Reflection on Lesson Plan
When I was a student, I always thought that the teachers had the better end of the deal. They got to scold us, give us homework, and give us more homework. It took me awhile to realise that: Hey, if teacher gave us one page of assignment, his/her homework would be to grade the whole class's assignments. So if a class has 40 students that would mean that the teacher has 40 pages to go through. The grass always seems greener on the other side until we really stop to consider things from their point of view.
When I first signed up with MOE, I heard lots of horror stories of how teachers have no life and no time as every waking moment is spent worrying about students, grading assignments and writing lesson plans. It seems that this horror story is true to a certain extent and would soon be unfolding for me. I also remember vividly how the interviewers at my teaching interview kept trying to dissuade me from joining MOE by telling me the harsh realities of what being a teacher entails. Well, I decided to just give it a shot. I do not have a night life anyway so the lack of that does not frazzle me much. Also, I really wanted to fulfil my childhood ambition of teaching, no matter how cliché that may sound.
My very first experience with the infamous lesson plan was during the Enhanced School Experience program. At Canberra Secondary School, every Tuesday morning is designated as what I call "upgrading" for teachers. Teachers, especially those who have been on courses, would take turns sharing their experiences and what they learnt. During my last 2 weeks there, the topic was on why it is important to write lesson plan and how to write them well. Teachers were split into our subject groups and asked to write a lesson plan, which we would then have to present and receive critique from other teachers. Sad to say, my time at Canberra was up before we really got down to the nitty gritty parts of lesson plan writing so I didn’t really glean much information.
At NIE, I found that lesson plan writing is a very big part of being a teacher or as what the tutors would say it differentiates a good teacher who puts in effort to a teacher who does not. During ICT lessons, we learnt about meaningful learning and the use of ICT tools to promote such meaningful learning. The lesson plan is used to structure the lesson and to incorporate these dimensions of meaningful learning. It also differentiates a tuition teacher from a school teacher. Tuition teachers do not have to think of how best to engage their students or to incorporate ICT.
Lesson plans are important as it helps the teacher to get into the correct frame of mind when entering any class. Each class is different, with its own quirks, thus it is not wise to apply one way of teaching to all classes, especially if the classes are of different streams. Lesson plan allows you to think about the kind of students that the teacher has, and how she should frame the lesson to engage them and for them to absorb the lesson taught.
The first page of the lesson plan is what I call the summary. You have to write about the class you are teaching, the lesson duration, what topics what will be covered, the materials you may need, and pre-lesson preparation. The most important part is the General Objectives (GO) and the Specific Instructional Objectives (SIO). The general objectives are the main outline of what you will be teaching. The specific objectives are what you hope that the students will learn at the end of that specific lesson. The main difference between the GO and the SIO is that the SIO has to be assessable. This means that you should use terms that show how it can be assessed for the SIO, such as list, define, classify, differentiate etc.
The main format of the lesson plan is not fixed and can be varied according to individual preferences. However, certain categories need to be in, such as time, duration, teaching and learning approaches and activities, resources, and the skills that will be taught.
Time and duration is for the teacher and the supervisors to keep track of time. It also helps the teachers to ensure that she is going at the correct pace and can complete her lesson on time. During planning, it also helps in structuring the lesson and in deciding how much time can be spent on each segment of the lesson.
Teaching and learning approaches and activities can be further split into teaching activities and student anticipated responses. It is good to anticipate how students might react to your activities and lessons so that you can pre-amp what they may do. For more disruptive classes, you can come up with alternative questions or activities to get them to respond or to listen to you. Thus lesson plans are specific to the classes and the topics taught and it is important that the teacher puts in thought into writing the lesson plans.
The first 5-10 minutes of the lesson should always be set aside for administrative matters and for the class to settle down. It is not realistic to go at the lesson from the start as students will also delay getting into their seats and getting ready for the lesson. The next 5-10 minutes should be spent on re-cap of the previous lesson. This is because students learn better when they are able to see and form links with what has been taught. Thus, going through a summary of what has been taught last week and linking it to the lesson this week would help students to be more interested and for them to see the importance in the lesson.
It is also important for the teacher to inform the students of the objectives of the lesson so that they will know what they are leaning for the lesson. Questions asked during the course of the lesson should also be targeted at fulfilling the SIOs of the lesson. AT the last 10 minutes of the lesson, or even in between lessons, the teacher should have summaries of what has been taught to reaffirm the lesson.
The lesson should also incorporate activities, such as quizzes, group work and games. This is to keep the students interested in the lesson. ICT tools should also be incorporated as much as possible as students will be more receptive to lessons with technological tools and it also helps them to become more efficient in such important tools. Group work is also useful as it can help inculcate Social and Emotional Learning in the students, such as relationship management and social awareness.
In conclusion, writing a lesson plan is not as easy as it may seem to be. We have to consider what we wish to teach and what we want the students to learn. From there, we need to find out the best way to teach and for them to learn. This takes time and practice, thus we have to constantly reflect on our lesson plans and to edit them and improve on them after every lesson. It is also an important tool for our supervisors to grade us and to see the effort that was put in by us. Thus, a well-written lesson plan is an important skill that should be practiced and mastered by every teacher.
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