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One of the biggest hurdles as a teacher, especially a new teacher, is lesson planning. Lesson planning is a big part of teaching because it gives the teacher and students a guideline of what they are working on. It also helps the teacher stay on task and on the specific timeline they need to be on to finish adequate material during class. The purpose of lesson planning is to record what the class has done, helps teacher plan out what to do and finish by the end of class, and it helps the teacher stay on target. They are also useful because the teacher can reference them in class to stay on task. There are a few different strategies teachers use to overcome this task. One technique is to have your whole lesson planned out, from start to finish. This includes the teacher writing a script of what the whole class period will look like. For instance, from reading material to what they are teaching that day. The problem with such a restrictive lesson plan, is it doesn’t give the teacher time to answer unanticipated questions that should be addressed in order to achieve the goal of the lesson. The other technique teachers can use is not to plan any lesson at all. The problem that arises if the teacher doesn’t plan any lesson is the teacher doesn’t know what material to use or activities to do because there is no set goal. This can cause the class to get behind and confuse the teacher. Most teachers end up doing in the middle of no planning to planning every minute. So they take notes on what they want to teach or plan a lesson that allows some flexibility. A flexible lesson plan allows the teacher to address any problem the students are having. This also makes sure that the teacher is on task for their lesson goals. Lesson plans should be kept simple, and not written as a direct script. This allows the teacher to reference the plan without having to read it word for word. Also, to help both the teacher and students, the lesson plans should all have the same structure. When writing one, make sure to write anticipated problems, which allows flexibility in the lesson to address those problems. Try to stay organized while writing lesson plans and double check your lesson plans. This will help to make sure that the activities you pick run smoothly with the lesson and cover the objectives. When writing a lesson plan, the teacher should include: objectives, what materials you plan to use, anticipated problems, personal goals, and date/time of lesson. Another thing to consider when writing your lesson plans is the level of your class, what level they are, and what phase of the lesson you are in: engage, study, or activate. For this part of writing your lesson plans, the teacher should include how much time they want to spend in each phase or each material. This will help them stay on track to complete the learning objectives. Finally, with lesson planning, the teacher should also do self-evaluations throughout the year. This will help them see what they need to improve on so that their lessons run smoothly. Lesson planning is an important part of teaching and can help the teacher stay on task to complete all the learning objectives.
