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LESSON PLANNING (41) Along this short article, we are going to see what lesson planning is about, and stress some of the main advantages. We will also briefly point to some potential flaws of a too strict use of this tool. First, what is lesson planning? The concept refers to a process used to define how we will develop a lesson. To fix the results of this process, we use a lesson plan, typically in a table format. In this table, we want to include various points in our plan. Generally we define the topic of the lesson, with objectives, possible difficulties for students, remedies, supports, foreseeable problems for ourselves while delivering the content, and solutions. We might also want to leave space for notes taking while in class, for observations and feedback. Another essential part of the lesson relates to contents delivery (means and time). In this section we want to subdivide the lesson among engage/study/activate stages. For each stage, we want to write down its contents, tools that are to be used (i.e., exercise sheets, board, cards, etc.), class setting during the activity (i.e., individual or group work), time information. But, why would a teacher want to do this? There are some main advantages of lesson planning. - The process forces us to think about class needs, concentrating on students' level and potential. - The process forces us to think about how we want to deliver content to our students. The phases of an ESA lesson plan are an important element to foster attention and motivation. Thinking clearly about materials and activities, allows us to be prepared for the class, its needs, and potential problems. - During the process we need to collect the material that will be used in class. This allows us to arrive in class organized and with all that will be needed during the lesson. - A lesson plan allows us to keep track of course advancement. - A lesson plan imposes a clear time management, which allows us to deliver content efficiently and effectively in an organized way. - A lesson plan can give more confidence to the teacher. - Thinking about how to develop a lesson can also foster our creativity, as it forces us to take time and think about possible ways of content delivery, activities to engage and involve the students, means to bring variety and interaction in the class. - A lesson plan gives us the chance to draw feedback from our teaching activities, and foster self-awareness and continuous improvement of our strategies and methods. We also would like to stress some limits of lesson planning. These are more flaws of a too strict use of lesson planning, and they can be avoided using some common sense. It is however important to keep an eye on these points. - A lesson plan is not a strict plan: flexibility is essential, as we won't know how the lesson will develop until we're in class. Potential new needs may arise from the students, misunderstandings, scarce interest. Keeping flexible allows adaptation during the actual lesson. - A lesson plan cannot foresee everything with respect to time. While we want to deliver our content at best, and exactly because of this, sometimes it will be better to allow more time than planned for some activities, and reduce time for other ones. Activities can be reported to the next lesson. - A lesson plan is not just topic-related. Also, it is not just english level-related. Classes at the same level might need a different lesson plan, with different activities/games/exercises/etc., even on the same topic. The students' needs and abilities are our main focuses, and we want to create our lesson around these aspects, not just around the topic. This brief article has tried to resume in few points are the main elements of a lesson planning activity. It has also pinpointed some strengths, and highlighted weaknesses of a too strict approach to this tool. We believe lesson planning is important for any teacher, and we advise on using such tool at any level. We also underline the potential in terms of valuable feedback and self-reflection during and after the class.
