I love lesson planning. But if you would have asked me how I felt about lesson planning during my first semester teaching as a graduate instructor, I would have responded with “Aarrgh!” or an equivalent sentiment. How much time do I allot for each activity? What if I talk to much? What if I don’t talk enough? What if we run out of things to do before the end of class time? These were only a sample of the questions that plagued me. Luckily, I had a very supportive supervisor who took the time to offer loads of advice into preparing a good lesson plan. His insights got me through the first two weeks or so of classes, until I could find my lesson planning groove, and the Centre for Teaching and Learning.As one of the members of the GATA Network Development Team, I have come into contact with some of you (and your colleagues) who have expressed the same fear over lesson planning that I once harboured. To relieve their worries (which might also be your own) and to pay it forward, I thought to provide you all with a Lesson Planning Template (2010) (courtesy of the CTL) which has helped me tremendously in my teaching experience.
Once you give it a whirl, let us know how it went. And for those of you who already have an outline that suits your discipline/teaching style, how does it differ from the one provided for you here?
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I agree. Lesson plans are vital to an effective classroom climate. They also work well to keep the teacher calm and focused. I also think students appreciate us taking the time to plan out the time we spend together.
Thanks for the great template too!
Sometimes (and I wish I did this more often) I go back to the lesson plan after class and make notes about what worked, what needs changing, and add any insights. I can pull this out the next time I’m teaching the same thing and instead of trying to remember how it all went I can refer to my reflections and build instead of starting all over. A collection of lesson plans is a great start to documenting a course.
[…] Preparing a Lesson Plan […]
The students also like to know what they’re going to be doing in class that day. Having my lesson plan ready makes it easy to give them a quick outline of what to expect.
And you know if you don’t have clear learning outcomes at the top of the lesson plan you’re bound to get a chorus (now or later) about what material is going to be tested. What you’re testing shouldn’t be a secret: the course has learning outcomes and so should the lesson. Sure it takes time to prepare the lesson plan on paper, but the time put in now will save time later on when it comes time to create tests or exams or if you get to teach the same class again in the future.
Yes, I agree, Candace. I think of that as “front-loading the work” — the thing is that the more you prep up front, the less likely it will be that you unexpectedly have to deal with time-sucking and frustration-driven problems later, and at least if it’s up front, then it’s more under your control… at least I like to think that, though actually I still do sometimes end up with things I didn’t plan for or think of…..
Hey by the way, congrats! The blog looks amazing and I am hoping very much to see it trumpeted about here and there! And Lady Science is scary good.
Lesson goals are most usefully stated in terms of what students will have done or accomplished at the end of the lesson. Stating goals in this way allows both teacher and learners to know when the goals have been reached. If you have some flexibility in choice of topic consider your students interests and the availability of authentic materials at the appropriate level.
[…] Back in 2010, Faculty Focus asked college teachers to share their worst teaching mistakes for the purpose of educating others what not to do. The result was a special report collecting 15 short articles covering topics from mismanaging unhappy students to cross-cultural naivety. In one of these articles, Megan S. Grayce shares four tips for beginning instructors, among which is a plea to use lesson plans (and we agree): […]