Planning lessons can be a drag, especially when students show no interest in the lesson you have spent so much time planning. How long does it take you to write a lesson objective and what format do you use?
Benefits
It is useful to know why we do what we do. It is equally important to know that teachers aren’t the only ones who write objectives. Have you been to a training recently, in person or online? Did your trainer share the objectives of the session? I am sure they did, right?
Government, CEO’s department heads, hospital administrators, you name it, everyone has long and short term goals.
I am sure those in the medical field have a daily goal for COVID patients. Teachers aren’t the only ones writing lesson objectives, though sometimes it appears that way.
Lesson objectives helps us as teachers to determine what it is we want our students to know. It outlines the specific learning outcomes for the lesson. Lesson objectives enables us as teachers, to know what our students need to know and be able to do at the end of a lesson; similarly students know what they are expected to know and be able to do when they enter your classroom. As the teacher, if you know what you want to achieve , then you are better poised to determine the content you want to teach and the assessment that best matches your content and outcomes.
Some teachers often ask, why do I need to write them? I already know what I want to teach and this is just taking up so much of my time. Yes, you need to write them and no, writing them should not be taking up much of your time.
How to write lesson objectives?
The first place to look when determining your lesson objective is your course unit, your scheme of work or your syllabus. Some units are very detailed and requires little or no modification for the teacher, others require the teacher to take the goal or sometimes the learning objective and modify it so it reflects the learning for that day.
Today there are so many ways to write lesson objectives, that new teachers can become confused. Some schools require that learning objectives, sometimes called learning goals be written a specific way. I will examine three of the methods used for writing lesson objectives and compare the benefits of each.
Strategy 1
Today I will …
So that I can …
I know I’ve got this when …
I am not sure who coined this strategy, but I have seen it used in schools quite a bit. I myself have used it. While this method allows students to be able to determine what they need to learn and identify the way they will demonstrate their knowledge, the middle portion can sometimes be difficult for many teachers. I have often heard teachers ask, so they can what…? I find myself going back to the unit, looking for linkages for future learning and applicability for real world application.
Strategy 2: What are we learning today?
WALT- We are learning to…
This structure allows the teacher to make the content that students will learn clear to them.
rs
WALA- We are learning about …
WILF- What I’m looking for …
This lets students know how they will demonstrate their learning.
The purpose of this format is to make learning intentions intentions and outcomes clear for students.
The Success Criteria Method
The success criteria is another way to determine how students will demonstrate their learning. The success criteria goes alongside the learning goals. The learning goal addresses the knowledge and skills to be taught in the class while the success criteria indicates how students will demonstrate the learning. The learning goal and the success criteria in this mode are inseparable. For more about writing learning goals and success criteria see Oregon.gov.
So really, if you are still just writing a lesson objective without indicating how students will demonstrate their learning, maybe it is time to try a new approach.
Let me know what you think.
learmondk
26 Dec, 2021
This week my focus will be lesson planning. As teachers, we are all required to plan lessons. The requirements will differ depending on which parts of the world we live in. So, it is fair to say that we have all planned lessons during our teaching career. Some of us more frequently than others; and others of us in much more detail than others. In this article, I will examine the benefits of lesson planning and I will also look at three lesson planning templates and discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each.
My first exposure to lesson planning was as a young college student. At the time I hated the fact that it required so much detail and would try to avoid planning lessons during my practicum. I can remember to this day, my practicum supervisor, to remain nameless, saying to me on one of his many visits, that if I didn’t want to plan lessons, then I should consider lecturing at the university. Some teachers only ever develop the art of planning through their own classroom experiences. However, we were taught to plan lessons, one thing I am almost certain many teachers will attest to, and it is that planning lessons can often be tedious and time consuming and has become a task to be delayed or avoided if possible.
Approaches to Planning
I have noticed that countries have taken different approaches to lesson planning. As a young teacher in the Caribbean, I was required to write and submit weekly lesson plans, later as I transitioned to a head of department, I would be required to collect those weekly plans from the teachers in the department. Several years later, I relocated to the United Kingdom and realized that while I was required to plan, I did not have to submit my weekly plans to the Head of Department. I also learnt that planning could be an outline, not in as much depth as I had grown accustomed.
