Lesson Plans Tips

Lesson Plans Tips

Planning in advance is always a very wise and safe task in order to avoid possible lapses and accurately grasp the objective set for a certain project. But how many of us as teachers and executive body members make a plan before we deliver our presentations is the question. For several reasons like time, materials, interest, incentives(motivation), and the like, most of us try to avoid this part of the procedure.

Truly speaking it takes more time to prepare a good plan than delivering the matter to the mass or the class. Therefore, for teachers in the Nepali context, where they have about 5- 7 classes worth 45 minutes each along with notebook correction, and non-academic activities, how do we think they best formulate a good lesson plan and make their class delivery effective and productive.

Upon my observation, it is not a difficult task if teachers rethink and perform the matter in a different yet smart way. In spite of the support and positive impression, in general, on the part of the management, teachers can always experiment with the following things in their everyday class; but do not repeat your experiments in the same class as it does not challenge the intellect and the skills of the learners whereby your lessons soon lose their effectiveness and the charm.

1.      Divide the tasks of your lesson into several steps

2.      Assign these steps to your learners and let them prepare for further steps

3.      Let another group of your learners be involved in preparing evaluation criteria

4.      Involve learners for peer/pair correction in a controlled manner

5.      Let the final group be ready for summarization and review of the lesson

Advantages of involving learners in these kinds of plans.

a)      Learners learn to develop leadership skill

b)     Lessons become more effective

c)      A sense of lesson ownership develops in the learners

d)     Class goes in an effortless way (for teachers)

e)      Ensures equal participation of all learners

f)       Learner’s Autonomy

g)   A sense of making an achievement/pride in learning develops in the learners

h)   Develops team spirit and collaborative learning

i)    A  sense of competition  and learning motivation  gears up

j)   Teaches critical thinking and decision making as well

Disadvantages of involving learners in these kinds of plans.

a)      Noisy class

b)     New Teachers/Novice may not handle it well

c)      Seating arrangement has to be reshuffled

d)     Takes more time to complete a task

e)   Teachers have to be more alert and careful while preparing a formative assessment report

The format of the Daily Lesson Plan could be like this for the teachers in Nepali Context.

Lesson No: …	Topic: ….	Date…
Objective(s):.....................................................   Materials: ..........................................................
Class Tasks/Steps
Task 1 ………………………………………………………………
Task 2 ………………………………………………………………
Task 3 ………………………………………………………………
Task 4 ………………………………………………………………
Task 5 ………………………………………………………………
Feedback/Evaluation ………………………………………………………………
Home Assignment ………………………………………………………………
Teacher ………………………………………………………………
Class Reflection ………………………………………………………………

Pictures of some customized sample lesson plans of a busy teacher in the Nepali context.

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