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Planing lessons Should we plan lessons? There are various schools of thought on this issue. Some theorists suggest that lesson planing is not a good idea as it creates a more fixed, teacher centred lesson. it is true that too much planning can make lessons rather rigid and stop the being flexible to the needs of the students. However, it is very difficult for inexperienced teachers to be able to be as flexible as this would require. The teacher is expected to let the students decide what to do in the class but an inexperienced teacher would find great difficulty in being able to conduct a lesson in such a way, as he/she wouldn't be prepared to deal with some of the language problems that may arise from such a lessons, therefore, may well lack direction. Should we plan lessons? Most teachers will find themselves somewhere between these two extremes. They will make notes, or complete lesson plan forms, but will build in flexibility. The writing of a lesson plans has a number of important functions: 1 An aid to planing Writing down what you expect the students to achieve by the end of the lesson, and how you intend to make that possible, helps you think logically through the stages in relation to available time. 2 A working document A lesson plan helps you keep on target and gives you something to refer to during the lesson. However, it should not stop you from being flexible and responding to the needs of the class. For example, if the class is really enjoying a particular activity, the teacher will probably want to extend the time allocated to that task and maybe postpone other tasks until a later lesson. 3 A record A lesson plan acts as a record of what a class has done and which materials have been used. Are you likely to remember what each class did six months ago if you haven't made a record of it? Recording class content will also help if you are ill and another teacher has to cover for your classes. How should a lesson plan be written down? There is no special way in which a plan must be written. Some teachers write formal plans, some jot notes, some log details into class notebooks. Each teacher has to find their own way. If you have to change your plan during the lesson for whatever reasons you should also make note of those changes so that you will have an accurate record. Basic principles of lesson planning are: .Keep it simple. You may need to refer to it during a lesson. .Do not try to script the lesson. .Structure it and maintain the same structures. .Write the anticipated time for each activity in the margin. .Check for balance of skill. Try to make sure activities fit together to give the lesson a smooth flow. .Keep it flexible and open to adaptation. Being Organised Before you start the lesson there are a number of practical things you can do to make sure your lesson goes smoothly. .Check that you have your lesson plan. .Run through your lesson plan and make sure you have all the necessary aids and materials needed. .Check that the equipment works! .Lay out materials and aids so that you can easily find them. .Arrange the seating as desired. .Make sure that the board is clean. .Be ready to chat to students as they come into class. This will help break the ice with the students and get them in the mood to learn. What should be included in a lesson plan? What you include in a lesson plan is very much up to the individual. Many experienced teachers just write a few brief notes on a piece of paper. At the start of your teaching careers you are probably going to work to structure your plans more, so that you have a clear guide as to what you want to achieve and how you include all of the following in your plan: Learner Objectives This is what you want the students to be able to do by the end of the lesson. Personal aims What you as a teacher wish to achieve. This is usually an area of your teaching that you would like to improve. Language point This shows the theme around which your lesson is based and also how it fits in with past and planned future lessons. Teaching aids Materials and other aids (cassette player etc)that you will need in the lesson. This will help you quickly check if you have everything at the start of a lesson. Anticipated problems (for the students and the teacher) It is very important to try and anticipate any particular problems that the students (or the teacher) may have with the lesson. Anticipated problems are of no use though unless you have thought of a solution for these problems if they arise! Procedure The activities used to achieve the learner objectives. Phase Strait Arrow lesson. Engage, Study or Activate. Timing It is vital to plan how long each activity is expected to take. You should then be able to see if you have too much content or not enough. Be realistic and flexible with your timing. If not, you will have to either make up for lost time or fill in extra time. This is one of the most difficult areas for inexperienced teachers. How long will it take your students to read a text? Only experience and a sound knowledge of your students will tell you this. Interaction Who will be interacting at each stage of the lesson. Will it be teacher-student (S-T), student-student (S-S) or students working alone? Number of students You may wish to anticipate how many students will attend to make sure that your activities are suitable for the class size. Date/time This will allow you to keep a historical record of what you have done with a class and when. It will also help teachers who may teach the same class at a later date. Teacher and observer's names May be useful if the class is being monitored. Monitoring your lessons A good teacher will want to monitor the quality of his/her own lessons. As teachers we are continually striving to improve our skills and make our classes as enjoyable as possible. An effective way of doing this is for the teacher to evaluate his/her own lessons and make notes of what went well and where the lesson could have been improved. By focussing on each lesson's strengths and weaknesses will be helping themselves to develop. Planning a sequence of lessons Planning a sequence of lessons is more or less the same as planning for single lesson, but there are a number of special issues which we must consider: .Flexibility- we will often need to make changes to plans during lessons. This can throw out our sequence of lessons, so we will continually need to update our plans and modify our aims. therefore we have to be flexible in our approach, and not just stick blindly to our planing. .Goals- an experienced teacher will build goals for the students into a sequence of lessons. This will give both the teacher and the students something to aim at, whether they are end-of-week tests, or major revision lessons. .Revision- lesson content needs to be continually reviewed over a sequence of lessons to ensure students retain this information. .Variety and balance- when planning a sequence of lessons we want to make sure all skills are included and given equal treatment. We will also want to incorporate a good variety and mix of activities.