My own experiences in the USA were also different. Teachers are required to plan, but like the UK, there was no strict format and while suggestions and recommendations can be made as to the format, ultimately the teacher decides what works for them, I also learned to my disdain, that I could be reported to the teacher’s union if I were to continue to insist on getting lesson plans. In many states, the teachers’ union is very strong and so principals and subject area leaders cannot mandate a teacher to write a lesson plan unless they are deemed to be underperforming. However, if called upon, teachers were required to produce lesson plans within 24 hours. There were no universal dictates and so lesson planning varies by school districts and by states.
I believe lesson planning is very important and teachers should engage in some form of planning.
The Teachers’ GPS System
In this article I want to liken lesson planning to the Global Positioning System (GPS). One of the major benefits of this navigation system it that it allows users to take a more direct route to their destination. It provides a guide which prevents the user from getting lost. Years ago, when we needed to find our way to an unknown location, we would call and ask for directions.; now we can download google maps, ask SIRI or any other GPS mechanism to help us get to our destination. Google Maps for example, gives us a map that shows our end location, provides directions and alternate routes. The map also outlines your location in relation to other things around you. You now have the option to continue along your selected route, change course, slow down or increase your speed to your desired location. Some navigation systems will also beep, if there is a speed camera nearby, alert you if there is an accident and give you the option to change course. Similarly, lesson planning is the map that allows the teacher to see the big picture and pinpoints the teacher’s location in relation to the wider unit. As the teacher, we can choose to continue, change course, slow down, speed up, provide resources to stretch the more able students, or simply reteach the content. Students alert us to their needs and because we have planned the lesson, we are better equipped to meet those needs
All Kinds of Weather
A GPS system works in all kinds of weather. Likewise, lesson planning works in all kinds of classrooms, those with the more able students, mixed ability groups or slow learners. All classrooms benefit from effective planning. Without the use of a GPS, we can often take a longer time to get to our destination, the same is true about lesson planning. Lesson planning keeps the teacher focused so they can address the needs of the students and meet the requirements of the curriculum.
Have you ever found yourself teaching a topic and covering material you do not need to cover, or forgetting to cover some of the required material and then rushing to cover this with little time left to do so? Or even, coming across material in a textbook that you did not know was there? I recall several years ago, teaching a topic and after having a conversation with another teacher at lunch, realizing that I had not taught a key skill that was needed.
All individuals who have access to a GPS system will use it to make their journey less complicated, but sometimes, if you have travelled the route many times, you may choose not to. New teachers benefit significantly more than their counterparts who have taught the curriculum over and over, but as their can be roadworks and you have to change your path, so they can often be slight changes in your curriculum, so planning helps veteran educators not to take the curriculum for granted but to incorporate those changes.
Updating Your System
GPS systems are updated regularly. So too should lesson plans. The teacher may be teaching the same content year-on-year; however, the needs of students change and so too should our planning. Teachers often need to tweak their plans to meet the needs of different groups of students. We are all familiar with the old adage- one size fits all- not so with lesson planning. One size does not always fit all.
Lesson Plan Templates
Ang google search for lesson plans will produce hundreds of templates. In fact, the Teaching Channel has a good collection of templates for teachers. Your choice of templates will depend on you as an individual, your department or your school. While most lesson plans share the same key features, adjustments often should be made to meet the tenets of your content area. In this section I will examine three lesson planning templates, Backwards Design, Learning Forward Weekly Lesson Plan Template,and Brianne Beebe Google Lesson Plan Template.
The Backwards Design Template
I personally like this template because it allows you the teacher to focus on the end results. Because you know what the result will be, you can design your lesson to meet those goals and structure your assessments to be inline with those goals. Using this model, the teacher first identifies the lesson objective, followed by the assessment. The learning strategies and activities comes last. One disadvantage of this strategy is that teachers will be required to create the assessment/test at the beginning rather than at the end. Some teachers view this method as teaching to the test, but it keeps the teacher focused on the desired content outlined in the curriculum.
The Learning Forward
This is a weekly lesson plan template is very detailed and is recommended for teachers who plan with their coaches. This template provides a format for teachers to scaffold their lessons. The template accessible via the link, provides much more detail as to how this template can be used.
I have included Brianne Beebe’s template for use primarily because it is a Google doc, and many teachers now use the Google Classroom which makes this compatible. Lesson plans are saved as you type which eliminates the need to save your file after. However, if you prefer to plan in your regular lesson planning book, this may not be for you.
In my next article, will focus on writing lesson objectives and creating assessments aligned to lesson objectives. Below you will find links to lesson plan templates. I hope you find these useful.
