What is a lesson plan?
A lesson plan refers to a laid-out guideline that clearly indicates what the trainees should learn and the manner in which the lessons should be delivered. A good lesson plan is vital in the learning process for both the trainer and the trainees. A trainer with a well-planned lesson is confident enough to deliver a more fruitful session. Through proper analysis, students' learning, and the effectiveness of the training can be determined. A lesson plan generally highlights the trainer's teaching goals, and learning objectives and states the necessary criteria to be followed in order for the goals to be met.
A good lesson plan consists of three crucial components:
- Learning objectives
- Learning activities
- Assessment to check for student understanding
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Before Class: Steps for preparing a lesson plan
1. Identify Learning Objectives
Learning objectives refer to the expected outcome resulting from a given training session. It dictates what the learner should be able to know or to do once the training session is complete. Therefore, before thinking of planning your session, it is important to understand the intended purpose or target to be met through that specific session. What you really want to achieve within that session should be the driving force to making a good lesson plan. Some of the characteristics of learning objectives include;
- Specific - Learning objectives should be stated in simple terms that are understandable by both the trainer and trainees. It should also state clearly what, when, where, and how the learning activities will be carried out.
- Demonstrable and measurable - Learning objectives should be stated in such a way that the expected outcome, targets, and benefits of the session can be scaled to determine the value acquired. The goals should also be stated in a manner in which they can be illustrated physically.
- Achievable - The learning objectives should be stated keeping in mind that they can be attained given the time period and the available resources as well.
- Realistic - Level of change, set target, or intentions reflected in the objectives can be obtained. It should not be so complex or effortless.
- Time bound - Time is crucial so it's important to state and note the time allocated every single session and have it well managed.
2. Plan the specific learning activities.
Learning activities refer to tasks or affairs undertaken in the teaching process designed to prompt understanding and make content grasping much easier. For that reason when coming up with learning activities, they ought to be directly related to the learning objectives outlined earlier and should be interactive enough to avail the necessary experience to the trainees.
Time is crucial and should be well observed throughout the planning phase of learning activities. Every learning activity should be stated against the estimated time it should take. In between the sessions, it is however important to spare some allowance of time for slightly lengthy debates and clarifications in case the need arises. It is during this time that the trainer or instructor formulates strategies to evaluate trainees' understanding. Some questions to ponder as you come up with the learning activities you will use are:
- What will I do to clarify this subject?
- What will I do to demonstrate this subject in an alternative way?
- How can I draw students to this subject matter?
- What are some suitably actual examples, scenarios, or resemblances that can help students comprehend the subject?
- What extra activity will trainees be required to do to help them comprehend the subject better?
Here are a few examples of types of activities and their respective examples that can be used to draw learners to participate in different class topics.
Interaction with content
The rate at which students tend to be drawn to and grasp relevant information is high when specific learning materials are availed for them to socialize with. Making physical contact with the relevant material is important as the concept is easily realized and understood. This can also be achieved by employing some learning strategies and putting them into play.
Drill and practice
This is an instructing method often distinguished by issuing students the same learning materials over and over until the required content is grasped.
Lecture
This is the verbal handing on of information from the trainer to the trainees mostly on a face-to-face basis. Visual aids (presentation slides) and hearing aids (microphone and speakers) may be used.
Quiz
A quick exercise to briefly assess the trainee's level of understanding of a specific subject matter.
Student presentation
Refers to students sharing their fact findings on a given subject.
Interaction with digital content
Virtual environments present ideal interfaces that undoubtedly always carry students away. When such materials are used in the learning process, student engagement is highly increased.
- Game- A rule-bound play within a controlled virtual environment that encourages intellectual activities such as thinking, reasoning, remembering, creativity, and teamwork.
- Simulation- Digital mimicking of actual world events that enable the study and understanding of such phenomena.
Interaction with others
This can include interacting with fellow students, support structures like group discussions, or students interacting with the teacher in the form of;
- Debate - A formal discussion between two individuals or parties over a particular subject, often with a moderator and an audience.
- Discussion - The exchange of ideas between two or more students on a given subject with the aim of improving each other's understanding capability.
- Feedback - Commendation or criticism regarding a student's academic status
- Guest speaker - Academic inspiration
- Problem-solving and critical thinking - This helps students develop the ability to critically assess problems and offer effective measures necessary.
- Case study - An in-depth research with scenarios that students can visualize and evaluate their understanding, relate to the problems in the actual world, and generate solutions to the mysteries.
- Concept mapping - The visual representation of information in the form of charts, tables, diagrams, and flowcharts which students should be able to decode and understand.
- Real-world projects to paint a true picture of reality.
- Reflection
Upon introduction of a new subject, the student meditates on what he/she already knows about the subject matter.
When deciding on learning activities it is important to ensure that the learning activities;
- Directly corresponds to the learning objectives of the lesson.
- Will actively commit students in more productive and bring about a participation nature in them
- Can be well grasped by the student and be related to and applicable to actual scenarios for different purposes.
3. Plan to assess student understanding
Assessments allow students to manifest and put into practice the skill set and expertise expressed earlier in the learning objectives. Assessments also make it possible for the instructors to render feedback on whether students are learning, and other useful information that is useful in future decision-making.
