Lesson Plannibg

What is a lesson plan?

A lesson plan is a framework for a

lesson. If you imagine a lesson is like a journey, then the lesson plan is the map. It shows you where you start, where you finish and the route to take to get there.

A plan is a guide for the teacher as to where to go and how to get there. However - don't let the plan dominate - be flexible in your planning so that when the opportunities arise you can go with the flow.

Making a lesson plan is easy. Creating an effective lesson plan is the key to effective teaching and a critical factor in achieving positive student outcomes. For guidance in creating lesson plans, see the tutorial on "What to Consider When Writing a Lesson Plan." Also check out our Lesson Plans Center for more great advice on writing and delivering lessons.

A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of the course of instruction for one class. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class instruction. Details will vary depending on the preference of the teacher, subject being covered, and the need and/or curiosity of children. There may be requirements mandated by the school system regarding the plan[

Why is planning important?

Teachers need to know what it is they want their students to be able to do at the end of the lesson that they couldn't do before. Here are some more reasons planning is important : 1 gives the teacher the opportunity to predict possible problems and therefore consider solutions 2 makes sure that lesson is balanced and appropriate for class 3 gives teacher confidence 4 planning is generally good practice and a sign of professionalism

The first lesson is the most important lesson of all. It sets the tone for future lessons and can make or break someones enthusiasm for learning. When it comes to a musical instrument, the goal is getting the student to play something they know as soon as possible

The Principles of Lesson Planning

1.Objectives 2.Variety 3.Flexibility

The Principles of Lesson Planning

1.Objectives Educational objectives inform the teacher the desired learner competence in terms of acquisition of knowledge, skills and attitudes

The Principles of Lesson Planning

1.Variety - an important way of getting and keeping the students engaged and interested.

Principles of Lesson Planning

1.Objectives Purpose They are the basis for the preparation of instructional materials, content or methods. Objectives help us to find out when the desired competencies have been achieved. Objectives help the students to organise their efforts towards accomplishment of these objectives. If we know where we are going we have a better chance of getting there.

The Principles of Lesson Planning

1.Objectives the following queries help us in setting our objectives 1 What do the students know already? 2 What do the students need to know? 3 What did you do with the students in the previous class? 4 How well do the class work together? 5 How motivated are the students?

Educational Objectives

General Objectives * what the student should know at the end of the lecture * Specific Learning Objectives * what the student should be able to do at the end of the lecture

Specific Learning Objectives

Specific Learning Objective is specific and pertains to a particular learning activity They are relevant, clear, concise, unequivocal, observable, measurable and feasible

Elements of an SLO
1.Activity describes what the learner should be able to do 2.Content describes the subject, object or theme in relation to which the activity is performed 3.Criterion desirable level of proficiency in performing the activity 4.Condition resources supplied or the restrictions applied while performing the activity

The Principles of Lesson Planning

1.Flexibility - expect the unexpected! It's useful when planning to build in some extra and alternative tasks and exercises. Students may raise an interesting point and discussions could provide unexpected opportunities learn. In these cases it can be appropriate to branch away from the plan. 37

1 -The first thing to consider, obviously, is what you want to teach. .1 This should be developed based upon your state (or school) standards. You also need to be aware of what grade level you are developing the lesson plan for (and keep that in mind of course), and also record a time estimate for your lesson plan to help in time budgeting. Once you have your topic, you can begin determining how you want to teach the topic. If you didn't use the state standards to help in developing your topic, refer to them now to see what specific standards your lesson plan can fulfill. Having your lesson plan correctly aligned with state standards helps to prove its worthiness and necessity. It also helps in assuring that your students are being taught what your state requires. If you are able to correlate your lesson plan with standards, record links to those standards in your lesson plan. If writing this lesson plan for a website (The Lesson Plans Page) be sure to include a title that .properly reflects your topic

