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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 Steps for Preparing a Lesson Plan 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? 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. 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. 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? 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. 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. Create a realistic timeline 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
