How Do I Plan For Language Instruction?
Lesson Planning, oh boy!
In this unit, we explored the fundamental factors in the creation of lesson plans for our future students. What do we need to consider? What's the difference between goals and objectives? What type of guidelines do we include in our planning? These and other questions are the beginning of our chapter 10 in Teaching by Principles by Brown and Lee. Thinking of these questions and trying to find answers to them are two things that are very challenging for me. I tend to have an idea of what I want to teach in a lesson, but I have such a hard time thinking of the objective of that particular lesson. I was talking to a friend the other day who's a new and fresh EAL teacher, and I asked her if she had any tips for me when creating a lesson. Funny, she shared her way of doing it, and it turns out that she works her lessons by starting backwards. What does this mean? She begins by stating what is it that she wants her student to learn at the end of the lesson? Once she has this clear, then she moves and establishes her objectives for the lesson. I think I'll give it a try and see how it works for me. I know that it's just a matter of time before I get better at it.
A point of reference for me is what a lesson plan consists of, Brown and Lee (chapter 10, pp198 -201). The format of a lesson plan includes goals, objectives, materials and equipment, procedures, assessment, and extra class work. Brown and Lee (chapter 10, pp202 - 207) also list the guidelines for lesson planning as follows: 1) How to Begin Planning, 2) Variety, Sequencing, Pacing, and Timing, 3) Contingency Panning, 4) Gauging Difficulty, 5) Individual Differences, 6)Student Talk and Teacher Talk, 7) Adapting to an Established Curriculum and 8) Classroom Lesson Notes. All these formats and guidelines are super important in the elaboration of a great lesson plan.
As suggested by Scrivener (2005, p. 109) "planning is a thinking skill," meaning "imagining the lesson before it happens." This takes us to the next activity we needed to do, and that was to formulate ten questions that to consider while planning, keeping in mind predicting, anticipating, sequencing, organizing, simplifying and estimating.
- What will learners be able to do at the end of the lesson?
- What do they already know about the topic?
- Will the students be challenged enough?
- How will assess the students?
- What kind of lesson will I teach: Skill-Based or Task-Based?
- Will the lesson be meaningful to the students?
- What opportunities will the students have to demonstrate their learning?
- How long will my lesson be?
- What kind of resources will my students and I need?
- Will the students need time to review trouble areas?
I look forward to improving in the area of lesson planning, and I think a way to do so is by learning from my peers and the way they create their lessons. After all, this is a matter of practice, practice, practice.
Lesson Planning, oh boy!
In this unit, we explored the fundamental factors in the creation of lesson plans for our future students. What do we need to consider? What's the difference between goals and objectives? What type of guidelines do we include in our planning? These and other questions are the beginning of our chapter 10 in Teaching by Principles by Brown and Lee. Thinking of these questions and trying to find answers to them are two things that are very challenging for me. I tend to have an idea of what I want to teach in a lesson, but I have such a hard time thinking of the objective of that particular lesson. I was talking to a friend the other day who's a new and fresh EAL teacher, and I asked her if she had any tips for me when creating a lesson. Funny, she shared her way of doing it, and it turns out that she works her lessons by starting backwards. What does this mean? She begins by stating what is it that she wants her student to learn at the end of the lesson? Once she has this clear, then she moves and establishes her objectives for the lesson. I think I'll give it a try and see how it works for me. I know that it's just a matter of time before I get better at it.
As suggested by Scrivener (2005, p. 109) "planning is a thinking skill," meaning "imagining the lesson before it happens." This takes us to the next activity we needed to do, and that was to formulate ten questions that to consider while planning, keeping in mind predicting, anticipating, sequencing, organizing, simplifying and estimating.
- What will learners be able to do at the end of the lesson?
- What do they already know about the topic?
- Will the students be challenged enough?
- How will assess the students?
- What kind of lesson will I teach: Skill-Based or Task-Based?
- Will the lesson be meaningful to the students?
- What opportunities will the students have to demonstrate their learning?
- How long will my lesson be?
- What kind of resources will my students and I need?
- Will the students need time to review trouble areas?
I look forward to improving in the area of lesson planning, and I think a way to do so is by learning from my peers and the way they create their lessons. After all, this is a matter of practice, practice, practice.
No comments:
Post a Comment