Lesson Planning

By: Karsen Johnson

Introduction

Suppose you were told to teach a class of fifth graders, with no instructions on what to do. Would you feel prepared to do the job or would you be stressed to the max? Now, imagine that you were given a lesson plan that told you exactly what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. How do you feel now?

Learning Targets - - -

Students will be able to define what a lesson plan is.
Students will be able to explain why lesson planning is beneficial for a teacher.
Students will be able to create a detailed lesson plan.

When you think about leading your own classroom, which will be full with roughly thirty students, do you intend to be organized or fly by the seat of your pants? After watching this brief video, I think you will have an answer to that.

(When you go to press play, there will be a box in the top left corner that pops up. Press the button that has a square with an arrow through it, which will open the video for you.)

What is a lesson plan?

A lesson plan is a well-thought out, step-by-step guide to what a teacher will do throughout the school day.
This consists of: what will be taught, what materials are needed, how long the lessons will take, and what needs to be assessed based on the material learned.
These lesson plans are considered to be "the 'recipe' for the day's exciting learning" (Dabbs, 2012).

Why are lesson plans beneficial for teachers?

Lesson planning is seen as a time-consuming hassle on an already overloaded teacher, but they allow for your week to flow more smoothly. When you take the time to write the plans out, you reduce your workload for the week and allow for the information to be taught in an effective and timely manner. Planning how you want the school day to look allows for little-to-no down time that is unsupervised, which can create chaos in the classroom. This ensures that you and your students remain on track throughout the whole day (Ray, 2021). Lesson planning also gives teachers a timeline of when the information has been, or will be taught. This makes the teacher's life easier if records are needed for grading or observations (TEAL Center Staff, 2019).

The pencil is created by words that pertain to what creates a lesson plan, what it consists of, and why it is beneficial.

How do you create a good lesson plan?

The first step to creating a "good" lesson plan is knowing exactly what needs to be taught to your students (Milkova, n.d.). Creating a list of what on the curriculum needs to be taught in the order to teach it is a helpful strategy to ensure you are teaching everything at the correct time and pace. When you are planning out your lessons, add in some open-ended questions to ask the students. These types of questions will offer a wide variety of answers for you to get an idea of whether or not the students grasped the information the way you want them to (Ullman, 2011). This will also tell you if your students are engaged in the lesson or if there are adjustments to be made.

Conclusion

After reading through different articles, I am definitely pro-lesson planning because I understand why it is so crucial in how the academic day will go. Professor Chris Kyriscou said that creating good, detailed lesson plans allows for teachers, new and old, to feel assured that the lesson will go smoothly, which is a huge plus (Education, 2019).This creates a less stressful environment for not only you, but your students as well. Creating these plans ahead of time allows for you to critique your own ideas to make them the best they can be. I know for a fact that I will be creating tedious, well-thought out plans to reduce the levels of anxiety in my class and make it a stress-free zone, for the most part (Mallick, 2012). All in all, I truly believe that creating detailed lesson plans controls how your day can go, regardless of how long you have been teaching. I intend to do everything in my power to ensure my students get the education they deserve and I believe that starts with a great lesson plan.

Questions - - -

What is a lesson plan?

A. An instruction manual on how to become a teacher.

B. A well-thought out, step-by-step guide to what a teacher will do throughout the school day.

C. A newsletter to parents that explains what you will be teaching your students during the week.

D. A map that shows you where you need to teach your class the lesson.

Ms. Johnson created a lesson plan, but left out the materials that will be needed. What do you think will happen when she goes to teach the lesson?

A. It will flow smoothly.

B. Her students will have to think of what supplies to use.

C. She may lose the classes attention by having to gather her materials.

D. She will throw away the entire lesson plan.

References

Dabbs, L. (2012, January 24). New-teacher academy: Lesson Planning. Edutopia. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/new-teacher-lesson-planning-lisa-dabbs

Education, O. (2019, July 12). Why is planning so important for effective teaching? Oxford Education Blog. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://educationblog.oup.com/secondary/english/why-is-planning-so-important-for-effective-teaching

How to plan effective lessons. ASCD. (2011, October 1). Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://www.ascd.org/el/articles/how-to-plan-effective-lessons

Mallick, H. (2012, April 17). What is the importance of lesson planning? PreserveArticles.com: Preserving Your Articles for Eternity. Retrieved February 8, 2022, from https://www.preservearticles.com/education/what-is-the-importance-of-lesson-planning/27946

Ray, B. (2021, August 8). Why is lesson planning important? A Tutor. Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://atutor.ca/why-is-lesson-planning-important/

Strategies for effective lesson planning. CRLT. (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://crlt.umich.edu/gsis/p2_5

Teal center fact sheet no. 8: Effective lesson planning. LINCS. (2019, April 8). Retrieved February 7, 2022, from https://lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/teal/guide/lessonplanning

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