Successful Lesson Structure for Student Teachers
Develop Lesson Plans for Teaching and Evaluation of Student Learning
Aug 6, 2009
When developing lesson plans, student teachers have the added pressure of knowing that their instruction will be evaluated either by the cooperating teacher or their university supervisor. A well-organized lesson is likely to be successful, and the importance of choosing the best possible way to present the content to students, practice related skills, and assess student learning cannot be stressed enough.
Three reliable lesson structures are described below. Though most content could be presented any of the three ways, there are advantages and disadvantages to each. Student teachers should think about student needs, the desired outcomes of the lesson, how much time they have for instruction, available materials, and space requirements before carefully choosing the best form of instruction.
Direct Instruction
Direct instruction is a lesson format that is often chosen for its efficiency and effectiveness. Teachers have the advantage of presenting a great deal of content in a short amount of time, but because it is teacher-led instruction, students may be less engaged in the process and therefore, less likely to retain what is taught. The most common lesson plan structure used for direct instruction is a model developed by Madeline Hunter (1982).
The model consists of seven parts:
- Anticipatory set – get the students’ attention
- Objectives – tell the students what they will be learning
- Instruction – present new content
- Modeling – demonstrate its application
- Check for understanding – ask questions to informally assess learning
- Guided practice – help students practice skills or apply what was learned
- Independent practice – assign homework or use a test or quiz to formally assess learning.
Cooperative Learning
More than just group work, cooperative learning lessons are carefully structured to provide a truly interdependent instructional situation, by which the students teach and learn from each other. The teacher, though not visibly leading the lesson, is very much in control through the orchestration of materials, group members, and instructional tasks. Children benefit by learning important social skills along with the content, though lessons can become unproductive and loud if not structured and monitored carefully.
Cooperative learning lessons should have some of the same components as direct instruction. The teacher gets the students’ attention and tells them what is going to be practiced or learned. The teacher puts the students into groups and distributes materials, and after the activity is completed, reassembles the class to formally or informally assess for learning. Students should also have the opportunity at the end of the lesson to evaluate how their group functioned and what social or group work skills need to be addressed in future lessons.
Discovery Learning
Discovery learning is a student-led format through which students explore materials and reach their own understanding of the material before the teacher gives them the purpose of the lesson or any additional instruction. Teachers often choose this format because it tends to interest and engage students, and sometimes lead to a higher level of understanding; however, students also run the risk of misunderstanding content, which makes any additional instruction more difficult.
Discovery lessons should be structured around open-ended questions or tasks, and the teacher should be certain that adequate resources or materials are available for exploration. Students may work individually or in small groups, and should share what they discovered with the entire class as the teacher leads the discussion and reteaches important concepts as needed.
Student teachers have many things to practice and learn during their classroom internships. Lesson organization is important to success. By choosing lesson structures wisely, they can be sure that their instruction contains key components and that they are presenting new material in the best way possible to ensure student learning.
Further Reading
Hunter, Madeline. Mastery Teaching. El Segundo, CA: TIP Publications, 1982.
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