Analyses, Planning and Execution of Lessons

Report’s plan

1. Lesson goals
2. Lesson parts
3. Students most common mistakes
4. Analyses of lesson

   

 

Analyses, Planning and Execution of Lessons.

Entry

 

In the instructional process the lesson is the primary organizing structure. While developing and presenting a lesson, a classroom teacher confronts many pedagogical issues and makes choices directed toward assisting students to acquire knowledge, apply new information to practical activities, and construct beliefs. We view a contemporary lesson as a complex, dynamic system, and its analysis regulates and correlates interconnections and continuously improves the entire educational process. The use of the descriptor "dynamic" indicates our intent that analyses of lessons produce continuous change in the practice of teaching by an individual. By "complex" we intend to convey the idea that the totality of the lesson is greater than the sum of its parts. Achieving quality in lessons depends not only upon the teacher's ability to present material but also to analyze learning outcomes and assess the pedagogical communication.

Since the nature of the lesson is complex, it can be analyzed from different positions. The methodological perspective includes an analysis of approaches, teaching techniques, and methods. The psychological analysis considers the development of the student's cognitive structure and personality. In order to achieve a high degree of professionalism, a teacher must know how to observe lessons and be able to analyze the methodology in light of the developmental level and academic potential of the students. The teacher must be able to identify the factors that determine the success of the pedagogical activity.

The development of preservice teachers' ability to construct, conduct and analyze a lesson is an essential component in their professional training. In order for aspiring teachers to be able to critically evaluate the pedagogical work of others and themselves, they must study lesson observation and analysis and acquire a knowledge base that is systematic and clearly differentiated. To become flexible, dynamic teachers, they must think independently and develop abilities of reflection in order to make decisions about pedagogical situations in future lessons. In this paper, we consider the psychological and methodological aspects of lesson observation and analysis.

 

A key aspect of effective teaching is having a plan for what will happen in the classroom each day. Creating such a plan involves setting realistic goals, deciding how to incorporate course textbooks and other required materials, and developing activities that will promote learning. This section shows instructors how to carry out each of these steps.

An example lesson plan and lesson planning worksheet, available as pdf files, provide step-by-step guidance for lesson development. A supervisor observation worksheet allows supervisors to give specific feedback on a written lesson plan or an observed lesson.

Before working through this section, beginning instructors may want to check Be Prepared: Survival Tips for New Teachers in the What Language Teaching Is section.

 

1. Lesson goals

 

To set lesson goals:

1. Identify a topic for the lesson. The topic is not a goal, but it will help you develop your goals. The topic may be determined largely by your curriculum and textbook, and may be part of a larger thematic unit such as Travel or Leisure Activities. If you have some flexibility in choice of topic, consider your students’ interests and the availability of authentic materials at the appropriate level.

2. Identify specific linguistic content, such as vocabulary and points of grammar or language use, to be introduced or reviewed. These are usually prescribed by the course textbook or course curriculum. If they are not, select points that are connected in some significant way with the topic of the lesson.

3. Identify specific communication tasks to be completed by students. To be authentic, the tasks should allow, but not require, students to use the vocabulary, grammar, and strategies presented in the lesson. The focus of the tasks should be topical, not grammatical. This means that it may be possible for some students to complete the task without using either the grammar point or the strategy presented in the first part of the lesson.

4. Identify specific learning strategies to be introduced or reviewed in connection with the lesson. See Motivating Learners for more on learning strategies.

5. Create goal statements for the linguistic content, communication tasks, and learning strategies that state what you will do and what students will do during the lesson.

A language lesson should include a variety of activities that combine different types of language input and output. Learners at all proficiency levels benefit from such variety; research has shown that it is more motivating and is more likely to result in effective language learning.

2. Lesson parts

 

An effective lesson has five parts:

• Preparation
• Presentation
• Practice
• Evaluation
• Expansion

The five parts of a lesson may all take place in one class session or may extend over multiple sessions, depending on the nature of the topic and the activities.

The lesson plan should outline who will do what in each part of the lesson. The time allotted for preparation, presentation, and evaluation activities should be no more than 8-10 minutes each. Communication practice activities may run a little longer.

1. Preparation

As the class begins, give students a broad outline of the day’s goals and activities so they know what to expect. Help them focus by eliciting their existing knowledge of the day’s topics.

• Use discussion or homework review to elicit knowledge related to the grammar and language use points to be covered
• Use comparison with the native language to elicit strategies that students may already be using
• Use discussion of what students do and/or like to do to elicit their knowledge of the topic they will address in communication activities

2. Presentation/Modeling

Move from preparation into presentation of the linguistic and topical content of the lesson and relevant learning strategies. Present the strategy first if it will help students absorb the lesson content.

Presentation provides the language input that gives students the foundation for their knowledge of the language. Input comes from the instructor and from course textbooks. Language textbooks designed for students in U.S. universities usually provide input only in the form of examples; explanations and instructions are written in English. To increase the amount of input that students receive in the target language, instructors should use it as much as possible for all classroom communication purposes. (See Teaching Goals and Methods for more on input.)

An important part of the presentation is structured output, in which students practice the form that the instructor has presented. In structured output, accuracy of performance is important. Structured output is designed to make learners comfortable producing specific language items recently introduced.

Structured output is a type of communication that is found only in language classrooms. Because production is limited to preselected items, structured output is not truly communicative.

