Lesson Planning

Focus for the students learning journey

o Outcomes and Standards requirements
Planning can operate over different time frames
o Yearly, long term planning
o By Semester, medium term/ unit of work planning
o By day
o By class, short term lesson-by-lesson planning (Killen)
Answers the question what am I teaching and why
o Lesson objectives are clear and explicit
o How those objectives are to be measured and evaluated is clear
and explicit
Accountability
o Reference source to prove standards are met
AISTL
ACARA
SCSA
Provides structure for the lesson, how the lesson is being taught
o Not making it up as you go along
o Time is allocated for specific tasks
Provides a necessary guide for the materials need for the lesson
Provides a place to think about student movement
o Is more space needed, does it the furniture to be rearranged?
Can also provide a framework for reflection
o Was time allocated properly?
o Were the learning objectives meet?

Why is it essential to plan your lesson?

From what I have taken from lecture, readings and workshop lesson planning
on its most basic level provides the framework and structure for your lesson. It
is the practical breakdown on a day to day basis of the standards that the
students need to achieve by the end of the teaching year. It also helps to
provide the means of proving that those standards have been met and the way
in which it was assessed, i.e. written report, oral presentation or some other
assessable end product.
As a teacher it is your backup when asked, what have you taught today and
how effective was it? It will a good base for personal reflection on my teaching
practices, for example were the ICT resources used effectively or were they even
necessary for the learning objectives of that particular lesson.
What does Killen consider to be the important elements of planning?
Killen refers to the need for a carefully thought-out plan so the learning
experiences match the desired student outcomes. Lesson plans are the balance
between curriculum and student needs and available time and resources and
teacher knowledge. For lesson planning to be successful he writes that the
purpose of the lesson must be considered along with how it fits within the long
term planning for the year. Lessons should not exist in isolation to the
curriculum outcomes but be a piece of the overall puzzle. Assessment is also a
key element of planning as it forms an integral part of teaching. He introduces
the idea of real constraints, those created by the system and self-created
restraints. These include time, resources, class size and how you report
student achievement. Content selection, personal understanding of the content

and desired outcomes and teaching strategy all of this is based around
appropriate selection for what you want your students to learn.
I can see how the effective use of these elements will make the lessons more
relevant to the students and hopefully allow them to see how the knowledge fits
together to give it deeper meaning and over all value.