2 -To make sure your lesson plan will teach exactly what you .2 want it to; you need to develop clear and specific objectives. Please note that objectives should not be activities that will be used in the lesson plan. They should instead be the learning outcomes of those activities. As an example, if you wanted to teach your class how to add 2 + 3, your objective may be that "the students will know how to add 2 + 3" or more specifically "the students will demonstrate how to ".add 2 + 3 Objectives should also be directly measurable (we'll get to this in assessment / evaluation). In other words, make sure you will be able to tell whether these objectives were met or not. You can certainly .have more than one objective for a lesson plan To make objectives more meaningful, you may want to include both broad and narrow objectives. The broad objectives would be more like goals and include the overall goal of the lesson plan, i.e. to gain familiarity with adding two numbers together. The specific objectives would be more like the one listed above, i.e. "the students will ".demonstrate how to add the numbers 2 and 3 together

3 -You would probably find out exactly what .3 materials you are going to use later, but they should be shown early in your lesson plan. This way if someone else were going to use your lesson plan, they would know in advance what materials are required. Be specific here to make sure the teacher will have everything they need. For the addition lesson, you should make sure you have 10 or so unifix cubes per student, .paper, and pencils

4 -You may also want to write an Anticipatory .4 Set, which would be a way to lead into the lesson plan and develop the students' interest in learning what is about to be taught. A good example deals with a lesson on fractions. The teacher could start by asking the students how they would divide up a pizza to make sure each of their 5 friends got an equal amount of pizza, and tell them that they can do this if they know .how to work with fractions

5 - Now you need to write the step-by-step procedures that will be performed to reach the .5 objectives. These don't have to involve every little thing the teacher will say and do, but they should list the relevant actions the teacher needs to perform. For the adding 2 + 3 lesson, you :may have procedures such as these .A. The teacher will give each child 2 unifix cubes B. The teacher will ask the students to write down how many unifix cubes they have on paper .)(2 :C. The students should then write a + sign below the number 2, like this 2 + .D. The teacher will then pass out 3 more unifix cubes to each student E. The students will be asked to write down how many unifix cubes they were just given. They :should write this number below the number 2 that they just wrote, so that it looks like this 2 3+ .F. Students should now draw a line under their 3 G. Now the students should count how many unifix cubes they have together and write this :number just below the 3, like this 2 3+ ---5 H. Ask students how many unifix cubes they had to start, how many they were given to add to .that, and how many they had total after the teacher gave them the 3 unifix cubes

6 - After the procedures have been .6 completed, you may want to provide time for independent practice. For the example of above, students could be given time to add different numbers of unifix cubes together that a partner would provide them .with

Just before moving on to the .7 assessment phase you should have some sort of closure for the lesson plan. A good idea for this is to return to your anticipatory set, i.e. ask students how they would divide up that pizza now that they know how to work with fractions (refer to the .)example in step 4

8 - Now you want to write your assessment / .8 evaluation. Many lesson plans don't necessarily need an assessment, but most should have some sort of evaluation of whether or not the objectives were reached. The key in developing your assessment is to make sure that the assessment specifically measures whether the objectives were reached or not. Thus, there should be a direct correlation between the objectives and the assessments. Assuming the objective were to be able to add two single digit numbers together, an example would be to have students approach the teacher and add two single digit numbers (that the teacher provides via unifix cubes) on paper using unifix .cubes as a guide

9 - Adaptations should also be made for .9 students with learning disabilities and extensions for others. Examples would be adding 1 unifix cube to 1 unifix cube for students with learning disabilities and adding 9 unifix cubes to 13 unifix cubes for gifted students. This is best done with specific adaptations for specific students, to take into account their individual .differences

10 - It's also a good idea to include a "Connections" .10 section, which shows how the lesson plan could be integrated with other subjects. An example would be to have students paint 2 apples, then 3 more apples below them, etc. to integrate Art into the lesson plan. A better integration would involve creating 2 or 3 different types of textures on those apples, assuming texture was being studied in art class. Putting a lot of work into this can develop complete thematic units that would integrate related topics into many different subjects. This repetition of topics in different subjects can be extremely helpful in .ensuring retention of the material

The parts of a lesson plan

Not every lesson plan looks alike, but all lesson plans share certain basic parts .

