A lesson plan is a written statement or outline by a teacher that fulfills the following stages of a lesson.
(i) What do you want to teach in how much time?
(ii) What is /are the objective/objectives?
(iii) What are the materials you are going to use?
(iv) What are the step-by-step procedures?
(v) How are you making an assessment of whether your objective(s)is (are) achieved?
Lesson planning is a topic of sometimes heated debate. Administrators, parents and adults students assume that a teacher should be able to compose written plans for classroom instruction on a regular basis. Many teachers depend upon such plans in order to help structure prioritize what they plan to do with groups of learners. Further, one of the first things many supervisors request prior to a formal classroom observation is a copy of the teacher’s lesson plan.
In addition, this activity models a popular instructional procedure while covering the content of a teacher education course. Day distinguishes between action-system and subject matter knowledge and argues that the development of both areas is essential to the preparation of teachers. Thus this activity is an opportunity to acquire action system knowledge –the strip paragraph activity—through firsthand experience while incorporating the subject matter knowledge of lesson planning. (ref John M. Murphy-George State University, United States)
There are three functions of a lesson plan:
(i) A plan for preparation
(ii) A working document
(iii) A record
A plan for preparation: writing down what you expect the students to be able to do by the end of the lesson and what you intend to do to make that possible, help you to think logically through the stages in relation to the time you have available.
A working document: having something to refer to in the lesson helps keep you on target, although it should never prevent you from responding to the needs of the moment if necessary.
A record: Suitably amended after the lesson, a lesson plan acts as a record of what the class has done and might form the basis for a future lesson plan with a similar class.
What should be included in a lesson plan: information about the students, time, aims, materials, aids and equipment, procedure, approaches, and activities, anticipated problems?
Aims, objectives, procedure (method), activities, materials, Assessment are the components of a lesson plan.
Each component should be very brief described in one or two lines.
Lesson information, one aim, a description of an activity related to the aim, involving the students and teacher, the time required for the activity, list of materials required for the lesson, assessment (how the teacher will check the students understanding during and after the lesson.
The first thing to consider is what you want to teach. This should be developed based on your school standard. Make sure your lesson plan with teaching exactly what you want it to, that is you need to develop clear and specific objectives. Please note that objectives should not be activities that will be used in the lesson plan. Objectives should be the learning outcomes of those activities. as an example, if you want to teach your class how to add 2+3, your objective may be that ‘ the students will know how to add 2+3.
To make objectives more meaningful, you may include both broad and narrow objectives. Find out exactly, what materials you are going to use, but they should be shown early in your lesson plan. Now write the step-by-step procedures that will be performed to reach the objectives.
A lesson plan is a teacher’s detailed description of the course of instruction for an individual lesson. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class instruction. The detail of the plan will vary depending on the preference of the teacher and the subject being covered.
A well-developed lesson plan reflects the interests and needs of students. It incorporates best practices for the educational field. The lesson plan correlates with the teacher’s philosophy of education, which is what the teacher feels is the purpose of educating the students.
Secondary English program lesson plans, for example, usually center around four topics. They are a literary theme, elements of language and composition, literary history, and literary genre. A broad thematic lesson plan is preferable because it allows a teacher to create various research, writing, speaking, and reading assignments. It helps an instructor to teach different literature genres and incorporate videotapes, films, and television programs. Also, it facilitates teaching literature and English together. School requirements and a teacher’s personal tastes, in that order; determine the exact requirements for a lesson plan. Developing lesson plans keeping the unique nature of each child in mind is helpful in creating a strong teacher-student relationship.
About the Author
Masum Billah works as a President of the English Teachers' Association of Bangladesh (ETAB), Dhaka, Bangladesh. He previously worked as an Education Specialist at BRAC, an international NGO in Bangladesh.