Lesson plan assignment

Why do this assignment? Well, for starters, it’s an expectation of this class. Perhaps the more compelling
reason is that it’s easy to take a course at the University and learn content. Most classroom teachers
leave the summer college classroom quite invigorated about using their newfound knowledge in their
classroom. The problem typically comes when a lesson plan is not created during the summer classroom
experience. Hence, we are expecting that you’ll create a very solid lesson plan that could be used in your
classroom this academic year (2009-2010).

What are you expected to have in your lesson plan? Knowing that many of you are veteran teachers,
we’re not expecting you to incorporate a good deal of extra work. We simply expect you to assemble a
lesson that could actually be used to meet curricular demands in your classroom. We have asked you to
list the essential qualities for your lesson plans. As a result, the following components are necessary.

1. Rationale for lesson

2. Objective(s) of lesson

3. Minute by minute breakdown

4. Statement of engagement

Rationale for the lesson: As you know, the rationale is essentially the reason for doing the lesson.
Typically, one or two reasons dominate(s) the selection of your rationale. First, you may simply have an
interest in the content. As an example, you may have a great deal of interest in gravity. Though your
grade level may not specify that you do a lesson(s) on gravity, you may have an interest in discussing it
with students. The second, and often quite persuasive reason for doing a lesson, is that it’s dictated in
your district, state (http://www.k12.wy.us/SA/standards.asp), and/or national standards
(http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4962). Remember, we are asking you to assemble a
lesson that attaches to the content that you’ve learned this week. Hence, your activity will in some way
be related to applied science and engineering. Other examples are provided in the lesson plan provided.

Objective(s) of the lesson: The objective(s) of the lesson is what you will accomplish in the lesson. This
section is often very short. As an example, using the previous example of gravity, you might state that
students will acquire a conceptual understanding of gravity supplemented with some procedural
understanding of the pull of gravity. Often, you can find objectives stated in standards as well, but they
should not be a regurgitation of the rationale.

Minute by minute breakdown for the lesson: The minute by minute breakdown of the lesson is the most
comprehensive part of the lesson. This will require a fair amount of time to construct. In this part, you
carefully list all components of your lesson plan. It is my suggestion that you create windows of time to
see how long your lesson will require. If you plan on doing a lesson for more than one day, perhaps you
can provide a lesson plan for one day that we might be able to view throughout the academic year.

Statement of engagement: The purpose of this facet of the lesson plan is to create something that will
gain the attention of the students prior to the lesson. This component of the lesson is working on the
premise of, “if you don’t have their attention at the start of the lesson, you’re not inclined to get it at
any point of the lesson.” Moreover, as many of you know, gaining students’ interest will provide many
positive by-products throughout the lesson such as greater persistence in the task(s) at hand.

To gain additional insight regarding expectations for the lesson plan, see the example provided.
Lesson plan for where is North?
1. Rationale for lesson: The purpose of this lesson is to acquaint the students with an
understanding of where North, South East and West are, and the correlation when using them
in directions. Second, we will make a model and use it for finding a pre arranged trail..

2. Objective(s) of lesson: The objective of the lesson is twofold. First, students will gain further
understanding on how to set up and conduct an experiment. Second following directions and
building a compass should help the students understand how a compass works and the trail
following should give them an idea of how a compass works.

3. Minute by minute breakdown: The unit will be conducted over several days so the lesson plan
from three hours are provided
Minutes What the teacher is doing What the student is doing
5 Providing direction regarding Listening to directions from
what students will be doing, teacher
remind them of the time they’ll
have before we conclude, and
remind them of the materials
available.
5-10 Helping students set up Setting up experiments
experiments
10-30 Observing students and serving Conducting experiments and
as coach by asking questions making notes for final write-up
designed to elicit thought on of experiment
how the magnet works
10-20 Getting students together to Listening to teacher and taking
pose some general questions to notes
how the magnet is working and
our next step in using the
compass.
35-55 Observing students to see that Completing experiment and
they are making observations making notes for write-up of
and conclusions about their results
experiment begin on trail with
compass to reach the end result.
15-20 Helping students clean up their Cleaning up experiment
experiments materials
20-30 Making a few comments about Listening to teacher to see what
experiments and reminding questions exist
students of their responsibilities
for how to write-up their results