Lesson Planning for Successful Learning

Benjamin Franklin said, “If You Fail to Plan, You Are Planning to Fail.” Therefore, it’s crucial
for teachers to plan ahead of time to ensure the successful delivery of the lesson. Lesson
planning is vital since it guides teachers to maximize the teaching-learning process in the
classroom.
This includes choosing a course of action that will enable students to successfully complete
the set learning objectives. Additionally, lesson planning informs students about what they
will study and how they will be evaluated. It allows teachers to organize the content,
materials, time, teaching strategies, and learning environment of the classroom.

But what makes an efficient and effective lesson plan?

Must-Haves for an Efficient and Effective Lesson Plan

1. Determined and Well-Crafted Lesson Objectives

a. Always remember to write a SMART objective.

Lesson plans should always be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Start with identifying what you want your students to learn and identify different ways to
achieve that at the end of class. The lesson objectives will guide the teaching method,
learning activities, and assessment. So, having S.M.A.R.T. Goals will help teachers evaluate
learners’ progress efficiently.

b. Teachers should integrate objectives for two to three domains of learning.

Cognitive, Psychomotor, and Affective are the three domains of learning. The learners’
holistic development is facilitated by ensuring that two or, at best, three domains are
included or integrated into the learning objectives.

c. Try including your school’s values or core values in your objectives.

You can influence your students’ affective domain by including values they can identify with.
Teachers should also ensure that what is learned in one area may be applied to another.
Students must now recognize how their studies connect to their overall learning experience.
It is also a smart option to incorporate lesson objectives that demonstrate how the lesson
relates to other topics, such as how science relates to Araling Panlipunan (social studies) or
how mathematics relates to TLE (use of mathematics in business).
2. Apply the Principle of Constructive Alignment.

An effective and efficient lesson plan strictly follows the Principle of Constructive Alignment.
The principle of constructive alignment simply means that the teaching-learning activities
and assessment tasks, like the tests, are aligned with the learning outcomes or objectives.

If the objectives are well-constructed, most likely, the whole teaching-learning process will
be successful because of the congruence between the subject, activities, assessment, and
assignment. When possible, make sure to stay on track with your objectives.
For example, if the objectives include ‘creating a model for an animal cell.’, this means it’s
expected that the teacher would write an activity or project for the students to create a
model of an animal cell in his lesson plan. Having a quiz about the history of the discovery of
the animal cell could be an off-tangent assessment since it does not reinforce the attainment
of the learning objectives.

3. Set Realistic Timelines

A realistic timeline will reflect your flexibility and readiness to adapt to the specific
classroom environment. Here are some strategies for setting realistic timelines for your plan:

a. Provide an estimate of the amount of time needed for each activity next to it.

Determine how long you think each activity will take, and then allow extra time if the activity
extends.

b. Set aside time to address any last-minute queries and summarize the essential ideas.

If you have spare time, prepare a second activity or additional topics to discuss. Always be
prepared to change your lesson plan to suit the needs of your pupils, and concentrate on
what seems to be working better than what was originally planned.

Quipper provides a Teacher’s content package that consists of a ready-made form of lesson
plan called a teaching guide. These teaching guides greatly help teachers create an efficient
and effective lesson plan. Already using Quipper? Check out the Lesson 2 of this guide to find
out how you can maximize the use of Quipper in lesson planning.

Lesson Planning 101: 6 Easy Steps for Effective Lesson Planning

Planning lessons for my ESL class has not always been an easy one.