Title The title of your lesson plan should be concise, clear, and descriptive. It should invite teachers to take a closer look at the plan. Remember that teachers may see only the title and a short abstract of your plan in a page of search results, so they need to know what to expect if they click on it! This field is required.

Introduction Use the introduction to tell us a little about your lesson plan. Briefly describe the instructional techniques, what students are to learn, and any activities or assessments that you think are particularly noteworthy. This field is recommended.

Learning outcomes
Learning outcomes are what students are expected to learn after completing the lesson plan. Learning outcomes should be closely related to the curriculum alignment but should not simply repeat goals and objectives of the Standard Course of Study. Learning outcomes may be broader, address particular aspects of curriculum objectives, or teach the curriculum in a special context. Each learning outcome should be clearly reflected in the activities and assessed at the conclusion of the lesson. This field is required.

Curriculum alignment Curriculum alignment is the relationship of the lesson plan to the North Carolina Standard Course of AStudy. List specific goals and objectives that this plan addresses, such as Grade 3 Social Studies, Goal 1, Objective 2 or High School Biology, Goal 3, Objective 4. Your lesson plan must address at least one objective of a current curriculum, and it is a rare plan that addresses more than three objectives at once. If the plan is appropriate to multiple grade levels or courses, list goals and objectives for each grade level or course. Remember that all objectives you list here must be addressed in the learning outcomes, activities, and assessment! This field is required

Classroom time required Classroom time required is, obviously, the amount of time a teacher will need to schedule for this lesson plan. You might specify minutes, hours, class periods, or even weeks. Consider different scheduling constraints. If youve designed your lesson for a block schedule, mention that )one block period). You might also offer a suggestion in the activities or supplemental information for breaking the plan into two traditional periods. If the plan is intended to last for several days, explain the time requirements as specifically as possible )for example, two hours over a week or three consecutive class periods). This field is required.

Materials needed Materials needed include resources used by both teacher and student, including books, handouts, paper and pencils, art supplies, and so on. If a specific book is needed or recommended, provide a full citation (author, title, publisher) so that teachers can easily locate it. If you use handouts or specific materials for presentation, please make them available as separate files. If the lesson plan requires that the classroom be arranged in a particular way, mention that here. This field is recommended.

Technology resources The technology needed section includes technology resources used by both teacher and students, including computers and related resources (internet connections, printers, and specific software such as a word processing application or PowerPoint), scanners and digital cameras, projectors, VCR or DVD player, and so on. Be as specific as possible when listing software and hardware requirements. Specify how many of each resource is needed (one computer per student? per group of students?). Provide alternatives if possible. For example, if you teach this plan with one computer per student, try to offer a way to teach the plan with students in groups (in activities or supplemental information) and note here that the plan can be so adapted. This field is recommended.

Pre-activities The pre-activities are what teachers and students need to do before beginning the lesson. They may be as simple as prerequisites concepts or topics that should already have been covered. They may include activities that will help stimulate students background knowledge of the topic, refresh their memory of previous lessons related to this one, or teach critical vocabulary. Or, they may list things the teacher needs to do to prepare to teach this lesson. This field is recommended.

Activities Activities explain step by step what the teacher and students will do during the lesson. They should be as specific as possible. Consider the following: If the teacher is to explain something, note key points she/he should cover. Similarly, if there is to be a discussion, note the goals for the discussion what conclusions might or should students reach? If a teacher doesnt have certain materials or is pressed for time, are there steps that can be left out? Remember that many teachers who use this plan will not share your background or experience. Are there instructional techniques you use with which your readers might not be familiar? If there are additional resources or background information you think would benefit beginning teachers, include them in the Supplemental Resources field. This field is required

Assessment The assessment explains how the teacher will determine whether or to what extent students met the learning outcomes listed at the beginning of the lesson plan. It should explain the means of assessment as well as the standards by which students are to be assessed. If you use a specific test or quiz, please attach it as a separate file. If assessment is oral, explain what words, ideas, or cues the teacher can use to evaluate student understanding. This field is required.

