Well Structured Lessons
1.A.3: Well-Structured Units and Lessons
Adapts as needed and implements standards-based units comprised of well-structured lessons with challenging tasks and measurable outcomes; appropriate student engagement strategies, pacing, sequence, , resources, and grouping; purposeful questioning; and strategic use of technology and digital media; such that students are able to learn the knowledge and skills defined in state standards/local curricula.
How I did it:
One method I found that helped me structure my lessons was Backwards design. This style motivated me to create the formative assessment and homework assignments before I created my lesson. Planning this way allowed me to teach the content necessary to complete the material assigned. This may seem straightforward, but it really does put lessons in perspective because you know the final goal. This also assists in choosing your essential questions for the unit, knowing where the finish line is helps pace the race in a way that keeps students from falling too far behind and simultaneously making sure students don't cross the finish line too early. Timing is also key in lesson planning, predicting what areas students will struggle the most/least with is a difficult task for even a veteran teacher, but we can use prior knowledge and educated guesses to start us in the right direction. It is often necessary to extend or shorten the time you have to teach a specific topic.
Unit Plans
I found one of the best ways to structure my lessons was to create a unit plan before I create my daily lesson plans. This adheres to backwards design and once I began implementing this idea, my lessons became a-lot smoother.
Figure 7 - A week long unit plan I created for the topic of waves