How to develop a quality lesson plan?

It is said that a well-designed lesson plan is a bedrock on which the successful lesson is built. The more time you spend on developing lesson plan, the more accolades you would receive for your teaching practices. Importance of lesson plan can’t be denied and hence, it’s quite imperative that we examine what makes a lesson plan perfect. What are the key components of a well-crafted lesson plan?

A lesson plan has the following constituents, mostly in the same order as well.

• Class or learner Profile
• Timetable fit
• Various aims of the lesson
• Assumptions or prior information
• Anticipated problems and Possible solutions
• Teaching aids or resources required
• Procedures
• Time distribution
• Post lesson reflection

Each of these components plays a crucial role in converting an ordinary lesson into a winning one. Let us have a close look at them individually.

Class or learner Profile:  This is the prerequisite to develop a lesson plan which enables the teacher with the information pertaining to the class or the learner to which the lesson will be delivered. It comprises information like the number of students in the class, their age-groups, their level of subject knowledge, etc. With such information readily available, a teacher or tutor can easily visualise what it would be like in such a class and hence can develop a plan accordingly.

Timetable fit: This section of lesson plans make the teacher think about how the proposed lesson fits into a larger curriculum. Here the teacher justifies the rationale behind selecting the lesson, and also, how they are going to establish the link between the current lesson and the prior lesson.

Aims of Lesson: A lesson must have clearly defined goals/aims from in terms of learning outcomes from it. The entire is designed keeping these aims at the core. All the stages of the lesson will be developed in a way that ensures that the final aim of the lesson is achieved. Aims could be of various kinds and each of them plays a different kind of role. The main aim or primary aim, Secondary or Subsidiary aim and then Personal aim are the prominent types of aims of a lesson plan. We can have a detailed look at various aims in a separate blog.

Assumptions or prior information: Here the teacher considers what will work with the learners, their interests, any specific teaching approach which may work well, etc. Careful consideration makes teachers job quite easy during the runtime.  This is the component on which teachers excel as they gain more experience and also how efficiently they use of Personal Aim.

Anticipated problems and possible solutions: What may learners find difficult and why? What could be the possible solutions for such a situation? All such brainstorming should be done beforehand so that the teacher remains fully prepared to deal with any such hindrance during the class which may hamper overall learning.

Teaching aids or resources required: A teacher must be prepared with all the resources he/she may require to conduct the lesson. It could be maps, worksheets, PowerPoint presentation or any other material which would be required during any activity or task. Unless and until all such requirements are planned in advance, it will be chaotic for the teacher to conduct any activity.

Procedures: Stage wise distribution and planning of activities, instructions for activities, assessment methodology and the entire flow of lesson is worked out in this segment of a lesson plan.

Timing: This could be part of the procedures as well where we do the time allocation for various activities.

Post lesson reflection: This part of the lesson plan is completed after the lesson is being delivered. Here the teacher gets the opportunity to reflect upon the effectiveness of the lesson plan.  With clarity on what needs to be relooked at, the teacher would be in position to plan next lessons in a better way.