Lesson Plans

Teachers at every level prepare plans that aid in the organization and delivery of their daily lessons. These plans vary widely in the style and degree of specificity. Some instructors prefer to construct detailed types of outlines while others prefer a more simple brief format. Regardless of the format, all teachers need to make wise decisions about the strategies and methods they will use to help students achieve their goals. A lesson plan will not only help you, as the educator, stay on track but it also serves as a guide for a substitute teacher to help him/her manage a learning environment.

When creating a lesson plan you have to think about the following: what are the goals, what content will I be teaching, and is this student-level appropriate? Once you are aware of what you will be doing, the next step is to create the lesson plan. A typical lesson plan consists of: the unit title, instructional goals, objectives, procedures, materials (if any), assessment, state standards, and provisions.

My past two projects for my education courses have been on creating: a unit of instruction lesson plan and a technology enhanced lesson plan. the unit of instruction lesson plan was based a subject of choice and creating a week long outline for that subject to teach in a classroom, whereas my technology enhanced lesson plan was to focus on how to incorporate technology into everyday teaching. I know that formatting a lesson plan for each subject is time consuming but I feel it's a great way to map out ones goals and instructions to see how he or she will accomplish what they plan to by using their lesson plans as guides. Lesson plans also help you stay on track and stay organized which is essential when teaching children, unorganized teacher = unorganized students. You set the standards and if you cannot hold it together when instructing a lesson or the class as a whole than it is inevitable to expect the students to do the same.