plan but are achieved over a well defined time period. What will students be able to do during this lesson? Under what conditions will students’ performance be accomplished? What is the degree or criterion on the basis of which satisfactory attainment of the objectives will be judged?

How will students demonstrate that they have learned and understood the objectives of the lesson? Prerequisites Prerequisites can be useful when considering the readiness state of your students. Prerequisites allow you, and other teachers replicating your lesson plan, to factor in necessary prep activities to make sure that students can meet the lesson objectives. What must students already be able to do before this lesson? What concepts have to be mastered in advance to accomplish the lesson objectives? Materials

This section has two functions: it helps other teachers quickly determine a) how much preparation time, resources, and management will be involved in carrying out this plan and b) what materials, books, equipment, and resources they will need to have ready. A complete list of materials, including full citations of textbooks or story books used, worksheets, and any other special considerations are most useful. What materials will be needed? What textbooks or story books are needed? (please include full bibliographic citations) What needs to be prepared in advance? (typical for science classes and cooking or baking activities)

Lesson Description This section provides an opportunity for the author of the lesson to share some thoughts, experience, and advice with other teachers. It also provides a general overview of the lesson in terms of topic focus, activities, and purpose. What is unique about this lesson? How did your students like it? What level of learning is covered by this lesson plan? (Think of Bloom’s Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation. ) Lesson Procedure This section provides a detailed, step-by-step description of how to replicate the lesson and achieve lesson plan objectives.

This is usually intended for the teacher and provides suggestions on how to proceed with implementation of the lesson plan. It also focuses on what the teacher should have students do during the lesson. This section is basically divided into several components: an introduction, a main activity, and closure. There are several elaborations on this. We have linked to some sample lesson plans to guide you through this stage of planning. ! Introduction How will you introduce the ideas and objectives of this lesson? How will you get students’ attention and motivate them in order to hold their attention?

How can you tie lesson objectives with student interests and past classroom activities? What will be expected of students? ! Main Activity What is the focus of the lesson? How would you describe the flow of the lesson to another teacher who will replicate it? What does the teacher do to facilitate learning and manage the various activities? What are some good and bad examples to illustrate what you are presenting to students? How can this material be presented to ensure each student will benefit from the learning experience? Rule of Thumb # 1: Take into consideration what students are learning (a ew skill, a rule or formula, a concept/fact/idea, an attitude, or a value). Choose one of the following techniques to plan the lesson content based on what your objectives are: Demonstration ==> list in detail and sequence of the steps to be performed Explanation explained Discussion discussion ! ==> outline the information to be ==> list of key questions to guide the Closure/Conclusion What will you use to draw the ideas together for students at the end? How will you provide feedback to students to correct their misunderstandings and reinforce their learning? ! Follow up Lessons/Activities

What activities might you suggest for enrichment and remediation? What lessons might follow as a result of this lesson? Assessment/Evaluation This section focuses on ensuring that your students have arrived at their intended destination. You will need to gather some evidence that they did. This usually is done by gathering students’ work and assessing this work using some kind of grading rubric that is based on lesson objectives. You could also replicate some of the activities practiced as part of the lesson, without providing the same level of guidance as during the lesson.

You could always quiz students on various concepts and problems as well. How will you evaluate the objectives that were identified? Have students practiced what you are asking them to do for evaluation? Rule of Thumb # 2: Be sure to provide students with the opportunity to practice what you will be assessing them on. You should never introduce new material during this activity. Also, avoid asking higher level thinking questions if students have not yet engaged in such practice during the lesson. For example, if you expect students to apply knowledge and skills, they should first be provided with the opportunity to practice pplication. Sample Lesson Plans from the Educator’s Reference Desk Collection Subject Sample Lesson Plan from the Educator’s Reference Desk Collection Arts A Line is a Dot That Went For a Walk Computer Science SimCity and PowerPoint Foreign Language Minimal Pairs Bingo! Health SunSmart Information Literacy Teaching Internet Library Instruction Sessions in the Electronic Classroom: The Adult Learner, the Internet, and Training Skills & Teaching Styles Interdisciplinary Who am I? Language Arts The Sounds of “EA” Mathematics Find a Pattern with “One Grain of Rice” Philosophy Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Physical Education

Basketball Golf Science The Notion of Motion Social Studies Crisis in the Balkans Vocational Education Theme Meal Please note that there are many other exemplary lesson plans that could not be included here due to space limitations. However, you may access them at the Educator’s Reference Desk home page. General Rule of Thumb: Your plan should be detailed and complete enough so that another teacher knowledgeable in your subject matter could deliver the lesson without needing to contact you for further clarifications. Please do not forget to edit and spell check your work before submission to the Educator’s Reference Desk Collection.

Resources for Lesson Plan Ideas The GatewaySM Collections List http://www. thegateway. org/collections. html PBS TeacherSource A large collection of lesson plans, teacher guides, and online student activities correlated to 90 sets of state and national curriculum standards. http://www. pbs. org/teachersource/ Discovery Channel School http://school. discovery. com/ Best of Education World® 2002 http://www. education-world. com/best_of/2002/ Education World® – Lesson Planning Center http://www. education-world. com/a_lesson/ Education World® – National Standards http://www. education-world. com/standards/national/index. html This guide was written by Manal El-Tigi, Ph. D. , Department of Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation – Syracuse University. She was one of the principal editors and reviewers of the AskERIC Lesson Plan Collection from 1996 – 2000. References Teacher Education Module Series. Develop a Lesson Plan, Module B-4 of Category B–Instructional Planning (1977). Ohio State Univ. , Columbus. National Center for Research in Vocational Education. ED149062 – An ERIC Document Created December 1, 1999; Last Updated December 20, 2003 Created December 1, 1999; Last Updated December 20, 2003