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Lesson plans can serve some important functions. They can provide direction and a bit of structure to lessons so the teacher can maintain control and keep things running smoothly, be used as reference notes to help the teacher remember smaller details of the lesson, and act as a running record of how lessons have been modified over the past and of what works and what does not in different types of classes. Basically lesson planning is a great way for teachers to keep their thoughts together, their past experiences always in mind, and their goals for both themselves and their students clear and at the forefront of thought. In my experience this is how I have come to consider lesson planning.
While planning different aspects of a lesson are important for coherent lessons where realistic goals can be reached, I believe it just as important, if not more important, to stay flexible and have a lot of back up activities in mind and materials on hand. That is not to say that you need to bring everything in your arsenal to every class with you every day, but as a teacher one should try to predict some things about each lesson (e.g., things students will have trouble with, behavioral problems that might arise, technical problems that might occur, etc.), as the unit suggests, and be ready to help students or alter lessons accordingly on the fly. Then, after a teacher has many lessons under his/her belt, he/she will be able to predict such problems with more ease, and be able to appropriately react to matters that were not predicted, all-around helping the teacher keep lessons smooth and effective.
One good example would be the use of IT in the classroom. I use a lot of interactive PPTs when I teach, meaning I need a functioning PC, projector and screen in many of my classes. It is impossible to guarantee that all of those will be available without fail. Once I had a school PC stuck updating. Luckily I was able to grab my own PC and hook it up to the projector, but it made me think, ‘what would I have done if I was not able to do that’. Since then I have been putting backup materials in my lesson plans, just in case technology fails, or I notice that my PPT is not helpful to the students. Sometimes I carry different colored chalk with me so I can start making my point on the board. It is always good to have backup ways to do anything of importance. That includes extra activities or games that can be set up quickly with little no to preparation, or just thinking of different ways to explain the same point.
Keeping notes about specific classes and lessons has always helped me. I find it more useful than the initial lessons that I plan. Knowing everything that will happen in a lesson is impossible, and learning from past mistakes is a great way to tweak existing lessons and be prepared for future ones. Noting student level/performance, what works and what does not, activities that are fun, ways of explaining things that are clear, are all things you will learn as you go along, not before you plan your first lesson. So always keeping tabs on my classes allows me to predict problems that might arise better and utilize more effective teaching strategies and activities in my lessons. That means different classes of the same level may be planned differently based on what I have learned about my students. I am constantly changing my lessons: adding things that will help or removing aspects that make things cumbersome or difficult to understand. I find this flexibility and alteration key to both my and the students’ success. As the unit states, scripting a lesson should be completely avoided.
The unit also provided a great sheet for keeping tabs on your lessons. I will be adding the different phases (i.e., Engage, Study, Activate) to my lesson planning now.
All in all, lessons plans are a great way to stay organized on track. Doing this will help teachers improve their skills and students improve their language abilities, not to mention produce a fun class atmosphere. That goes for whether a lesson is a onetime thing (e.g., maybe more of a cultural lesson after a large exam), or part of an overall goal for a given week, month, or even an entire course.