What have been your experiences with lesson planning? Care to share?
learmondk
8 Aug, 2021
Data driven instruction is one of the common buzz words in education. I was keen to know the extent to which data was used to drive instruction in Caribbean schools. As a result, I carried out a pilot survey with 45 teachers from the islands of Jamaica, Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. This data is not necessarily a representation of what is happening in the islands’ schools because of the small sample size and the fact that the data was gathered from five secondary schools in total. Teachers were sent a questionnaire developed using google forms.
The sample comprised of nine males and 36 females with almost 60% of teachers having 16 or more years of teaching experience. Of the sample, only 31.1% identified as trained graduates. Less than one percent of respondents said they did not plan lessons. 62% of teachers planned lessons weekly and 24.4 % planned lessons daily. Approximately 74% of teachers were older than 36 years.
The main purpose of the questionnaire was to determine how teachers used data in their classrooms and in their schools in general. Firstly, I needed to know what types of data were available to teachers and how they used that data. Teachers said they had access to assessment data, attendance data, number of students receiving free school lunches, data relating to student behaviour and students with special educational needs. 93% of the teachers said they used assessment data to guide planning, 11% said they used data relating to attendance and 20% said they used data relating to behaviour. Teachers indicated they used assessment data to help to determine whether students mastered concepts and to monitor student performance. 85% of teachers said that if students performed poorly on an assessment, they would reteach the lesson or lesson topic. Interestingly, 100% of teachers who responded to the questionnaire said that if the lesson was not going well, they would continue to teach and make any necessary adjustment the next day.
I also wanted to see how teachers discussed data, so I asked them how frequently they talked about data in their schools. 37.8% of teachers in the sample said they had data chats at the end of an assessment, 31% said they had data chats termly and the remaining teachers never talked about data in departments, whole school or with their colleagues. 100% of teachers indicated that in their schools the examination data was discussed at the start of the school year, but the aim was to look at the results, and departments did not do any detailed analysis of their subject area results. Teachers who said they discussed data after each assessment, did not share ideas of the reasons students performed poorly and what they could do t support those students. It was left up to the teacher’s decision to determine the intervention strategies.
Teachers were asked how many of them had a robust data tracking system in place, 57.8 said they did, 51.1 % of the sample said they would need help setting up a data tracking system.
Informal conversations with teachers in Caribbean schools indicate that teachers use of data driven instruction is not consistent, primarily because whole school data is not readily available to all teachers. In some schools professional learning communities are becoming the norm and teachers are allocated common planning time. Where this occurs, time is used primarily for planning only, teachers do not delve into student data, nor do they unpack learning standards.
There are many benefits to using data to drive instruction. When teacher look at student data, they are better able to meet the needs of students.
Using Data to Inform Instruction in Departments
Data is an important tool for schools to use to improve student outcomes. The most used student data in many Caribbean schools is the examination results at the end of five years of secondary education. Test scores are often used to group students for entry in external exams or for promotion from year to year. As noted previously, some teachers do use data from tests to guide their instruction.
To use data successfully all the teachers in the department or school must want to be a part of it. Without this level of buy-in the process may not be beneficial to stakeholders. Departments should agree on the data points they want to track. They also must agree on a system to track the data. Creating data sheets in Excel is an easy way to begin the process. Once the data has been submitted and is in an accessible format, teachers need to peruse the data to look for areas where students excelled and for those areas where they showed gaps in their learning. Teachers the begin to act on the data. Acting on the data requires teachers to determine the level of support they will provide students. Support can take the form of intervention sessions before or after school, small group learning, reteaching or even using technology where this is available to help students learn the concepts.
Not every child is able to pay for extra lessons after school, so it is incumbent on teachers to offer the tiered level of support to all students. With many children returning to school in the COVID pandemic, with learning gaps, assessing students, and using the results from those assessments to inform planning is beneficial both to the students and to the teachers. As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure the success of all our students. Students in many primary and secondary schools in the Caribbean, need equitable education.
learmondk
29 Jun, 2021
Are you wondering how you are going to be able to close the achievement gap after 18 months of online teaching, or maybe you had in-person teaching but with irregular attendance? You are not alone! Many educators heading back to brick and mortar for the 2021-22 academic year will have students with significant gaps in their learning, and as educators we must focus our students back on the path to success. Experienced educators have their own toolbox of strategies from which to draw but many of our younger teachers can feel overwhelmed, especially when they might have large numbers of disengaged students, disengaged because of the gaps in learning.