Modifications Modifications are ways a teacher could adapt this plan to teach special audiences, such as students with learning disabilities, gifted and talented children, or English language learners. It is not necessary to suggest modifications to your plan, but it is helpful to teachers with diverse classrooms. If you provide modifications: Explain what audience the modifications are intended for. List specific activities for this audience, and provide or link to any special resources needed. If possible or necessary, explain how the teacher can adapt classroom management strategies to use this plan with multiple audiences at the same time. Provide alternative assessments in the field below. This field is optional.

Alternative assessments Alternative assessments are means of assessment for special audiences, such as students with learning disabilities or English language learners. If you provided modifications above, provide an alternative assessment for each modification or special audience. If you did not provide modifications above, explain what audience this alternative assessment is intended for. This field is optional.

Supplemental information Supplemental information is anything that teachers should or might consider when teaching this lesson. If there are resources that may be used but that are not required for the lesson, note those as well. Supplemental information and resources might include: additional resources or websites that could be used for in-class presentations or student research if time permits ideas for extensions or extra credit background reading for teachers on the content of the lesson further discussion of instructional strategies or classroom management issues related to this lesson (or links to that information on the web) Be as generous as you can! Remember that beginning teachers will not have your experience or knowledge of available resources and will benefit from any additional help you provide. This field is optional.

Critical vocabulary Critical vocabulary includes words and terms that students need to know in order to meet the learning outcomes for this lesson plan. If modifications are provided for particular audiences (such as English language learners), a special vocabulary list may be provided here. For each term, please provide a definition or the URL of a website where teachers can obtain definitions. This field is recommended.

Websites Related websites are websites to be used by the teacher or students in the course of this lesson plan. They may be required or optional. Related websites may provide: background information for the teacher about the content of the lesson reading material for students resources the teacher can use with students in the classroom, such as images or multimedia reference material for the teacher about instructional strategies or classroom management issues referred to in the plan resources for students to use independently For each website, please provide a title, URL, and brief explanation of how it relates to this lesson plan. Important! An external website should not be required for a teacher to use your plan unless it is a highly stable, institutionally maintained resource. This field is optional

Comments Comments may include anything you think teachers should know or consider that doesnt fit into the other parts of the lesson plan. They may include: an explanation of how you developed the plan, or why you wrote it in a particular way possible extensions or ways to shorten the plan reflections on the experience of teaching this lesson students comments or reactions This field is optional.

Author Info Under author info, tell us about yourself! Include the following: where you teach (school, system, city) what you teach (grade levels/subjects) how long you have been teaching special certifications, degrees, experience, or other qualifications that lend credibility to your lesson plan This field is required.

note on attachments You may have supplemental materials that you want to include with your lesson plan such as worksheets, tests, handouts, spreadsheets, even images. Dont hesitate to submit these with your lesson plan. Just be sure to send them in formats that can be easily opened and dont require any unusual software. If possible, we will reformat all lesson plan content for display on the web, and make it available for separate download only if absolutely necessary.

is good to wake up in the morning and to know what you are going to do that day in school. That is what planning lessons is all about -- being prepared -- so that you can .be as stress free as possible

How to Write a Lesson Plan

lesson plan is a written description to teach academic content. A lesson plan helps teachers organize their objectives and methodologies A lesson plan determines the purpose, aim, and rational of your class time activity. It also provides focus for the lesson you are presenting. A lesson plan is a fairly detailed plan of instruction. It helps you think through the best way to present the information to the students. You will need to develop clear and specific objectives. The following important components must be included in all lesson plans

Preplanning
It is important to know the subject matter you will be teaching.

