A lesson plan is a road map of the instructions. It shows what will be taught and how it
will be done effectively during the class time. Teachers require a lesson plan to describe
their course of instruction for one class. The lesson plan is necessary to guide the
instruction. A lesson plan is required to describe the preferences of the, subject being
covered, activities being held in the class, and to ensure the progress of the students about
the lesson being taught to them.
Lesson planning is beneficial for the teacher in many ways; such as:
• It helps in achieving goals and objectives, and same can be said on the part of the students.
• It helps to get rid of problems or avoid them.
• It gives a reality check of everyday performance.
• It improves the habit and attitude of the students.
• It improves the teaching skills.
• It makes teaching ordinary and easy.
• It makes the teacher organized during teaching.
• Lesson planning determines when to include the interesting facts to attract the students’ attention.
• It enables the teacher to impart the things the students can do at the best of their abilities.
Process of lesson planning
First of all, a teacher need to identify the learning objectives for the class, then design
appropriate learning activities and develop strategies to obtain feedback on student
learning. A successful lesson plan addresses and integrates these three key components:
• Objectives for student learning
• Teaching/learning activities
• Strategies to check student understanding
Designing a Lesson Plan
Introduction
The introduction is a way to warm up students, to ease them into the class and to give them a context for what they are about to learn.
Development
Development is an important part as it describes about teaching, or “instructional methods” such as, lectures, discussions, labs, collaborative learning, etc.
Conclusion
Planning of how to tie it all together for the students is also important. Tell them once again what they would learn and why it is important to them.
Strategies for daily and weekly planning
The following points demonstrate why planning is so critical to success.
• Planning can greatly reduce your stress quotient. Proper planning gives you the peace of mind of knowing that you have formulated a feasible plan of action and that your goals are attainable.
• Planning also helps you to be prepared for obstacles because part of the planning process is creating a emergency pan for unexpected problems.
• Planning serves as a way to evaluate your progress as you work. Planning your daily and weekly activities will clearly illustrate whether or not you are staying on schedule.
STEPS IN LESSON PLANNING
Outline learning objectives
The lesson objectives are usefully stated in terms of what students will achieve at
the end of the lesson. The first step is to determine as a teacher what you want
students to learn and be able to do at the end of class. To help you specify your
objectives for student learning, answer the following questions:
• What is the topic of the lesson?
• What do I want students to learn?
• What do I want them to understand and be able to do at the end of class?
• What do I want them to take away from this particular lesson?
Develop the introduction
After determining learning objectives and specifying them in order of their
importance, the teacher has to design the specific activities for the students. They
may already be familiar with the topic; therefore it is necessary to gather
background information from the students prior to lesson. You may start with a
question or activity to assess students’ knowledge of the topic. For example you
can ask a question or take a simple poll: “How many of you have heard about this?
Raise your hand if you have” or ask them to write comments on paper. This
additional information can help you to shape the introduction and learning
activities of the new concept.
Plan the specific learning activities (the main body of the lesson)
What will I do to explain the topic?
• What will I do to illustrate the topic in a different way?
• How can I engage students in the topic?
• What are some relevant real-life examples, similarities, or situations that can
help students understand the topic?
• What will students need to do to help them understand the topic better?
Plan to check for understanding
What questions will I ask students to check for understanding?
• How will students demonstrate that they are following?
• Going back to the list of learning objectives, what activity students can do to
check whether each of those has been completed?
Develop a conclusion and a preview
Repeat the material covered in class by summarizing the main points of the lesson.
You can do this in a number of ways: you can state the main points yourself
(“Today we talked about...”), you can ask a student to help you summarize them.
STUDENT MOTIVATION
The word motivation is derived from a Latin word ‘movers’ which means to move. Thus;
motivation is an external force which accelerates a response or behavior. Motivation is a
cause of an organism’s behavior, or the reason that an organism carries out some activity.
“The term motivation refers to the arousal of tendency to act to produce one or more effect” Allport (1935).
TYPES OF MOTIVATION
Positive Motivation
This brings about positive response to the action that one needs to undertake in order to
achieve these goals.
Negative Motivation
It is being reinforced with fear, anxiety and such negative feelings in order to have tasks
and goals achieved.
Extrinsic Motivation
Motivation is concerned with the factors that stimulate or inhibit the desire to engage in
behavior. Example: a child may does chores not because he enjoys them but because doing so
earns an allowance and students who are extrinsically motivated may study hard for a test
in order to obtain a good grade in the course.
Intrinsic motivation
The motivation arises from internal factors such as a child’s natural feeling of curiosity,
exigent, confidence and satisfaction when performing a task. Example: Children play game for no other reward than the fun they get from the game itself or students who are intrinsically motivated may study hard for a test because he or she enjoys the content of the course.
