Thursday 7 November 2013

The Importance of Lesson Planning



The Importance of Lesson Planning


Why plan?
Lesson planning is a vital component of the teaching-learning process. Proper classroom planning will keep teachers organized and on track while teaching, thus allowing them to teach more, helps students reach objectives more easily and manage less. The better prepared the teacher is, the more likely she/he will be able to handle whatever unexpectedly happens in the lesson.
Lesson planning:
-       provides a coherent framework for smooth efficient teaching.
-       helps the teacher to be more organized.
-       gives a sense of direction in relation to the syllabus.
-       helps the teacher to be more confident when delivering the lesson.
-       provides a useful basis for future planning.
-       helps the teacher to plan lessons which cater for different students.
-       Is a proof that the teacher has taken a considerable amount of effort in his/her teaching
Decisions involved in planning lessons:
Planning is imagining the lesson before it happens. This involves prediction, anticipation, sequencing, organizing and simplifying. When teachers plan a lesson, they have to make different types of decisions which are related to the following items:
-  the aims to be achieved;
-  the content to be taught;
-  the group to be taught: their background, previous knowledge, age,  interests, etc.
-  the lessons in the book to be included or skipped;
-  the tasks to be presented;
-  the resources needed, etc.

The decisions and final results depend on the teaching situation, the learners´ level, needs, interests and the teacher’s understanding of how learners learn best, the time and resources available.

Lesson Plan  is What to teach (refer to group task in session)

      Background info  
      Objective(s) 
      Content  &Skills 
      Resources  
      Assessment

Lesson Plan is Lesson Procedures (how we are going to teach)

  1. Warm-up
  2. Core lesson: teaching new concept,
  3. Guided practice 
  4. Independent  Tasks 
  5. Rounding off.

 Hints for effective lesson planning:
  • When planning, think about your students and your teaching context first.
  • Prepare more than you may need: It is advisable to have an easily presented, light “reserve” activity ready in case of extra time .Similarly, it is important to think in advance which component(s) of the lesson may be skipped. if you find yourself with too little time to do everything you have planned.
  • Keep an eye on your time. Include timing in the plan itself. The smooth running of your lesson depends to some extent on proper timing.
  • Think about transitions (from speaking to writing or from a slow task to a more active one).
  • Include variety if things are not working the way you have planned.
  • Pull the class together at the beginning and at the end.
  • End your lessons on a positive note.
Planning enables you to think about your teaching in a systematic way before you enter the classroom. The outcome of your planning is a coherent framework which contains a logical sequence of tasks to prepare the field for more effective teaching and learning.
Plans only express your intentions. Plans are projects which need to be implemented in a real classroom with real students. Many things may happen which you had not anticipated. In the end you need to adapt your plans in order to respond to your pupils´ actual needs. It is important to bear in mind Jim Scrivener’s words: Prepare thoroughly. But in class, teach the learners not the plan.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

-       Moon, J. (2005) Children Learning English. Macmillan.
-       Scrivener, J. (2011) Learning Teaching. Macmillan
-       Ur, P. (1996) A Course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP


Friday 11 October 2013

Creative Projects

Dear Abraar Teachers,

The below link is a page for creative  projects. I hope you can find something that can benefit your students.
  





Sunday 24 March 2013

Teaching Tip # 11 Manage the end of the lesson…



                  Top Ten Tips # 9
 Manage the end of the lesson…


           


Do not run your lesson right up to the last minute and then have to rush because the next class is waiting. Allow time to wind down, answer questions, put equipment away, outline plans for next lesson, etc.

Have a short, educational game up your sleeve if there is time to spare.

Manage the pupils’ exit of the room, have them stand behind their chairs and wait to be asked to leave. Address each pupil by name and have them tell you some good news about the lesson, or you tell them something they did well today. Send them out one-by-one.


 University of British Columbia

Monday 4 March 2013

Teaching Tip # 10 Establish ‘start of lesson’ routines…



                  Top Ten Tips #8

            Establish ‘start of lesson’ routines…

Never attempt to start teaching a lesson until the pupils are ready. It’s a waste of everyone’s energy, giving the impression it’s the teacher’s job to force pupils to work and their job to resist, delay, distract, wind up, etc. Often this task avoidance is a ‘smoke screen’ hiding worries about what you are going to ask them to do.
 
Have a routine way of starting a lesson; a quiet activity that pupils can get right down to, without needing any explanation. Handwriting, copying the *WALT from the board, spelling practice (familiar key language from the current topic), mental arithmetic are good activities to set a quiet tone. Do not allow discussion or be drawn into discussion yourself – say there will be time for that later and make sure you follow this through.

If you take the time to establish this, lessons will start themselves! You won’t have that battle at the beginning of every lesson to get yourself heard.

* WALT : stands for "We are Learning To". It is a reinterpretation of the teachers lesson objectives (or learning intentions)

 University of British Columbia

Sunday 24 February 2013

Teaching Tip # 9 Find a ‘Best for Both Outcome’…




                      Top Ten Tips #7
Find a ‘Best for Both Outcome’…
                          
Avoid confrontational situations where you or the pupil has to back down. Talk to the pupil in terms of his choices and the consequences of the choices, and then give them ‘take up’ time. 

Fred, I want you to leave the room. If you do it now we can deal with it quickly. If you choose not to then we will use your break time to talk about it. It’s your choice. I’ll meet you outside the door in two minutes.’ Then walk away and wait.

Joe, put your mobile phone in your bag or on my desk. If you choose not to do that it will be confiscated,’ then walk away and wait.

 University of British Columbia