When it comes to lesson planning, new teachers need to avoid the temptation of planning just a few lessons because they've survived the week. Lesson planning is a skill which takes focus and organization. It's not too late to start getting into the habit - make it one of your spring goals until the end of the year. For starters, you should get into the habit of planning beyond the lesson itself. But in order to plan an entire lesson unit in advance, you also need to know what to plan.
Spend some time looking through the unit. Make a note of those skills that you would like to spend time teaching. These are your instructional goals or skills for the lesson unit. Examples of instructional goals are: teaching reading strategies such as scanning, skimming and inferencing with an expository text. You should have no more than 5 instructional goals for the unit.
Remember, planning a lesson unit doesn't necessarily mean using only the textbook. Here are some tips on how to plan a lesson unit.
Assessment Strategies
Assessment strategies include which types of assessment you will use. If you are an ESL or English teacher, plan on using some form of assessment to measure vocabulary, reading, writing and possibly either listening or speaking. Also vary your assessment formats by using dictations, quizzes, tests check-ups also in an alternative assessment format.
Associated Projects
Traditional testing is not the only way to accumulate knowledge. Plan on implementing at least one mini-project for every other lesson unit since they take a long time to plan and check. Projects are an excellent motivator especially for lower-performing classes. Like lesson plans, they too are painstaking skills. For starters, spend time practicing the enabling skill-builders students need to tackle the demands of a project. Don't assume that they know how to write a research paper if they haven't been taught how to summarize research type articles.
Books and Materials
Some textbook units need a great deal of supplementary activities and materials because they are not suitable for the classes. Students might need more skill builders in order to tackle the tasks. In these scenarios, consider supplementing your lesson plan units using readers, graphic organizers, additional activities, worksheets, games and perhaps even computer sessions.
Writing Worksheets
Writing and the actual preparing of worksheets is another skill in itself. In addition to clear headings and format, worksheets should supplement a teaching skill. Here's a sample on what you can find on supplementary worksheets:
- Simplified reading texts and simple questions based on the textbook (reading and ESL)
- Additional vocabulary activities
- Measuring the circumference of circles (Geometry)
If you get into the habit of getting organized, you will find that it is easier to plan lesson units, which can save you valuable time in the long run especially as a first year teacher.
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