Engaging Instruction - Lesson Plan Structure

Planning for Instruction

Last week I blogged about planning for units and lesson with some research supporting effective lesson plan development. This week I go into the components of a great lesson plan.

 

Why do we plan? 

When the lesson is premeditated, it is more likely to be sensible, complete and in a logical sequence. The learners will then be more likely to be engaged and learn. It encourages the teacher to be clear about the expectations of the unit, the content that is to be taught, and how it will be taught.

This is the basic structure of a lesson plan:

Outline of Plan for Instruction

1. Unit (Topic) of Instruction: This is basically just the title of the lesson
2. Situation: Thinking about the relevance of the information to the learner. Have some of the students had experiences with the content? What are the needs of the community?
3. Instructional Objectives: What the learners should be able to do after the lesson is delivered. These are sort of the milestones that guide you throughout the unit and form the basis for evaluation. This is where you, as a teacher need to think about the domains and modalities of learning (Domains = Cognitive, Affective, and Psychomotor; Modalities = Visual, Audible, and Kinesthetic)
4. Interest Approach: This is where you “hook” the learners interest and encourage them to have a desire to learn the content. Here is a link to an article published in the Journal of Agriculture Education that studied the effects of using an interest approach in a classroom. Although there was no difference in knowledge or attitudes, the interest approach increased student engagement.
5. Group Objectives: The teacher guides the students in developing learning goals. What to the students see as important to learn? This helps students become self-directed learners
6. Problems and Questions: A true problem is when there is a felt need for solutions to a problem vs a question which really just satisfies a curiosity
7. Plans for Solving Problems: Webb identified “Depths of Knowledge” which aids teachers in encouraging students to learn more deeply and think more critically. Solving problems, acquiring knowledge, and developing skills help learners go beyond just recalling the information and deeper into developing real skills, thinking strategically, and then extending that thinking to other areas of life. See image for a brief explanation of Webb's Depth of Knowledge and Bloom's Taxonomy.
8. Application of Learning: In agriculture education it is easy for students to see the application of what they are learning. But it is more that just understanding the application; seeing the value is just as important.
9. References and Teaching Aids: This is simply a list of resources that you use in developing the lessons
10. Evaluation Procedures: Ensuring that the students learned what you had intended them to learn (think back to the instructional objectives) is essential. Developing formative and summative assessments that are effective at elucidating the knowledge level of the learners requires thought and preparation. .

The lesson should be focused on the areas of significant learning and the teacher should always strive to encourage the learners to think deeply about the knowledge and skills that they are acquiring. 

It seems like a lot at first, but soon it will become second nature (at least that is what I am telling myself now).