List the important facts, key concepts, skills, or vocabulary terms that you intend to cover.

Indicate what you intend to teach.

Identify the aims or outcomes you want the students to achieve. Have a clear idea of what you want the students to learn. The objective must contain a behavior, the content, the condition, and the criterion, so that you can write, in detail, what is learned and how well the students learn it.

 The objective of a lesson is that the students demonstrate a specific skill. e.g., how to add 2 +2. Make sure you will be able to tell if the objective was met. Must include broad and narrow objectives. The broad objective is the overall goal of the lesson plan. The narrow or specific objective would be what it teaches the students to accomplish, e.g., teach the students to add. Indicate what is to be learned. Objectives demonstrate how well the students have learned or understood the lesson presented. Objectives should also be directly measurable. Gather evidence that the students did the task, e.g. quizzes or assignments. Write objectives that describe learning outcomes.

 List all the equipment to be used by the student and the teacher.
Describe how the equipment will be used.

Lesson Setup

Decide on the signal for attention, e.g., .Good Morning. Let.s get started or eyes on me..
Explain the rules and procedures, .e.g. raising hands or not talking at once. The statement of behavior expectations should be written in positive language. Language must be age appropriate, specific, and clear.

Explain your expectations for learning at each transition of the lesson, rather than stating them all at the beginning.
It shows the students how this lesson connects with yesterday.s lesson.

Lesson Opening
Review what has already been learned. State the objective of the lesson. Motivate and get students focused on the lesson.

Lesson Body
Provide a detailed, step-by-step description of everything you will do. Include a description of how you will introduce the lesson. Tell the actual techniques you will use. Plan frequent and varied opportunities for the students to be involved. Include specific things that the student will do during the lesson. Check for student understanding. Use multiple methods to check for student understanding. Describe how can this material be presented to ensure each student will have a good learning experience?

Extended Practice
Provide practice opportunities prior to evaluation. Monitor this practice session and give the students feedback. Describe how to provide opportunities to practice during and following the lesson. Extended practice often takes two forms:
1. Homework 2. Follow-up practice at school.

Provide a great deal of additional practice in real-world applications. Make sure the student can use the lesson learned in various settings.

Lesson Closing
Review the key points of the lesson. Give students opportunities to draw conclusions from the lesson. Describe when the students can use this new information. Preview future lessons. Have students describe their problem-solving process. It should be a meaningful end to the lesson. This is a time for students to show their work. The closing can create a smooth transition from one lesson to the next lesson.

Assessment/Evaluation
You must evaluate the objectives that were identified. Provide students with the opportunity to practice the activity you will be assessing them on. Describe the ways you will provide opportunities for the students to practice.

A clear description of the method that will help you accurately determine whether or not the students have mastered the lesson objective.

A Lesson Planning Guide.

A Lesson Planning Guide Look at this step by step guide to planning a lesson for children, written by a teacher. Use this guide to plan all your lessons.

About the class

My plan

Class, age, number of students, level

You need to consider this information in your plan.

Text book

Do you have to cover a unit from your text book in this lesson?

Time

How long is the lesson?

About the content

My plan

Main Aim

What do I want the students to have learnt by the end of the class?

Any possible problems and their solutions

What do I think could go wrong or cause a problem? How will I solve the problem

What materials do I need?

Remember to take all the things you will need for the class

Lesson Stages

My Plan

Usual class routine

It is helpful in childrens classes to have a set routine to begin the class. Do all the children come in and sit down? Perhaps you take the register? Do you have a register game to keep their attention? I play the colour game. I ask the children to tell me something that is blue or green or yellow etc. )For example, Ahmed, blue. The sky. Dalia, red An apple.)

Warm up

This should be an activity that is familiar to the students and is fun and motivating. It should recycle some language from a previous class if possible. It should be fairly simple so that the children can feel good about their ability.