STUDENT MOTIVATION
Make it Real
In order to foster intrinsic motivation, try to create learning activities that are based on the
topics that are relevant to your student’s lives.
Provide Choices
Students can have increased motivation when they feel some sense of autonomy in the learning process, and that motivation declines when students have no voice in the class structure.
Balance the Challenge
Students perform best when the level of difficulty is slightly above their current level. If the task is too easy, it promotes boredom and may communicate a message of low expectations or a sense that the teacher believes the student is not capable of better work.
Seek Role Models
If students can identify with role models they may be more likely to see the relevance in the subject matter. For example, Weins et al (2003) found that female students were more likely to cite a positive influence with a teacher as a factor becoming interested in science.
Use Peer Models
Students can learn by watching a peer succeed at a task. In this context, a peer means someone who the student identities with, not necessarily any other student. Peers may be drawn from groups as defined by gender, ethnicity, social circles, interests, achievement level, clothing, or age.
Establish a Sense of Belonging
People have a fundamental need to feel connected or related to other people. In an academic environment, research shows that students who feel they ‘belong’ have a higher degree of intrinsic motivation and academic confidence.
Adopt a Supportive Style
A supportive teaching style that allows for student autonomy can foster increased student interest, enjoyment, engagement and performance. Supportive teacher behaviors include listening, giving hints and encouragement, being responsive to student questions and showing empathy for students.
INQUIRY METHOD AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD
INDUCTIVE METHOD
The inductive reasoning method moves from specific to general. These examples will help us to understand the concept of inductive reasoning. Consider this “Previous car accidents of this sort were caused by brakes failure, and therefore, this accident was also caused by brakes failure.” Similarly while doing exercises of mathematics children use induction method “as previous question was solved by adding the numbers, therefore, this question may also be solved by same method”, and most of the time it comes true.
Some important aspects of the inductive teaching method are given as below.
1. It gives new knowledge as student are supposed to involve in the process of knowledge construction.
2. It is a method of discovery, where students discover the fact by their own involvement.
3. It is a method of teaching; teachers used this by starting from the known facts and using different inquiry techniques to discover the hidden ones.
4. Child acquires firsthand knowledge and information by actual observation.
DEDUCTIVE METHOD
In deductive reasoning we argue from the general to a specific instance. The basic idea is that if something is true of a sample of things/objects in general, this truth applies to all things/objects of that group. The important point to be considered, then, is to be able to properly identify things/objects of the sample. Improper selection may result in invalid conclusions. Application of deductive reasoning may help the teachers in the classroom and saves time also.
For example, we often say that “Be careful of that wasp: it might sting.” is based on the logic that wasps have stings; therefore each individual wasp will have a sting. So, it can be concluded that, we should not examine each and every wasp. Because of the validity of deductive reasoning, we may make an assumption that is both useful and efficient.
SCIENTIFIC METHOD
“The scientific method is an approach to data collection that relies on two assumptions: (1) Knowledge about the world is acquired through observation, and (2) the truth of the knowledge is confirmed by verification—that is, by others making the same observations” (Ferrante, 2008).
The following are the compulsory steps involved in the scientific method. The
elaboration of these steps as:
1. Realizing the problem
2. Defining the problem
3. Analyzing the problem
4. Collecting data / information
5. Analyzing the information
6. Framing hypothesis
7. Verifying the hypothesis
8. Finding the solution
9. Applying the solutions in the life situations.
ACTIVITY METHOD
It is said that children learn best when they are allowed to construct a personal understanding based on experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences.
According to Confucius:
– What I hear, I forget – What I see, I remember – What I do, I know
What is Activity Method?
Before explaining the activity method, it seems better to answer this question, what is an activity? Anything which is carried out with a purpose in a social environment involving
physical and mental action. Such activities help in the establishment of stimulating
environment for creative expression.
Types of Activities:
Activities can be of three types:
1. Exploratory – Knowledge getting 2. Constructive – Experience getting 3. Expressional – Presentation
Examples of Classroom Activities
Experimentation: Students individually perform an experiment and then come together as a class to discuss the results.
• Research Project: Students research a topic and can present their findings to the class.
• Field Trips: This allows students to put the concepts and ideas discussed in class in a real-world context.
• Films: These provide visual context and thus bring another sense into learning experience.
• Classroom Discussions: This technique is used in all of the methods described above. It
is one of the most important distinctions of student centered teaching methods.
Benefits of Activity Based Learning Approach
- The learners are actively involved as the environment is democratic.
- The activities are interactive and student-centered.
- The teacher facilitates a process of learning in which students are encouraged to be responsible and autonomous.
- Children learn on their own pace.
- Provision of more time for self-directed learning and teacher directed learning is reduced considerably.
- Group learning, mutual learning and self learning are promoted.
