Strategies for Effective
Lesson Planning
A lesson plan is
the instructor’s road map of what students need to learn and how it will be
done effectively during the class time. Before you plan your lesson, you will
first need to identify the learning objectives for the class meeting.
Then, you can design appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to
obtain feedback on student learning. A successful lesson plan addresses and
integrates these three key components:
- Objectives for student learning
- Teaching/learning activities
- Strategies to check student
understanding
Specifying
concrete objectives for student learning will help you determine the kinds of
teaching and learning activities you will use in class, while those activities
will define how you will check whether the learning objectives have been
accomplished.
Steps for
Preparing a Lesson Plan
Below are six
steps to guide you when you create your first lesson plans. Each step is
accompanied by a set of questions meant to prompt reflection and aid you in
designing your teaching and learning activities.
(1) Outline
learning objectives
The first step
is to determine what you want students to learn and be able to do at the end of
class. To help you specify your objectives for student learning, answer the
following questions:
- What is the topic of the lesson?
- What do I want students to learn?
- What do I want them to understand
and be able to do at the end of class?
- What do I want them to take away
from this particular lesson?
Once you outline
the learning objectives for the class meeting, rank them in terms of their
importance. This step will prepare you for managing class time and
accomplishing the more important learning objectives in case you are pressed
for time. Consider the following questions:
- What are the most important
concepts, ideas, or skills I want students to be able to grasp and apply?
- Why are they important?
- If I ran out of time, which ones
could not be omitted?
- And conversely, which ones could I
skip if pressed for time?
(2) Develop
the introduction
Now that you
have your learning objectives in order of their importance, design the specific
activities you will use to get students to understand and apply what they have
learned. Because you will have a diverse body of students with different
academic and personal experiences, they may already be familiar with the topic.
That is why you might start with a question or activity to gauge students’
knowledge of the subject or possibly, their preconceived notions about it. For
example, you can take a simple poll: “How many of you have heard of X? Raise
your hand if you have.” You can also gather background information from your
students prior to class by sending students an electronic survey or asking them
to write comments on index cards. This additional information can help shape
your introduction, learning activities, etc. When you have an idea of the
students’ familiarity with the topic, you will also have a sense of what to
focus on.
Develop a
creative introduction to the topic to stimulate interest and encourage
thinking. You can use a variety of approaches to engage students (e.g.,
personal anecdote, historical event, thought-provoking dilemma, real-world
example, short video clip, practical application, probing question, etc.).
Consider the following questions when planning your introduction:
- How will I check whether students
know anything about the topic or have any preconceived notions about it?
- What are some commonly held ideas
(or possibly misconceptions) about this topic that students might be
familiar with or might espouse?
- What will I do to introduce the
topic?
(3)
Plan the specific learning activities (the main body of the lesson)
Prepare several
different ways of explaining the material (real-life examples, analogies,
visuals, etc.) to catch the attention of more students and appeal to different
learning styles. As you plan your examples and activities, estimate how much
time you will spend on each. Build in time for extended explanation or discussion,
but also be prepared to move on quickly to different applications or problems,
and to identify strategies that check for understanding. These questions would
help you design the learning activities you will use:
- What will I do to explain the topic?
- What will I do to illustrate the
topic in a different way?
- How can I engage students in the
topic?
- What are some relevant real-life
examples, analogies, or situations that can help students understand the
topic?
- What will students need to do to
help them understand the topic better?
(4) Plan to
check for understanding
Now that you
have explained the topic and illustrated it with different examples, you need
to check for student understanding – how will you know that students are
learning? Think about specific questions you can ask students in order to check
for understanding, write them down, and then paraphrase them so that you are
prepared to ask the questions in different ways. Try to predict the answers
your questions will generate. Decide on whether you want students to respond
orally or in writing. You can also ask yourself these questions:
- What questions will I ask students
to check for understanding?
- What will I have students do to
demonstrate that they are following?
- Going back to my list of learning
objectives, what activity can I have students do to check whether each of
those has been accomplished?
An important
strategy that will also help you with time management is to anticipate
students’ questions. When planning your lesson, decide what kinds of questions
will be productive for discussion and what questions might sidetrack the class.
Think about and decide on the balance between covering content (accomplishing
your learning objectives) and ensuring that students understand.
(5) Develop a
conclusion and a preview
Go over the
material covered in class by summarizing the main points of the lesson. You can
do this in a number of ways: you can state the main points yourself (“Today we
talked about…”), you can ask a student to help you summarize them, or you can
even ask all students to write down on a piece of paper what they think were
the main points of the lesson. You can review the students’ answers to gauge
their understanding of the topic and then explain anything unclear the
following class. Conclude the lesson not only by summarizing the main points,
but also by previewing the next lesson. How does the topic relate to the one
that’s coming? This preview will spur students’ interest and help them connect
the different ideas within a larger context.
(6) Create a
realistic timeline
GSIs know how
easy it is to run out of time and not cover all of the many points they had
planned to cover. A list of ten learning objectives is not realistic, so narrow
down your list to the two or three key concepts, ideas, or skills you want
students to learn. Instructors also agree that they often need to adjust their
lesson plan during class depending on what the students need. Your list of
prioritized learning objectives will help you make decisions on the spot and
adjust your lesson plan as needed. Having additional examples or alternative
activities will also allow you to be flexible. A realistic timeline will
reflect your flexibility and readiness to adapt to the specific classroom
environment. Here are some strategies for creating a realistic timeline:
- Estimate how much time each of the
activities will take, then plan some extra time for each
- When you prepare your lesson plan,
next to each activity indicate how much time you expect it will take
- Plan a few minutes at the end of
class to answer any remaining questions and to sum up key points
- Plan an extra activity or
discussion question in case you have time left
- Be flexible – be ready to adjust
your lesson plan to students’ needs and focus on what seems to be more
productive rather than sticking to your original plan
Presenting
the Lesson Plan
Letting your
students know what they will be learning and doing in class will help keep them
more engaged and on track. You can share your lesson plan by writing a brief
agenda on the board or telling students explicitly what they will be learning
and doing in class. You can outline on the board or on a handout the learning
objectives for the class. Providing a meaningful organization of the class time
can help students not only remember better, but also follow your presentation
and understand the rationale behind in-class activities. Having a clearly
visible agenda (e.g., on the board) will also help you and students stay on
track.
Reflecting on
Your Lesson Plan
A lesson plan
may not work as well as you had expected due to a number of extraneous
circumstances. You should not get discouraged – it happens to even the most
experienced teachers! Take a few minutes after each class to reflect on what
worked well and why, and what you could have done differently. Identifying
successful and less successful organization of class time and activities would
make it easier to adjust to the contingencies of the classroom.
Conclusion
To be effective,
the lesson plan does not have to be an exhaustive document that describes each
and every possible classroom scenario. Nor does it have to anticipate each and
every student’s response or question. Instead, it should provide you with a
general outline of your teaching goals, learning objectives, and means to
accomplish them. It is a reminder of what you want to do and how you want to do
it. A productive lesson is not one in which everything goes exactly as planned,
but one in which both students and instructor learn from each other.