Warm up

This should be an activity that is familiar to the students and is fun and motivating. It should recycle some language from a previous class if possible. It should be fairly simple so that the children can feel good about their ability.

This should be an activity that is familiar to the students and is fun and motivating. It should recycle some language from a previous class if possible. It should be fairly simple so that the children can feel good about their ability.

This part of the lesson is important. You are going to introduce the new language. Perhaps you will use pictures, flash cards, a story or tape to help you.

Practice Activity 1

This will be a controlled practice activity. An activity that the class works on together like a class competition in teams or some speaking drills.

Practice Activity 2

This will be a less controlled practice activity. Perhaps the students will work in pairs or groups for this activity. Maybe they will even work alone if they are doing some writing or colouring.

Re-focus Activity

After an activity where the students have been working in pairs or alone, it is a good idea to bring the class together with a familiar activity or song. This will re-focus the students and change the pace of the class.

After the class

My plan

Integration with the next class

What will you recycle from this lesson for the next class? I usually work out what my warmer activity will be for the next class now. Then I wont forget what the language is that I want to recycle.
Soon after the class is finished you can think about how the class went. Did you follow the plan? Did all the children focus on the activities and understand what they had to do? Would you change anything about this lesson if you did it again?

Evaluation

To begin, ask yourself three basic questions:1- Where are your students going? 2 -How are they going to get there? 3 -How will you know when they've arrived?

Then begin to think about each of the following categories which form the organization of the plan. While planning, use the questions below to guide you during each stage. Goals Goals determine purpose, aim, and rationale for what you and your students will engage in during class time. Use this section to express the intermediate lesson goals that draw upon previous plans and activities and set the stage by preparing students for future activities and further knowledge acquisition. The goals are typically written as broad educational or unit goals adhering to State or National curriculum standards. What are the broader objectives, aims, or goals of the unit plan/curriculum? What are your goals for this unit? What do you expect students to be able to do by the end of this unit?

Objectives This section focuses on what your students will do to acquire further knowledge and skills. The objectives for the daily lesson plan are drawn from the broader aims of the unit plan but are achieved over a well defined time period. What will students be able to do during this lesson? Under what conditions will students' performance be accomplished? What is the degree or criterion on the basis of which satisfactory attainment of the objectives will be judged? How will students demonstrate that they have learned and understood the objectives of the lesson?

Prerequisites Prerequisites can be useful when considering the readiness state of your students. Prerequisites allow you, and other teachers replicating your lesson plan, to factor in necessary prep activities to make sure that students can meet the lesson objectives. What must students already be able to do before this lesson? What concepts have to be mastered in advance to accomplish the lesson objectives?

Materials This section has two functions: it helps other teachers quickly determine a) how much preparation time, resources, and management will be involved in carrying out this plan and b) what materials, books, equipment, and resources they will need to have ready. A complete list of materials, including full citations of textbooks or story books used, worksheets, and any other special considerations are most useful. What materials will be needed? What textbooks or story books are needed? (please include full bibliographic citations) What needs to be prepared in advance? (typical for science classes and cooking or baking activities)

Lesson Description This section provides an opportunity for the author of the lesson to share some thoughts, experience, and advice with other teachers. It also provides a general overview of the lesson in terms of topic focus, activities, and purpose. What is unique about this lesson? How did your students like it? What level of learning is covered by this lesson plan? (Think of Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation.)

Lesson Procedure This section provides a detailed, step-by-step description of how to replicate the lesson and achieve lesson plan objectives. This is usually intended for the teacher and provides suggestions on how to proceed with implementation of the lesson plan. It also focuses on what the teacher should have students do during the lesson. This section is basically divided into several components: an introduction, a main activity, and closure. There are several elaborations on this. We have linked to some sample lesson plans to guide you through this stage of planning.

