Planning your lesson or learning activity.
You've been asked to teach a whole lesson or a part of a lesson :/
Lesson objectives and outcomes (success criteria).
The first thing you have to do is think about what you want your class to learn about - your objective. You may also think about what your class will do to be able to show that they have learned this thing - your outcomes. Your teacher should help you with this to ensure you will be on the right track.
An example of a learning objective may be to develop students knowledge and understanding of the British Royal family. The outcomes may be to know the names of the royal family members, identify them from pictures, describe what the royal family do, explain their role in society, form an opinion on whether they are needed in a diplomatic country, rank the member on importance, etc.
Lesson objectives and outcomes (success criteria).
The first thing you have to do is think about what you want your class to learn about - your objective. You may also think about what your class will do to be able to show that they have learned this thing - your outcomes. Your teacher should help you with this to ensure you will be on the right track.
An example of a learning objective may be to develop students knowledge and understanding of the British Royal family. The outcomes may be to know the names of the royal family members, identify them from pictures, describe what the royal family do, explain their role in society, form an opinion on whether they are needed in a diplomatic country, rank the member on importance, etc.
To begin ...
Now you should think about how you are going to start the lesson. This should be a short activity which is engaging for the students in your class and reminds the class about their learning so far, or introduces a new topic.
Examples of starters;
- Recap last lesson (think pair share or class discussion)
- Pictionary of key terms in the topic
- Quiz of topic so far
- Quiz of prior knowledge
- Video introduction (no longer than 3 minutes, with questions on a sheet)
Now you should think about how you are going to start the lesson. This should be a short activity which is engaging for the students in your class and reminds the class about their learning so far, or introduces a new topic.
Examples of starters;
- Recap last lesson (think pair share or class discussion)
- Pictionary of key terms in the topic
- Quiz of topic so far
- Quiz of prior knowledge
- Video introduction (no longer than 3 minutes, with questions on a sheet)
Main Tasks.
Main tasks will depend heavily on what your learning objectives and outcomes are.
Try to make a 'learning task' where students gather and process information. You will need sources of information and a way for the information to be processed. For example;
1) You show the class a practical demonstration (source of information) and they describe what happened, and explain why or how it happened (processing).
2) You give the students information from a text book or information sheets (source of information) and they answer questions about it (processing).
3) You provide the steps in a process (source of information) in the wrong order and students have to place it in the correct order (processing).
4) You give students a playlist of Youtube videos or website pages (source of information) and they have to make a poster, meeting specific success criteria (processing).
After a learning task you should have an 'assessment task' where students' work can be checked and improved. This is very important to make sure everyone in the group is learning what you want them to learn. This should relate to the learning objectives and outcomes from the beginning of the lesson. For example;
1) Select students to read their answers aloud and make a 'perfect' answer on the board, then all class members improve their answers in a different coloured pen.
2) Swap books and mark answers in a different coloured pen using an answer sheet.
3) The first 3 students who finish a task can help others or are given a different coloured pen and can mark other peoples work.
Main tasks will depend heavily on what your learning objectives and outcomes are.
Try to make a 'learning task' where students gather and process information. You will need sources of information and a way for the information to be processed. For example;
1) You show the class a practical demonstration (source of information) and they describe what happened, and explain why or how it happened (processing).
2) You give the students information from a text book or information sheets (source of information) and they answer questions about it (processing).
3) You provide the steps in a process (source of information) in the wrong order and students have to place it in the correct order (processing).
4) You give students a playlist of Youtube videos or website pages (source of information) and they have to make a poster, meeting specific success criteria (processing).
After a learning task you should have an 'assessment task' where students' work can be checked and improved. This is very important to make sure everyone in the group is learning what you want them to learn. This should relate to the learning objectives and outcomes from the beginning of the lesson. For example;
1) Select students to read their answers aloud and make a 'perfect' answer on the board, then all class members improve their answers in a different coloured pen.
2) Swap books and mark answers in a different coloured pen using an answer sheet.
3) The first 3 students who finish a task can help others or are given a different coloured pen and can mark other peoples work.
Things to think about to make main tasks even better.
- Do some students need help? How can you give them this help?
- Will some people finish early? Can you have extra, harder work ready to give them?
- How long will this task last? Will you restrict the time for tasks?
- Will your class mates enjoy this?
- Will students be working by them selves or in pairs/ groups?
- Do some students need help? How can you give them this help?
- Will some people finish early? Can you have extra, harder work ready to give them?
- How long will this task last? Will you restrict the time for tasks?
- Will your class mates enjoy this?
- Will students be working by them selves or in pairs/ groups?
To finish ...
At the end of a lesson should be a plenary activity. This should see if students have learned what you wanted them to learn and how much understanding they have.
For example;
1) Play Quiz Quiz Trade
2) Play the loop game
3) Ask students to write a summary everything they have learned in 1 minute then read it out.
4) Write a 321
At the end of a lesson should be a plenary activity. This should see if students have learned what you wanted them to learn and how much understanding they have.
For example;
1) Play Quiz Quiz Trade
2) Play the loop game
3) Ask students to write a summary everything they have learned in 1 minute then read it out.
4) Write a 321
You can find examples of activities described in more detail here.
Good Luck with your lesson or activity :)
Good Luck with your lesson or activity :)