Lesson Plan Handout

Diana Sanchez, M.Ed., volunteer partner
Created for: Partners for A Greater Voice, Post Office Box 734, Ipswich, Massachusetts 01938 U.S.A.
978-312-1200 / www.greatervoice.com

Lesson plans are not written for teachers to read to the class. They are used to structure the lesson and to help with the flow of the class, especially when something has occurred to distract everyone, including the teacher.

There are endless reasons why educators should make use of lesson plans, but I will focus on three that I feel are the most important. The first reason is to think about and write what it is you actually want the students to get out of the class. Too often we simply start outlining a talk based off a text book chapter, without asking ourselves “what do I want the students to remember a month, six months, or years from now?” Your goals doesn’t have to be purely knowledge-based either, you may want students to appreciate a certain aspect of the subject or develop a skill or set of skills they can use in other aspects of their life. What’s important is that you put forth some serious time thinking about these goals, and use your class time as a vehicle to accomplish them.

Second, lesson plans can make the time you have with the class much more efficient. As stated above, it helps you concentrate on particular goals. However, well-created lesson plans also force you to sit down and think about how much time you want to spend on a particular part of an activity, discussion, or lecture. You will also find they make many activities more structured.

Last, lesson plans are wonderful if you are rattled. Most instructors can recall two or three instances when a student has asked a question for which they are not prepared, when an interruption occurred, or when they simply blanked on what they wanted to do next. With a lesson plan close at hand, you simply need to take a few seconds for a quick scan and you’ll find where you were in class, and where you were going.

So what makes up a lesson plan?

Well, there are many parts, some related to the preparation of the course, some concerning the delivery of the content, and others related to assessment. The following is a list of the typical building blocks of a lesson plan, along with a short description of each.

Objectives – Goals you would like your students to achieve by the end of class.

1. Content summary - A short paragraph summarizing what you plan to do during the class period
2. Materials needed – A list of any lab materials, overheads, handouts, etc. that you plan to use in class
3. Warm up/engagement – A short activity at the beginning of class to focus students and get them interested
4. Developmental sequence – A detailed, step-by-step description of everything you plan to do in class
5. Formative assessment – A short evaluation to get an idea of how well your students met the objectives
6. Meeting individual needs – A place to consider how students with strong or weak backgrounds, different learning styles, and different personalities can be accommodated
7. Practice/reinforcement – An assignment or activity geared at getting students to re-think the class material, put it into their own framework, and internalize it
8. Evaluation – How you will ultimately decide how much the students learn; this usually comes in the form of an exam.