Introduction How will you introduce the ideas and objectives of this lesson? How will you get students' attention and motivate them in order to hold their attention? How can you tie lesson objectives with student interests and past classroom activities? What will be expected of students? Main Activity What is the focus of the lesson? How would you describe the flow of the lesson to another teacher who will replicate it? What does the teacher do to facilitate learning and manage the various activities? What are some good and bad examples to illustrate what you are presenting to students? How can this material be presented to ensure each student will benefit from the learning experience?

Rule of Thumb # 1: Take into consideration what students are learning (a new skill, a rule or formula, a concept/fact/idea, an attitude, or a value). Choose one of the following techniques to plan the lesson content based on what your objectives are: Demonstration ==> list in detail and sequence of the steps to be performed Explanation ==> outline the information to be explained Discussion ==> list of key questions to guide the discussion

Closure/Conclusion What will you use to draw the ideas together for students at the end? How will you provide feedback to students to correct their misunderstandings and reinforce their learning? Follow up Lessons/Activities What activities might you suggest for enrichment and remediation? What lessons might follow as a result of this lesson?

Assessment/Evaluation This section focuses on ensuring that your students have arrived at their intended destination. You will need to gather some evidence that they did. This usually is done by gathering students' work and assessing this work using some kind of grading rubric that is based on lesson objectives. You could also replicate some of the activities practiced as part of the lesson, without providing the same level of guidance as during the lesson. You could always quiz students on various concepts and problems as well. How will you evaluate the objectives that were identified? Have students practiced what you are asking them to do for evaluation?

Rule of Thumb # 2: Be sure to provide students with the opportunity to practice what you will be assessing them on. You should never introduce new material during this activity. Also, avoid asking higher level thinking questions if students have not yet engaged in such practice during the lesson. For example, if you expect students to apply knowledge and skills, they should first be provided with the opportunity to practice application.

General Rule of Thumb: Your plan should be detailed and complete enough so that another teacher knowledgeable in your subject matter could deliver the lesson without needing to contact you for further clarifications. Please do not forget to edit and spell check your work before submission to the Educator's Reference Desk Collection.

Keep In Mind Your Students Abilities When planning your students lessons, make sure to take into account the students current abilities. Say for instance, you want to teach a student to play Wild Thing on the guitar, or sing Joan Jetts I Love Rock and Roll, or play Mozart on the piano. What skills does your student need to have in order to start and understand the new material. If they are missing any, you need to fill in the blanks before trying that piece. Throwing material at a student that is way above their level will only discourage them. Some students like big challenges, but creating lots of small successes is the best approach to keeping your students interested in learning and excited about coming to lessons

Do Not Overload Your Students You do not have to have you student rocking out like Jimi Hendrix, composing like Bach, or singing like Janis Joplin after their first lesson. Take your time and never overload a student with too much new material. Some students are too bashful to say that what you are giving them is too much. One of the top reasons students quit lessons is because they feel overwhelmed by the material. Remember, a lot of students have busy lifestyles and as much as we would like our students to practice every day, most may only get to practice 2 or 3 times a week. It is better to have your students focus on learning and mastering one or two different techniques than tackling 4 or 5 different songs or licks. This keeps your students focused on what they really need to learn and accomplish

Give Students Goals After each lesson, give your students goals to aim towards during the week as they are practicing. When students have something to aim for, they can focus better during their practice time. Just telling a student to practice a song or learn a chord or melody really is not enough. For example, when I work with my guitar students, we will often work with a metronome to measure speed. Each week we will take a look at their speed. After going through the exercises, we then selected a fast speed to aim towards at ther following lesson.

