IMPORTANCE OF LESSON PLANNING

Antoine de Saint once said that “a goal without a plan is just a wish” (Pogue, 2021). Although many things in life do happen out of the blue, a successful lesson wont. When one intends to teach, there is a huge risk of wasting time, effort, the student’s energy and desire to learn if the class is not well prepared. A teacher needs to know their students’ dispositions, interests, a teacher needs to educate and study what material will be taught before even trying to teach it. “The more time you spend what you should have done… you lose valuable time planning what you can and will do (Lil Wayne cited by Pogue, 2021). Improvising is a very important skill that educators must develop in order to be ready to respond in front of unexpected situations during class lessons; this does not mean that whole lessons must be improvised and unplanned. An unthinkable number of situations come up during class period that teachers can’t predict or even expect. Especially when teaching elementary students; children are innocent, energetic, expressive, and very creative. Kids can talk, interrupt the class, spill a drink, fall, break, disconnect, or simply do things that are out of the teacher’s control. By planning, teachers can come up with rules and procedures that focus on avoiding these possibilities as much as possible.

Before discussing lesson planning, let’s look at planning in general as teachers. One has to be ready for almost everything and this begins by preparing the classroom and adapting it to the students’ needs and characteristics. In my case, as an elementary school teacher, having a shelve with cleaning supplies is a most, however I have to be conscious that my students are at developing stage where curiosity wins their thoughts of possible consequences and thus, they may try to reach my cleaning supplies and provoke an accident that could’ve been prevented if I had just stored the cleaning supplies somewhere out of the students reach. This is an example of how essential planning is in general to teachers. We always have to think ahead and “bring the future into the present so we can do something about it” (Alan Lakein cited by Pogue, 2021). A great teacher plans, organizes, and prepares everything so that students don’t have to worry about anything but learning and having fun while doing so. A teacher that does not plan will always find trouble at their door one way or another; from needing a stapler and not having it, to giving a whole day of class and have the majority of the students fail at learning.

Now, the actual lesson planning is what makes everything in the classroom come together. A lesson plan is an official document usually drafted beforehand by a teacher (and sometimes co-teacher) that delineates how a class lesson will begin, develop, conclude, and connect with the next day’s lesson. During lesson planning, the teacher has the opportunity to design and prepare activities that will help the students achieve the class objectives and standards as well as their full potential as learners. Lesson Planning also allows the teacher to identify and prepare smooth transitions between the activities and phases of a class. The first phase of a lesson plan is composed of initial activities. This space is for the teacher to choose strategically the routine and introductory procedures that will guide the students to the next phase known as the developmental activities. Here is where the actual teaching takes place. In lesson planning, this is the corner where the students are presented with the material that will eventually be put in practice. The developmental activities are usually the longest part of a class lesson since it involves explanations, exemplifications, and pre-practice of application. The third and last phase of a lesson plan is the closing activity. This is the space for students to practice and for teachers to observe and evaluate the effectiveness of the procedures and methods chosen to teach the material presented. Closing activities involve quizzes, games, exercises, group activities, and many other possibilities that help the teacher identify whether or not the class objectives were met by the students effectively or if they just need a bit of re-teaching.

To conclude, I share yet another quote, this time by Stephen Keague, an author that said “proper planning and preparation prevents poor performance” (cited by Pogue, 2021). Being ready to teach goes beyond feeling confident and knowing your potential; to be ready is to take the time to sit and think, draft supply lists, brainstorm schedules, study and quiz yourself with the material you will be teaching. Being a teacher is keeping up with the pace of each student’s learning process and progress. To do that, one most always plan and ask oneself a thousand questions.