Having that in mind, planning for assessment will therefore involve making decisions on different variables including:
- The nature of the assessment to be administered, either formative or summarised, will help the students showcase the learning objectives in a much better way.
- Roles to be played by each student in the assessment phase, either self-assessment or peer assessment.
- The significance of every single assessment activity and the criteria by which individual assessment results will impact the student's final grade.
- The grading system that will be used to give assessment results.
- The process of commenting on the student's assessment results and how to better their learning and offer advice to instructors on how to refine their teachings.
4. Plan to sequence the lesson in an engaging and meaningful manner.
Organising your lesson plans in a systematic manner to enhance smooth transitions between sessions is key. This strategy does not only bring about an engaging and meaningful lesson session but also boosts the chances of meeting the objectives of the sessions as planned and peak results can be realized.
Robert Mills Gagne, an educational psychologist, suggested the events of instruction. This is a nine-step process involving useful measures to undertake when planning the sequence of your lesson. These nine events can be used alongside Bloom's revised taxonomy to yield good instruction.
a) Gain attention
Capture the students' concentration to make them be alert and keen to the instructor throughout the session. The trick is to avoid rendering plain learning content to students the entire session but in a while take a pause and snap out of it for a bit to break the monotony. Various strategies can be used here including:
- Present a story, problem, or riddle related to the subject in question and let the students think over it as they try to offer different solutions to it.
- Expose students to the subject before the actual lecture. You can give a few questions on the awaited topic for students to go through and do research on. During the lecture content grasping will be easier and concentration high so as to capture what they missed on the research and other new knowledge.
b) Inform learners of objectives
Bring the students to awareness of what they are about to engage in. They should understand what is required of them before, during, and upon completion of the session or the entire subject. It's also important they know what is expected of the trainer in terms of what he should teach. Average and pass marks should also be indicated. This way students will be more keen.
c) Stimulate recall of prior knowledge
- Do a brainstorm of previous lectures and see how much the students remember.
- Relate the new content to something the students already know or have been exposed to before.
d) Present new content
Employ a variety of procedures to ensure content is well-driven and delivered to students and that the learning objectives are met.
- Organise your new lecture into comprehensible bits that the students can grasp easily and avoid unnecessary overload.
- Merge the information, and integrate new and productive ways that will aid in student understanding.
e) Provide guidance
Be the guiding hand to students throughout their academic journey. Advise them on the strategies to use in their personal studies and the best materials to make use of. This in return helps them avoid wasting time on unnecessary materials and strategies used.
f) Practice
Create an environment where students can put into application the skills and content impacted during class hours.
- Encourage students to study smart and not only memorize but have a deep understanding of concepts.
- Arrange activities where students can apply different concepts learned as individuals and as a group.
g) Provide feedback
Put student performance to the test, analyze and give comments on their academic status to enhance more effort from students in order to attain their goals.
- Focus on eliminating the habitual mistakes committed, and illustrate how concepts should be expressed.
- Give instances of target performance required of each student and an overall performance required.
h) Assess performance
To determine whether learning objectives have been met, and the anticipated learning outcomes from students realized, an assessment is in order.
- Different assessment criteria can be put into play to help determine the effectiveness of instructional events including; examinations, projects, group or individual assignments, reports, etc.
i) Enhance retention and transfer.
Content retention is crucial to students. One way to achieve this is for the students to own and apply specific concepts to their personal lives. Creating a suitable environment for students to be able to practice what is learned, is very important.
5. Create a realistic timeline
After every session, it is the instructor's belief that specific knowledge has been impacted to the students. It is therefore important to list down the few skills you want students to grasp in every single session.
This list should be rational.
Once the key skills have been focused on, quick decision-making and flexibility at any instance on your laid-out lesson plan can be achieved with ease. Some considerations to make when composing a realistic timeline include:
- Evaluate the average time allocated for each particular activity and determine whether it's enough. The time allocated for the session is also important to note.
- Apart from the time allocated, you should also suggest how much time you think each individual activity will take.
- Before the end of every session, a few minutes should be left open so that the instructor can do a summary and answer any queries arising from the subject matter.
- Design your lesson plan in a manner that can stretch whenever required. Change can happen any time so the lesson plan should be able to adjust to meet what is needed.
6. Plan for lesson closure
Ending the session in style is also vital. Conduct a brief review of the ending session and get a chance as an instructor to ascertain that students have grasped the required concept by doing a lesson closure. Merits of this lesson closure include;
a) To the student
- Students get to absorb the concept just taught and have more closure to it
- Students get to break down the entire session into small understandable portions and highlight key points.
b) To the instructor
- As an instructor, you can prepare the students for the topics ahead by highlighting key concepts that you will be teaching next.
- The instructor can use this opportunity to offer clarification on concepts not well explained or understood.
- The instructor can do a slight brainstorm on the topic covered to determine whether the concept taught is well understood.
Presenting the lesson plan to your students helps to create a clear picture of what is yet to be learned and know what they should be able to do and understand once the session is complete. It also increases the concentration rate of the students as getting to know what they will be learning early enough creates a certain level of curiosity that gets answered by paying attention during the sessions.
When the session is through, take time to review how the session has gone down. Identify which of the strategies used was successful and which one was not, whether the stated objectives have been met and what can be done to remedy or bring about better results in the session and engage students more.
Thanks to this article, you can now create better lesson plans for your students at any level of learning!