- Teachers teaching time is judiciously distributed among children. Only needy children are addressed by teachers.
- Children participation in every step is ensured in the process of learning.
- Evaluation is inbuilt in the system it is done without the child knowing it.
Limitations of Activity Method
- Careful consideration of emotionalized controls may be overlooked during classroom activities. Apparently some teachers forget that all classroom activities contribute directly or indirectly to the formation of attitudes, favorable or unfavorable.
DISCUSSION METHOD
An activity in which people talk together in order to share information about a topic or problem or to seek possible available evidence or a solution. It is used more and more in student-centered learning venues as a means of engaging students in the “active” construction of learning
through collaboration and the exchange of perspectives.
Task Functions
These functions are related to the completion of a given discussion topic. Students usually act in the following manners:
1. Information and opinion giver: Offers facts, opinions, ideas, suggestions, and relevant information to help group discussion.
2. Information and opinion seeker: Asks for facts, opinions, ideas, suggestions, and relevant information to help group discussion.
3. Starter: Proposes goals and tasks to initiate action within the group.
4. Direction giver: Develops plans on how to proceed and focuses attention on the task to be done.
5. Summarizer: Pulls together related ideas or suggestions and restates and summarizes main point discussed.
6. Coordinator: Shows relationships among various ideas by pulling them together and harmonizes activities of various subgroups and members.
7. Diagnoser: Figures out sources of difficulties the group has in working effectively and the blocks to progress in accomplishing the group’s goals.
8. Energizer: Stimulates a higher quality of work from the group.
9. Reality tester: Examines the practicality and workability of ideas, evaluates alternative solutions, and applies them to real situations to see how they will work.
10. Evaluator: Compares group decisions and accomplishments with group standards and goals.
Characteristics of the Discussion Method
1. Experiential Learning
Students learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process. Using the discussion method, a student’s concrete, personal experiences are followed by observation, reflection, and analysis of these experiences.
2. Emphasis on Students
Students’ experiences serve as the basis for the discussion. Although the teacher must have a specific goal in mind and a general framework for reaching the goal, student input determines the specific direction the discussion takes. In
3. Focus on Critical Thinking
Discussion method develops and enhances students’ critical thinking skills. Developing critical thinking skills involves consideration of three areas: instructional design, a focus on learning by doing, and strategic teaching. There are three phases of developing critical thinking among students. These include
identification phase; focusing phase; and application phase.
COOPERATIVE LEARNING
Cooperative learning is the process of getting two or more students to work together to learn. Students often work in small groups composed of participants with differing ability levels and using a variety of learning activities to master material initially developed by an instructor, or construct knowledge on substantive issues.
COOPERATIVE LEARNING PRINCIPLES
Many principles have been proposed for cooperative learning. Below is one list of eight such principles.
1. Heterogeneous Grouping. This principle means that the groups in which students do cooperative learning tasks are mixed on one or more of a number of variables including sex, ethnicity, social class, religion, personality, age, language proficiency, and diligence.
2. Collaborative Skills. Collaborative skills such as giving reasons are those needed to work with others. Students may lack these skills, the language involved in using the skills, or the inclination to apply the skills. Most books and websites on cooperative learning urge that collaborative skills be explicitly taught one at a time.
3. Group Autonomy. This principle encourages students to look to themselves for resources rather than relying solely on the teacher. When student groups are having difficulty, it is very tempting for teachers to intervene either in a particular group or with the entire class. We may
Sometimes want to resist this temptation because as Roger Johnson writes, “Teachers must trust the peer interaction to do many of the things they have felt responsible for themselves”
4. Simultaneous Interaction (Kagan, 1994). In classrooms in which group activities are not used, the normal interaction pattern is that of sequential interaction in which one person at a time – usually the teacher – speaks. In contrast, when group activities are used, one student per group is speaking. In a class of 40 divided into groups of four, ten students are speaking simultaneously, i.e., 40 students divided into 4 students per group = 10 students (1 per group) speaking at the same time.
5. Equal Participation (Kagan, 1994). A frequent problem in groups is that one or two group members dominate the group and for whatever reason, impede the participation of others. Cooperative learning offers many ways of promoting more equal participation among group members.
6. Individual Accountability. When we try to encourage individual accountability in groups, we hope that everyone will try to learn and to share their knowledge and ideas with others.
7. Positive Interdependence. This principle lies at the heart of CL. When positive interdependence exists among members of a group, they feel that what helps one member of the group helps the other members and that what hurts one member of the group hurts the other members. It is this “All for one, one for all” feeling that leads group members to want to help each other, to see that they share a common goal.
8. Cooperation as a Value. This principle means that rather than cooperation being only a way to learn, i.e., the how of learning, cooperation also becomes part of the content to be learned, i.e., the what of learning.
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