SETTING OBJECTIVES
The first thing a teacher does is
create an objective, a statement of purpose for the whole lesson. An objective
statement itself should answer what students will be able to do by the end of
the lesson. Harry Wong states that, “Each [objective] must begin with a verb
that states the action to be taken to show accomplishment. The most important
word to use in an assignment is a verb, because verbs state how to demonstrate
if accomplishment has taken place or not.” The objective drives the
whole lesson, it is the reason the lesson exists. Care is taken when creating
the objective for each day’s lesson, as it will determine the activities the
students engage in. The teacher also ensures that lesson plan goals are
compatible with the developmental level of the students. The teacher ensures as
well that their student achievement expectations are reasonable.
SELECTING
LESSON PLAN MATERIAL
A lesson plan must correlate with the
text book the class uses. The school usually selects the text books or provides
teachers with a limited text book choice for a particular unit. The teacher
must take great care and select the most appropriate book for the students.
TYPES OF ASSIGNMENTS
The instructor must decide whether
class assignments are whole-class, small groups, workshops, independent work,
peer learning, or contractual:
- Whole-class—the teacher lectures to
the class as a whole and has the class collectively participate in
classroom discussions.
- Small groups—students work on
assignments in groups of three or four.
- Workshops—students perform various
tasks simultaneously. Workshop activities must be tailored to the lesson
plan.
- Independent work—students complete
assignments individually.
- Peer learning—students work
together, face to face, so they can learn from one another.
- Contractual work—teacher and
student establish an agreement that the student must perform a certain
amount of work by a deadline.
These assignment categories (e.g.
peer learning, independent, small groups) can also be used to guide the
instructor’s choice of assessment measures that can provide information about
student and class comprehension of the material. As discussed by Biggs (1999),
there are additional questions an instructor can consider when choosing which
type of assignment would provide the most benefit to students. These include:
- What level of learning do the
students need to attain before choosing assignments with varying
difficulty levels?
- What is the amount of time the
instructor wants the students to use to complete the assignment?
- How much time and effort does the
instructor have to provide student grading and feedback?
- What is the purpose of the
assignment? (e.g. to track student learning; to provide students with time
to practice concepts; to practice incidental skills such as group process
or independent research)
- How does the assignment fit with
the rest of the lesson plan? Does the assignment test content knowledge or
does it require application in a new context?
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