More Thoughts on Lesson Planning.

I’d love to share my thoughts on creating lesson plans. It’s important to really think about all the parts and pieces of a standard while creating a lesson plan.

Unpacking a standard

Unpacking a standard helps a teacher to reflect on all the parts of a standard and discover how many activities are hidden within the standard.

Example standard;

(5.RI.3) “Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.” (AZ Dept of Education, 2010)

This standard is not simply about the relationships between two or more individuals in a historical text. It has many layers. Even the simple difference between explaining the relationships and explaining the interactions can require a teacher to use two lessons. Another way a teacher might have to alter the instruction would be the specific texts. The standard does not simply call for historical texts, it also mentions scientific and technical texts. It’s important that a teacher see all the parts of a standard and address them. This gives students the best opportunity to succeed in tests and in life.

Backwards mapping

This type of lesson planning helps a teacher develop a more interesting and pointed plan. The teacher knows what assessment he/she intends to give, and can tailor the lesson to that particular assessment. It also helps the teacher stay focused on the lesson at hand, instead of veering off on a possible tangent that isn’t needed for the current standard and does not enhance the standard.

Example standard;

For this standard, I might begin with an assessment where students must discuss the interactions between multiple figures during the revolutionary war. Alternately, I might have students enumerate the relationship between two scientific theories they are reading about.

Writing objectives

Writing SMART objectives helps a teacher verbalize their final goal for student understanding.

Smart Goals are Specific, Measurable or observable, Attainable for the audience, Relevant and results oriented, Target to learner and desired level of learning. These goals help the teacher measure if a lesson was effective for the bulk of students and offer an expected time frame for this student learning.

Example standard;

This standard should be effective for 80-90% of students. They should be able to explain the interactions between multiple figures in the revolutionary war with 80% accuracy.  

Resources

Arizona Department Of Education Website. (June, 2010). Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards English Language Arts. Retrieved from https://cms.azed.gov/home/GetDocumentFile?id=550c579caadebe15d072a992