If there is one part of teaching that can and will make your life easier, it is lesson planning. Initially lesson planning takes patience, discipline, reflection, and time. However, the payoff is great: a clearly structured lesson that is easy for you to deliver, and for your students to follow. Plus, it helps that you are less likely to experience that terrifying moment in front of a class where you can’t remember what comes next!
There are lots of resources to help you out. Start by checking to see if your course has been taught before, and if there are existing plans from which you can build. On this page, you will find great resources and templates you can use to make this task a lot easier!
Developing the Lesson Plan
A lesson plan is a plan for learning. As is true in most activities, the quality of planning affects the quality of results. Your lesson plan is a description of the sequence of activities engaged in by both the instructor and the learners in order to achieve the desired objectives together with a schedule for the lesson and a list of instructional resources. As the instructor it is important to consider the three basic elements when planning a lesson; the introduction (bridge-in, objectives, pre-assessment), the body (participatory learning) and the conclusion (post-assessment and summary).
Bridge: What do you do to get students’ attention or create interest in your topic?
Objectives: How do you determine what students should be able to do by the end of the learning unit? How do you convey this?
Pre-assessment: How do you determine what students already know or are able to do?
Participatory learning: How do you present information/ideas/concepts in an engaging way? What do you do to help students process and learn?
Post-assessment: How do you determine the degree to which your objectives have been achieved?
Summary: How do you link learning to assessment? How do you link course learning to program and professional goals?
This structure is often referred to as the BOPPPS model
Lesson planning goes beyond selecting appropriate content for a specific lesson; it involves considering learning goals, selecting appropriate learning activities, and assessing whether learning has been successful. Several years ago, several faculty from Northern College participated in the Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) Program which is a comprehensive three-tiered instructor development program that serves as the foundation for several professional development activities. Below are some resources related to the ISW training and the BOPPPS model. that will assist with the planning process.
Resources