Keep It Fun You do not have to be a drill sargent. Keeping your lessons fun is an important part of being a teacher. Get to know your students and dont be afraid to introduce appropriate humor. You may find that students like coming to lessons just to hang out with you

Developing a lesson plan While there are many formats for a lesson plan, most lesson plans contain some or all of these elements, typically in this order: Title of the lesson Time required to complete the lesson List of required materials List of objectives, which may be behavioral objectives (what the student can do at lesson completion) or knowledge objectives (what the student knows at lesson completion) The set (or lead-in, or bridge-in) that focuses students on the lesson's skills or conceptsthese include showing pictures or models, asking leading questions, or reviewing previous lessons An instructional component that describes the sequence of events that make up the lesson, including the teacher's instructional input and guided practice the students use to try new skills or work with new ideas Independent practice that allows students to extend skills or knowledge on their own A summary, where the teacher wraps up the discussion and answers questions An evaluation component, a test for mastery of the instructed skills or conceptssuch as a set of questions to answer or a set of instructions to follow Analysis component the teacher uses to reflect on the lesson itself such as what worked, what needs improving A continuity component reviews and reflects on content from the previous lesson[2]

A well-developed lesson plan A well-developed lesson plan reflects interests and needs of students. It incorporates best practices for the educational field. The lesson plan correlates with the teacher's philosophy of education, which is what the teacher feels is the purpose of educating the students.[3] Secondary English program lesson plans, for example, usually center around four topics. They are literary theme, elements of language and composition, literary history, and literary genre. A broad, thematic lesson plan is preferable, because it allows a teacher to create various research, writing, speaking, and reading assignments. It helps an instructor teach different literature genres and incorporate videotapes, films, and television programs. Also, it facilitates teaching literature and English together.[3] Similarly, history lesson plans focus on content (historical accuracy and background information), analytic thinking, scaffolding, and the practicality of lesson structure and meeting of educational goals.[4] School requirements and a teacher's personal tastes, in that order, determine the exact requirements for a lesson plan. Unit plans follow much the same format as a lesson plan, but cover an entire unit of work, which may span several days or weeks. Modern constructivist teaching styles may not require individual lesson plans. The unit plan may include specific objectives and timelines, but lesson plans can be more fluid as they adapt to student needs and

Setting an objective The first thing a teacher does is create an objective, a statement of purpose for the whole lesson. An objective statement itself should answer what students will be able to do by the end of the lesson. Harry Wong states that, Each [objective] must begin with a verb that states the action to be taken to show accomplishment. The most important word to use in an assignment is a verb, because verbs state how to demonstrate if accomplishment has take place or not.[5] The objective drives the whole lesson, it is the reason the lesson exists. Care is taken when creating the objective for each days lesson, as it will determine the activities the students engage in. The teacher also ensures that lesson plan goals are compatible with the developmental level of the students. The teacher ensures as well that their student achievement expectations are reasonable

Selecting lesson plan material A lesson plan must correlate with the text book the class uses. The school usually selects the text books or provides teachers with a limited text book choice for a particular unit. The teacher must take great care and select the most appropriate book for the students.[3]

Types of Assignments The instructor must decide whether class assignments are whole-class, small groups, workshops, independent work, peer learning, or contractual: Whole-classthe teacher lectures to the class as a whole and has the class collectively participate in classroom discussions. Small groupsstudents work on assignments in groups of three or four. Workshopsstudents perform various tasks simultaneously. Workshop activities must be tailored to the lesson plan. Independent workstudents complete assignments individually. Peer learningstudents work together, face to face, so they can learn from one another. Contractual workteacher and student establish an agreement that the student must perform a certain amount of work by a deadline.[

These assignment categories (e.g. peer learning, independent, small groups) can also be used to guide the instructors choice of assessment measures that can provide information about student and class comprehension of the material. As discussed by Biggs (1999), there are additional questions an instructor can consider when choosing which type of assignment would provide the most benefit to students. These include: What level of learning do the students need to attain before choosing assignments with varying difficulty levels? What is the amount of time the instructor wants the students to use to complete the assignment? How much time and effort does the instructor have to provide student grading and feedback? What is the purpose of the assignment? (e.g. to track student learning; to provide students with time to practice concepts; to practice incidental skills such as group process or independent research) How does the assignment fit with the rest of the lesson plan? Does the assignment test content knowledge or does it require application in a new context