TEACHING & LEARNING

The emphasis on any lesson plan should be on what students will learn, as opposed to what you will teach.  Plan your lessons so that you will focus more on the voice of the student than on your own voice – aim to be the ‘Guide By Their Side’ rather than the ‘Sage On The Stage’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whichever class you are teaching, it will have a wide spread of ability and skill.  It is important that you plan for progress within each lesson and over time. Ensure planning shows how you are differentiating your work to meet the diverse needs of the group and that you have identified lower, middle and higher ability groups.  Think and plan for students who may be SEN, are learning EAL or are higher ability and need extra stretch.

 

 

Make sure the work involves the development of multi-sensory skills and allows students, whatever their ability, to demonstrate that they can be successful learners.  Ensure that you include different ways for students to demonstrate that they have understood the learning and that they can deliver the desired outcomes (through planned mini plenaries). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make sure that the lesson objective will deliver an appropriate learning outcome and is not merely a series of task-based activities. When writing your plan, be certain that the learning outcomes and standards you are trying to achieve can be realised by the activities your students will complete (use all the student data available to you).

 

 

You will soon know how and when your students learn best.  Use this strategically in your planning.  Know when to plan new learning and when to be consolidating.  If possible, try not to introduce new learning last lesson on Fridays – you and they are tired, progress will not be the best you could achieve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pay attention to timings, be flexible in your planning – sometimes something takes longer than you expected.  Sometimes you may feel that the pace is too slow – speed it up. Check understanding throughout the lesson and tweak accordingly, re-shaping tasks where necessary for your different ability groups.

 

Remember that students can concentrate for roughly the same number of minutes as their chronological age.  Less, if they are vulnerable learners.  Make sure an understanding of levels of concentration feature in your planning.

Always have a Plan B and don’t be afraid to use it if you think that the lesson is not working.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Always have a lesson plan that quickly settles students into an activity; too much teacher talk at the start of a lesson often creates a loss of learning time which can be hard to catch up.  Use an engaging ‘hook’ to focus students and get them interested.  Sometimes, you may need to build in a “bell activity” if all the class finds it difficult to arrive on time. This will keep those who are there to be both settled and occupied.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plan every lesson to have a healthy mix of activities involving students learning by listening, speaking, seeing, doing, and importantly, thinking and reflecting (T&L Toolkit).