Wednesday, June 5, 2013

How to Plan a Successful Lesson Series: Backward Planning


Writing a lesson plan can be a daunting task for many, whether you are a new teacher or a teacher teaching in their second language.  This series will present different aspects about planning a lesson once a week during the month of June. 
A lesson plan can take many different forms but they all tend to include the same information.  For the sake of where I work, I will use specific language in regards to lesson planning.  While I want to keep this as general as possible for all my readers, I will use the following vocabulary today: warm up, presentation, practice, and production.  Because I work in a country that has specific guidelines for lesson plan, I will note that through out the lesson, but when I do I will use blue font.
This is specifically for the teachers in Costa Rica, erase the blue to fill your information


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When planning a lesson, what is the first thing you do?  Hopefully you say write the objective.  The objective molds the rest of the lesson.  When writing the lesson plan ask yourself, “What should my students be able to do by the end of this lesson?” and “How will I measure their learning?
If you have a syllabus that breaks down things into units, then don’t forget to prepare your lesson within that topic. 
In the case of some, the syllabus includes not only the topic but also objectives to be covered within that unit.  If this is the case, look in the unit you are teaching and choose an objective to complete in that one lesson. 
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Once the objective is written, you need to think of the students’ production, where students demonstrate their understanding of the objective and how you will assess this learning.  This is the last part of the lesson plan, after the new material has been presented and students have practiced.  Ask your self, “How will the students show their understanding of the objective?
The production must be where students show their learning without the teacher’s assistance and individually if possible. 
Production can be an oral report/presentation, a worksheet, a skit, a written report, a summarization, or many other things.  Teachers *must* note if the students’ accomplished the objective at this time.  This can be done through many assessments (evaluations), such as a rubric or checklist. 

Production example: Internal Organs "cereal"

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Once you have planned how you will measure the students’ learning, you need to plan a guided practice that will prepare the students to demonstrate their learning individually. As you prepare this section, ask yourself “What activities can the students do to help prepare them to show their understanding of the objective?

A practice is where students work in pairs or small groups using the newly presented information while the teacher helps answer questions and *gently* corrects mistakes. 
Practice can be a game, pairs completing a task, and more.  As long as it uses the vocabulary and grammar taught *that day* and prepares them to complete the production successfully. The practice should be about half of the class period. 

Practice Example: labeling the organs of the body

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Once you have planned how you will measure the objective and the practice, you need to think of “What vocabulary, grammar, and sentence/question structure do the students need to know to complete the practice and production?  This is the presentation. 
The presentation is where you give the students the vocabulary, grammar, and structure they need to be able to successfully and confidently complete the practice and production.
Presentation can be a PowerPoint slide show, notes on the board, a diagram, a graphic organizer, a video, etc. The presentation only needs to include the things students need *that day* to successfully accomplish the objective.  The presentation should be short, about 10 to 15 minutes. 

Presentation example: a graphic organizer students fill in

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Only once the rest of the lesson is planned do you need to think of the warm up.  The warm up is at the beginning of the class to get the students ready for the day’s lesson.  As you plan this last part, ask yourself “What short activity can get the students ready to learn about today’s objective?
The warm up is to activate students’ prior knowledge and get them thinking about what they will learn that day.
Warm up can be a song, short video, question that they must answer, survey, etc.  The warm up *must* be short, 3 to 5 minutes.  It is best to have this ready as soon as the students walk in your door. 
Warm Up Example: Race to label the organs in 1st language
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That was a short rundown of preparing a lesson plan.  While this blog is specifically focused on teaching English, this series can be for any type of teacher.  The items that are in italic will be addressed later on in the series. 
Check back next week of a new post in the “How to Plan a Successful Lesson” series!  And stick around for new teaching English ideas each week! 




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