Planning is the teacher’s best toolkit. Plan for to address those gaps even as you begin to teach the curriculum for the present year. Sometimes it may seem the scheme of work is unending, and to include the previous year can be even more daunting. Planning for instruction is key. Planning comprises several factors and In this article I will unpack the use of ‘guiding questions’ one component of planning to help teachers close those learning gaps.
Guiding questions are used by teachers to present the big idea to students. After the experiences of the past few months, many teachers will agree that we need to prioritize the curriculum and guiding questions can help us do that. This is not meant to be a quick fix, but prioritizing will help us to get back on track. After all, there is a lot of ground to cover for many of our students.
What are guiding questions?
A guiding question is one that is used to encourage students to consider the information they have been taught, but to come up with their own answers. They form the structure for the topic you are about to teach. One student have a guiding question, the teacher can put the responsibility to investigate the content on the students.
Benefits of using guiding questions.
Guiding questions help students to move from recalling information to analyzing and justifying. These questions tend to use words from the higher end of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
There are several reasons why I use guiding questions in my classroom. Firstly, as a teacher, I am forced to think about the content I plan to teach and what it is that I want my students to know. I can recall the first-year teaching. I wanted to be a very good teacher so instead of looking at the content and deciding what it was I wanted students to know, I looked at the topic and googled every possible lesson I could, and I ended up teaching everything each lesson. Each time I found something new about the topic I added it on. I fell behind on the curriculum. Now I formulate guiding questions aligned to the standards. This has really helped to focus my teaching. In deciding the content, I can now determine the learning activities. I slowly moved say from being at the heart of the instruction, determining what I need to do to deliver the lesson, now my thinking is about content my students need to learn, how they will learn it, and what strategies I will use to engage them with the content.
Ever had difficulty writing a lesson objective, especially the kind- Today I will…, So that I can …, I know I have got this when…. Well, I use to. Now I find that with well thought through Guiding questions, I do not spend endless hours writing objectives, my guiding questions make that so much easier.
I find that by using guiding questions, I am better able to create my formative assessment too. I know exactly what I need my students to know so I can create assessments which are aligned to that content. I also know that my students have been thoroughly exposed to the content they need to learn. Now I can easily check to see how well they have learnt it.
How many times have you been told that you need to differentiate your instruction, but is not sure how to do so? Differentiation is all about deciding what it is you want your students to know and be able to do at the end of your lesson. Using guiding questions helps the teacher to differentiate the instruction, the task or even the assessment.
As you examine your content and form your questions, you can decide which students will focus on what quantity. As you formulate your questions, you can determine what it is you need each group of learners to do. You can decide on how best to adjust the content to meet the needs of each student or groups of students.
‘By using guiding questions, we are asking our students to find answers. We ask the questions and front load the material; then the students investigate, analyze, and demonstrate knowledge of the underlying concepts. In this way we create classrooms of inquiry, where real world problems are discussed and contemplated’ (Wilhelm, 2007).
Forming a guiding question from a Standard/Key Objective
In this section I am going to model how to form a guiding question from a standard. When I am forming guiding questions, I first identify the standard or the key objective in the Syllabus. I unpack the standard and by this, I mean that I highlight the key information that the standard covers. I also highlight verbs and any content restrictions. I also have a copy of Bloom’s taxonomy. I am looking to use question starters such as – How, why? etc. Any good google search will help you identify good sentence starters.
Standard
Quiding Question
Differentiation Ideas
Draw and interpret graphs of relations. Understand the notation and concept of a function, find domains and ranges, and link equations to functions (CPALMS, 2016).
How do you represent different transformations on the coordinate plane?
Group 1- Reflections Group2- Translations Group 3- Rotations Group 4- Enlargements (Students are looking at properties, examples, different ways to represent etc.).
Students will appreciate that many mathematical relations may be represented in symbolic, tabular, or symbolic forms (CSEC Mathematics, 2015).
How can you represent mathematical relations?
Group 1- Symbolic Group-Tabular Group 3- Pictorial Whole group- Similarities/differences
Forming guiding questions
Other Examples of GQ
What is the difference between rounding a number and estimating an answer?
In this question, it is evident the content to be covered includes rounding, and estimation. The learner would have to have a clear understanding of both, to be able to answer the question.
How do cell structures relate to their functions?
In this second example, the student would need to know about sell structures and their function.
Would you like to try guiding questions in in your classroom? The reference list below will prove useful.