Creating a lesson plan

It is important to plan a lesson so we can use the class time effectively and be efficient in producing results. Without a lesson plan it will be கண்ணைக் கட்டி காட்டில் விட்டது மாதிரி. Here is a suggestion for a lesson plan.

Format

A lesson plan should have the following elements:

1. Goal of the day
2. Objectives to reach that goal
3. Materials and equipment needed to do the class
4. Class procedures/activities
5. Teacher selected activity
6. Evaluate that the learner learned
7. Extra class work aka homework

Class schedule

How would a typical class look like? Experts suggest breaking the long classes into small activities. I recommend the following schedule for a 90 minutes class.

Activity	Time (mins)
Warm up	5
Lesson	20
Break	5
Lesson	20
Break	5
Lesson	10
Teacher planned activity	15
Evaluation	5
Homework	5

Warm up

Welcome the students, the students settle down, and start a short warm up converstion.

Breaks

The research says 18-20 minutes is the optimal amount of time the brain can concentrate on one thing. It needs to stretch, relax, and recharge for at least 5 minutes after every 20 minutes. This 5 minutes break after every 20 minutes helps the learners to grab more content than they can in 90 minutes stretch. Depending on the grade level, we can use these breaks to use restroom, stretch, have a small talk with classmates, etc.

Goal

What is the goal of the day, that is the overall purpose of today’s class? What should the learners be able to do at the end of the lesson? Make sure this statement does not say what the teacher will do in the class. Make it what the learners be able to do at the end of the class.  Let us not start the class without clear understanding of this goal. Without a goal, it is difficult to produce quality result.

Objectives

What steps shall we take to reach the goal mentioned above? Provide the list of interim goals to reach that big goal. What will the students do to reach the goal of the day; This is like a plan. Make it explicit and avoid vague statements. Discuss the terminal and enabling objectives. A terminal objective is the end goal and the enabling objective is the steps to reach the terminal objective.

Materials and equipment

It is a good idea to list the materials and equipments we need in the class. This help the teachers and learners to plan ahead.

Class procedures

Provide the list of activities the class will do. Make sure the activities are not just teachings by teachers only. It should be activities the kids will involve in. Make sure the activities are unified towards the goal of the day. The activities could include stories, projects, discussions, simulations,etc. It will typically be warm up activity, and other class activities as a whole class, small groups, teacher talk, student talk, and closure.

Example: if the goal is to help them have a phone conversation, jumping to an historical story is a misalignment.

Teacher selected activity

It is highly impossible for external curriculum developer to know everything the class would need. So, it is a good idea to give time for teachers to plan the activities relevant and interesting to their students. Allocate 15 minutes in the schedule for this.

Evaluate

How do we know the learners learned what we want to them to? This is not a test. Perform informal assessment. Dr. Ray suggests we check for comprehension with the benchmark students. This will eliminate the need for separate test. Separate tests take too much time and they do not help the learners to learn anything. These regular evaluation should tell a teacher where the student is and make plan for next classes accordingly. I do not recommend periodic tests at all. This weekly evaluation should be the main tool to know where the students are. Stay away from giving marks, grades, etc.

Extra class work aka homework

The homework need not be done at home alone. It can be done in the class with the help of the teacher. Discuss homework. If the students have time they can do the homework in the class.

Another Approach

This model suggests breaking the class into multiple small activities. Depending on the skill level of the student, we can even plan just one activity that covers the language aspects and ask the students to work on it. Please see TBLT for more information. A big advantage with this approach is that we involve the students in an interesting activity, and when they complete the task we know they learned the lessons. So, a separate testing can be completely avoided.

Lesson Plan Development Process

Begin with end in mind

• Understand and write down the learning goal.
• What do you want the learners to be able to do after the class?

Seek to understand your learners first

• Understand the learners, their interests and needs
•  What do they want or plan to accomplish from this class?
• What do they plan to do with the acquired knowledge or skill?

Think Win-Win

• Break the bigger goal into smaller goals. For each small goal, develop an activity for about 20 minutes of time.

Synergize

• Work with the learners.
• Be guide on the side.

Sharpen the saw

• Get their feedback on the goal, content, the activities etc.
• Make plan to learn and improve from these feedback.

Conclusion

There are many ways a class lesson can be planned. This is one way generally accepted by majority of the language teachers. The general idea is taken from Teaching By Principles by Douglas Brown. Ideas like 15 minutes for teacher planned activity and the breaks in the middle are mine.

Thanks

Logu