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Lesson planning is when a teacher mixes coursework, lessons, and materials with the Engage, Study, Activate teaching method to create an outline for each class period. When a teacher creates a lesson plan, it should not include every single word he or she will say during class, or be so sporadic that there is no path, but rather should be a lightly detailed guide to teach the lesson he or she is presenting. When building a lesson plan, it is important to leave room for unexpected events, such as the group of students taking a longer or shorter time to complete an activity, the teacher having to give a more detailed or demonstrated explanation, or the students asking questions. Flexibility is key in lesson planning. While the content of the lesson may be planned perfectly, the teacher may have to improvise with the class timing and student understanding of the content. Teachers are free to make the lesson plan as formal or informal as they would like; they can use a lesson planning application or can use a pen and a piece of paper to write down their planning notes. Organization of the actual plan is important, no matter what medium teachers use. Teachers should make the lesson plan clear, concise, and easily understandable for them to reference before, during, and after the class. For the actual content of the lesson plan, it should always include what the teacher wants their students to achieve by the end of the lesson (the objective) and how they are going to get them there. Lesson plans should also include notes for any additional materials teachers will be using during class. In order to remember and be prepared with those materials, teachers should review the plan before class. All worksheets and other materials must be printed prior to the beginning of the class period. Lesson plans need to include timing so the teacher knows how long each activity will last. As mentioned before, it is also important to be flexible with the timing because certain activities might take a longer time or a shorter time for students to complete. Another item of importance on a lesson plan is the interaction level during each activity, which can be a teacher to a student, a student to a student, or a student working by themselves. The most important and largest section of the lesson plan will be the phases. This section will include the Engage, Study, and Activate phases.This section should include all of the actual teaching and the activities afterward. There are many different ways to utilize these three phases, so the teacher has endless options in how to structure the main portion of the class. There are only two rules with this; the Engage section must open the lesson and the Activate phase must close the lesson. As far as the content that goes between the Engage and the Activate phases, that is up to the teacher’s discretion. It depends on each teacher’s preference, but it can be beneficial to do lesson planning in sequences. This means to create multiple lesson plans at once, usually for a unit of materials. This can be helpful for teachers as well as students who want to know what their future lessons will consist of. It is important to note again that timing will play a large factor in planning for lesson sequences. A teacher must be flexible with each lesson. Lastly, a teacher should always make lesson plans for classes that are fun and engaging!