Although formal training provided me with the basic tools of teaching, I have found that
understanding the needs of my students ahead of mine is the most important aspect to take
into consideration when planning any lesson. Every class is different! As teachers it is vital
for us to identify the type of learners we have (i.e. visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) before
planning a lesson as it makes work a little easier. Visual learners prefer using images,
pictures, colours, and maps to organize information and communicate with others, while
auditory learners are able to learn better by hearing information and kinesthetic
learners study best when they are moving, or doing physical activities or working with their
hands. Try to pick a topic that will appeal to everyone in class (teacher included) and one
with which you are able to be flexible. Even if your lesson topics come a textbook and the
text dictates a certain theme try to personalize the lesson as much as possible so that you
hold the students attention for the entire lesson. Assuming your class is 45 minutes long, you
will need to have enough prepared to fill that time without becoming repetitive or
redundant. You will also want to make sure that your lesson covers the four basic learning
skills, i.e. reading, writing, listening and speaking as these are important when teaching a
second language. The following six steps have been a real treasure in my box of teaching
tools. You may encounter a few problems during your execution; however, proper classroom
management should iron out those issues. Executing this lesson planning strategy in my
classroom as brought amazing results. I hope that you and your students will have the same
level of success and mine.

Apply These 6 Stages in Your Successful Lesson Planning

 1. 1

Lead-in (3 minutes)

This is where you will introduce your topic to the class. Audio-visual aids such as a music
video are an excellent lead-in tool. The lead-in should be 5 minutes or less as it is just a
warm-up. For example: the famous nursery rhyme “Old McDonald had a farm”, could be a
fun lead-in for a lesson on animals. Your objective here is to lay the foundation for your
lesson. You don’t want it to be too long as it should not overshadow your lesson.

After listening to the song/watching the video you can ask the students to make a prediction
on what topic the lesson would be based on for the day, it gives them a little thrill when they
make the correct predication.

2. 2

Elicitation (5 minutes)

Elicitation is basically ‘extracting’ information. At this step, you want to test the students’
current knowledge on the topic. A good way to elicit information from the students is to
show them a prop, flashcards or a PowerPoint presentation. Each image or prop will get the
students talking and more engaged in your lesson. For example, in a lesson on animals you
will show the class images of different animals and get the students to identify the animals.
You can take it a step further with higher level students and try to get them to name the
offspring. Another fun idea is to play sounds of different animals and have the class identify
the creature from just the sound; this would be an excellent way to practicing listening. Your
aim here is just to test the students’ knowledge on the topic.

NB: Using funny looking images creates a lighter atmosphere in the classroom as it draws
the student in and builds greater engagement.

3. 3

Presentation (7 minutes)

In this step you will be presenting the main topic. So, if you chose the theme of animals you
should have a ‘focus area’ such as animal homes. During your presentation you will talk
about this topic. PowerPoint presentations; Flashcards or Charts are great for this stage of
your lesson. Using your students’ current knowledge on the theme will be useful at this
stage of the lesson. At this point of the lesson it would be appropriate to introduce the class
to new vocabulary and key phrases. The objective of this step should be for the students to
learn the appropriate use of key terms and phrases and how to use them in the proper
context. It will also broaden their current knowledge on the topic.

4. 4

Controlled Practice (10 minutes)

After presenting your lesson and teaching new vocabulary, you would want the students
to put into practice everything they have studied. The best way to test their knowledge on
the day's lesson is through a worksheet. Another great tool is doing a role-play in which the
students can act out different social situations while using the key phrases and vocabulary
taught for the day. Most often your topic will dictate the type of activity most suited for the
lesson. The activities done at this stage should be able to help sharpen the four basic
language learning skills. Try to get all the students involved and assist them where
necessary.

5. 5

Freer Practice (15 minutes)

Once again you will be testing the students’ knowledge on the lesson just taught;
however, with this step you can be more flexible. Games are great for this as it creates a
"freer" learning environment. It's both entertaining and educational. With this step you can
do more than one activity depending on your time. Encourage peer teaching, that is, get the
students to help each other.

6. 6

Review and Follow up (5 minutes)

Towards the end of the lesson it's good to do a quick review to tie up the lesson and at the
same time check of the students’ was able to grasp all the concepts taught. It’s a good idea
to go over the new vocabulary and key phrases taught. Review could also be done in the
form of a short worksheet like a word-search which they can complete in class or something
longer if you wish to give the students homework for the day.

Note: The times indicated here are just for reference purposes.