Lesson Planning

Who’s Responsible for Approving Your Lesson Plans?
Typically your M201 instructor is responsible for reviewing and approving your mathematics lesson plans. In some cases, but not all, your M201 and E343 instructors do this together. In all cases, your E328 instructor reviews and approves your science lesson plans.

Lesson Planning Assistance
If you'd like lesson planning assistance, the section below entitled “Things to Keep in Mind as You Plan Lessons” is general in nature. These recommendations are applicable to lesson plans in all subject areas, including mathematics and science. For more specific assistance with planning problem-based mathematics lessons, go directly to: Math Lesson Plan Outline. Detailed science lesson planning assistance is available at: Science Lesson Planning.

Things to Keep in Mind as You Plan Lessons

• Preassess students to determine their abilities and to help you find a starting point for a particular set of concepts/skills.
• Review key ideas from related lessons at the beginning of new lessons. Remember, not all lessons introduce new skills or concepts.
• Make students feel secure & successful. Be prepared to be flexible & responsive.
  
• Plan activities that are well suited to diverse abilities, interests, learning styles, pace, etc. Try to keep each student at his/her “learning edge”—what Vygotsky calls the “zone of proximal development.”
• Involve students in multi-sensory learning for each concept/skill.
• Arrange activities and questions so that students arrive at and explore procedures, solutions, and answers—telling is not teaching.
• Maximize student participation throughout the lesson.
• Utilize peer learning, explorations, and discussion. Vary group sized according to activity.
• Break a concept/skill down into parts. Slowly lay groundwork.
• Move from concrete to abstract (concrete > pictorial > abstract), and from familiar to unfamiliar.
  Apply skills to varied real-world situations. Use both examples and non-examples or counter-examples.
• Use open-ended questions to emphasize thoughts and explanations, and to move from lower to higher-order thinking.
• Pay particular attention to facilitating student conceptual knowledge, not just procedural knowledge. Link these two in meaningful ways.
• Use only purposeful activities and games. Be sure they are time effective, and arranged in ascending difficulty rather than parallel or “more of the same” type of learning.
• Avoid the use of worksheets.
• Monitor student progress and provide continual evaluative feedback.
• Save time for lesson closure. Include questions that require students to integrate new concepts, and to recap.

Lesson Plan Outline

Grade Level __________ Lesson Topic _______________________________

Purpose—What is it exactly, that I want my students to get from this lesson?
Rationale—Why are these ideas important?
Prerequisites—What prior knowledge do students need in order to succeed?
Materials—List all math materials needed and HIGHLIGHT items you need from the Math Lab:

• math manipulatives (and how many of each)
• books, including page numbers (and how many of each)
• other supplies (scissors, markers, poster, etc., and how many of each)
• copies of all materials (such as handouts) you plan to use, including those needed for Gearing Up and Gearing Down
  
  Note: Include approximate times for each segment of your lesson.

Launch: Setting the Stage for the Lesson
Ask yourself—How will I anchor or launch the lesson? Your aim here is to motivate students, to get then involved in the lesson, and to ensure that everyone understands what they are to do. Include a list of questions you will ask.

Explore: Lesson Development
This part of the lesson may involve one continuous activity (whole class, small group, or individual), or it may be divided into several segments that involve different activities. For each activity, ask yourself—What will I do (step by step description) and what do I want my students to do? Give examples of the types of questions you may ask and products you want students to produce. If you are planning more than one activity, ask—How much times will each activity take? How will I transition from one activity to the next?

Summarize: Closure
Ask yourself—How will I bring the lesson to a close? Include questions you may ask yourself and/or your students to help you know if the lesson was a success.

Gearing Down:
Ask yourself—What will I do if my lesson turns out to be too advanced for some or all students? How can the lesson be modified (on the spot) for slower students?

Gearing Up:
Ask yourself—What will I do if my lesson turns out to be too easy for some or all students? How can the lesson be modified (on the spot) for faster students? What is my back-up plan if we finish the lesson early?

Assessment:
Ask yourself—What types of data will I collect to determine how well individual children understood my lesson goals? Where did they encounter difficulties? Data may come from a variety of sources: direct observations, class work (either individual or group), homework, etc. Your dual goals in planning for assessment are (1) to make appropriate follow-up instructional decisions, and (2) to report on the progress of students (e.g., assign grades or write a narrative report).

Return to M343 Assignments or M201 Home Page

Return to Top of Page