LESSON PLANNING

“He who does not plan, plan to fail”.

A plan is a blueprint of activities that you intend to do.

A lesson plan is an organized arrangement of lesson activities that is intended to change the
behavior of the learners positively.

A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed guide that outlines what students need to learn, how the
subject would be delivered, and the achievement of class goals measured.

ADVANTAGES OF PREPARING A LESSON PLAN

A Lesson Plan which you prepare cherishes many benefits to you as well as to the learners. The
advantages are:
To the Instructor:
1. It forms as a record of teaching-learning activity
2. It assists you to place the information in sequence
3. Help you to get confidence, as you need not always depend on your memory.
4. Facilitate you to select and use teaching aids at appropriate time during presentation
5. It serves you to organize complete teaching-learning activity in a smooth way and
manage the entire class activities within the stipulated time
6. It assures you that all the points are covered about the lesson taught in the class
7. Helps to maintain the learner‟s interest till the finishing of the class because they are
understanding the subject correctly and also they are getting time for interaction
8. It also helps in imparting uniform instructions in different classes at different timings

To the Learner:
1. Learners are getting interest in thinking and learning more and more by attending a
planned instruction by an instructor
2. Learners are getting confidence and satisfaction in the subject what instructor has
presented by systematic and sequence order
3. Serves the purpose to meet the requirement of learners at different levels
4. Expected standard of knowledge is being acquired because instructor has taught the
lesson in a planned manner

A FEW DRAWBACKS
1. Instructor becomes ineffective if the lesson plans are not revised to accommodate
innovative techniques and new information

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 2. Lesson plan must be used as an instructional material to refer the systematically written
objectives. It must be a supplement and support to an instructor. You should not
completely depend on it.
3. Preparation of lesson plan for the entire syllabus is a time consuming work.

What is included in a lesson plan?

While lesson plans may vary slightly from one another, there are common components that build
each one. The components work together to bring out the overall quality of a lesson plan. This
will, in turn, determine how efficiently class time is utilized and the learning objectives achieved.

A good lesson plan that would work well for both teachers and students has to include the
following.

Details of the lesson

Indicate what the lesson is about and the class you're going to teach. The details should include
the unit, lesson number, class period, and the topic to be handled during the lesson.

Lesson objectives
The objectives of the lesson act like the mainframe of the whole plan. Setting out objectives
targeted by the lesson is the most important part that will guide you to achieve what is expected
from the class. Carefully write down three or four most relevant objectives students are expected
to attain by the end of the lesson. The objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable,
Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) and written from the learner's perspective.
Peter Ferdinand Drucker (1954) widely considered to be „the Father of Modern Management‟ in
US used this simple term in his seminal work. „The Practice of Management‟ to set objectives.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time bound.
SMART often called as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in project management, employee
performance management and personal development. Later, George T. Doran (1981) used in his
work: „There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives. Paul J. Meyer
(2003) also described the characteristics of S.M.A.R.T. goals in his book: Attitude is Everything.
1. Specific – Objectives should specify exactly what the learner will be able to achieve.
2. Measurable - Should be able to measure whether you are meeting the objectives or not.
3. Achievable - Are the objectives you set, achievable and attainable?
4. Realistic – Can you realistically achieve the objectives with the resources you have?
5. Time bound – When do you want to achieve the set objectives?

Characteristics of learning objectives

1. Focus on behavior that is specific, measurable, assessable, achievable, realistic, relevant,
time-bound, and testable
2. Use action verbs that reflect the level of learning required
3. Avoid the use of vague verbs such as „know‟ and „understand‟
4. Use one action verb per learning outcome

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 5. Describe the conditions/context (if appropriate)

Example: By the end of the unit learners can:

a. Define Energy
b. Describe the forms of Energy
c. State the law of conservation of Energy
d. List the types and uses of Energy

THE TAXONOMY OF EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

The classified three domains of educational activities are:
 Cognitive: mental ability (Knowledge)
 Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude)
 Psychomotor: motor or physical skills (Skills)

The Cognitive domain includes those objectives that emphasize intellectual outcomes, such as
„the recall or recognition of knowledge and the development of intellectual abilities‟; The
Affective domain includes those objectives that emphasize „feeling, emotion, interest, attitudes,
values, and the development of appreciations and adequate adjustment‟; and The Psychomotor
domain includes those objectives that emphasize „physical skills, such as, writing, typing,
stitching, swimming, etc.
Examples:
1. Cognitive – Cite, define, describe, name, recite, recognize, modify, verify, etc.
2. Affective – Realize, behave, cooperate, accept, characterize, customize, organize, etc.
3. Psychomotor – Write, repair, type, run, jump, stitch, pull, push, remove, operate, etc.

THE BENEFITS OF WELL WRITTEN OBJECTIVES

TO THE TRAINER AND TO THE LEARNER:
a. Objectives specify, precisely, what the learner has to achieve.
b. Objectives focus attention on the outcome of training, rather than the process.
c. Objectives impose a professional discipline on the provision of training.
d. Objectives act as a basis for communication between trainers, learners, and the
management or institution.
e. Through objectives we can analyze what a person should be able to do, in terms of
performance.

Learners also will be benefitted when you use objectives properly.

a. Effectiveness of training is improved if you give learners for what they are expected to
learn.
b. Objectives are written in learner terms, intended to help the learner.

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 c. Objectives can include criteria for assessment; learners therefore know how their
performance will be measured.
d. Learners may be encouraged to develop their own objectives.

Bloom Taxonomy
Benjamin Bloom developed this theory in 1956. The concept is based on the idea that learning is
a sequential process. It consisted of six levels: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze,
Evaluate, and Create. The categories after Knowledge were presented as “skills and abilities,”
with the understanding that knowledge was the necessary precondition for putting these skills
and abilities into practice.
How to Use Bloom’s Taxonomy in objectives and Test Writing
Benjamin Bloom found that when questions are written in a complicated or inaccurate manner,
the learner might answer them incorrectly even if they had studied the material well. To prevent
this, the scientist suggested using specific action verbs in questions for each level of assessment.
They help a trainer or teacher word a question correctly, provide an objective knowledge check,
and allow the learner to understand what is expected of them in this task.

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Teaching aids

List the tools you'll use to facilitate learning by attracting your students' attention. The teaching
materials should be adapted to the learning environment as well as students' learning levels.
From pictures, flashcards, drawings, wall sheets, charts, and diagrams to real objects, the teacher
should only write down what the lesson will use.

Lesson Procedure

Stages of the class session are like the framework of the lesson. Lesson procedure should work
out to harmonize the following main stages of a lesson:

Warm-up stage – In which you should share, in a single sentence, how to prepare the students
for the new lesson.

Presentation – Have at least three focused steps to introduce the lesson's content highlighted in
the framework. The presentation should work out to capture the students' attention as you
hammer in your lesson objectives.

Practice – You could divide this stage into controlled, guided, and free methods. Write one
sentence indicating how to cover each type.

Evaluation

The evaluation stage has two categories:

Assessment – Write how to ascertain the students achieved the objectives set at the beginning of
the lesson. You might have questions for students to answer in writing, or orally, give home
assignments or anything suitably bringing out to what extent students have attained the lesson
goals.

Self-evaluation – You, as a teacher, should take time to reflect on your lesson after ending it.
Write out how things went on during class. Were the lesson objectives well achieved? Otherwise,
what more needs to be done to achieve lesson goals?

Timing

During your lesson, for efficient time management, specify what time each stage will take and
commit to the timeframe. If possible, have a specific time beside each stage, task, or activity.