3. Practice

In this part of the lesson, the focus shifts from the instructor as presenter to the students as completers of a designated task. Students work in pairs or small groups on a topic-based task with a specific outcome. Completion of the task may require the bridging of an information gap (see Teaching Goals & Methods for more on information gap). The instructor observes the groups an acts as a resource when students have questions that they cannot resolve themselves.

In their work together, students move from structured output to communicative output, in which the main purpose is to complete the communication task. Language becomes a tool, rather than an end in itself. Learners have to use any or all of the language that they know along with varied communication strategies. The criterion of success is whether the learner gets the message across. Accuracy is not a consideration unless the lack of it interferes with the message.

Activities for the practice segment of the lesson may come from a textbook or be designed by the instructor. See Identify Materials and Activities for guidelines on developing tasks that use authentic materials and activities.

4. Evaluation

When all students have completed the communication practice task, reconvene the class as a group to recap the lesson. Ask students to give examples of how they used the linguistic content and learning or communication strategies to carry out the communication task.

Evaluation is useful for four reasons:

• It reinforces the material that was presented earlier in the lesson
• It provides an opportunity for students to raise questions of usage and style
• It enables the instructor to monitor individual student comprehension and learning
• It provides closure to the lesson

See Assessing Learning for more information on evaluation and assessment.

 

 

5. Expansion

Expansion activities allow students to apply the knowledge they have gained in the classroom to situations outside it. Expansion activities include out-of-class observation assignments, in which the instructor asks students to find examples of something or to use a strategy and then report back.

 

The materials for a specific lesson will fall into two categories: those that are required, such as course textbooks and lab materials, and authentic materials that the teacher incorporates into classroom activities.

For required materials, determine what information must be presented in class and decide which exercise(s) to use in class and which for out-of-class work. For teacher-provided materials, use materials that are genuinely related to realistic communication activities. Don’t be tempted to try to create a communication task around something just because it’s a really cool video or a beautiful brochure.

Truly authentic communication tasks have several features:

• They involve solving a true problem or discussing a topic of interest
• They require using language to accomplish a goal, not using language merely to use language
• They allow students to use all of the language skills they have, rather than specific forms or vocabulary, and to self-correct when they realize they need to
• The criterion of success is clear: completion of a defined task

There are many maxims in education, great words of wisdom, and sincere advice from countless sources. But, without question, it is true that the very best teachers, the most effective teachers, are good planners and thinkers. The success of professional teachers doesn't "just happen." The road to success for teachers requires commitment and practice, especially of those skills involved in planning lessons and learning activities, and in managing classroom behavior. Planning lessons is a fundamental skill all teachers must develop and hone, although implementation of this skill in actual teaching can, and usually does, take some time. Being able to develop an effective lesson plan format is a core skill for all who teach. So let's begin at the beginning.

3. Students most common mistakes

• In my career as a teacher and teacher educator, I have read and evaluated thousands of lesson plans written by education students at all levels. On a consistent basis, I see mistakes that distort or weaken what the plans are supposed to communicate. If you are serious about improving your skill in planning lessons, you should begin by first thinking carefully about what the lesson is supposed to accomplish. There is no substitute for this. In teaching students how to develop lesson plans, the following are mistakes I have observed that students make most often:
• 1. The objective of the lesson does not specify what the student will actually do that can be observed. Remember, an objective is a description of what a student does that forms the basis for making an inference about learning. Poorly written objectives lead to faulty inferences.
• 2. The lesson assessment is disconnected from the behavior indicated in the objective. An assessment in a lesson plan is simply a description of how the teacher will determine whether the objective has been accomplished. It must be based on the same behavior that is incorporated in the objective. Anything else is flawed.
• 3. The prerequisites are not specified or are inconsistent with what is actually required to succeed with the lesson. Prerequisites mean just that -- a statement of what a student needs to know or be able to do to succeed and accomplish the lesson objective. It is not easy to determine what is required, but it is necessary. Some research indicates that as much as 70% of learning is dependent on students having the appropriate prerequisites.
• 4. The materials specified in the lesson are extraneous to the actual described learning activities. This means keep the list of materials in line with what you actually plan to do. Overkilling with materials is not a virtue!
• 5. The instruction in which the teacher will engage is not efficient for the level of intended student learning. Efficiency is a measure that means getting more done with the same amount of effort, or the same amount with less effort. With so much to be learned, it should be obvious that instructional efficiency is paramount.
• 6. The student activities described in the lesson plan do not contribute in a direct and effective way to the lesson objective. Don't have your students engaged in activities just to keep them busy. Whatever you have your students do should contribute in a direct way to their accomplishing the lesson objective.
• A lesson plan that contains one or more of these mistakes needs rethinking and revision. Below is a rationale and guide to help you develop effective lesson plans and avoid the six common mistakes.
• FIRST, YOU MUST KNOW HOW TO PLAN
• The purpose of a lesson plan is really quite simple; it is to communicate. But, you might ask, communicate to whom? The answer to this question, on a practical basis, is YOU! The lesson plans you develop are to guide you in organizing your material and yourself for the purpose of helping your students achieve intended learning outcomes. Whether a lesson plan fits a particular format is not as relevant as whether or not it actually describes what you want, and what you have determined is the best means to an end. If you write a lesson plan that can be interpreted or implemented in many different ways, it is probably not a very good plan. This leads one to conclude that a key principle in creating a lesson plan is specificity. It is sort of like saying, "almost any series of connecting roads will take you from Key West Florida to Anchorage Alaska, eventually." There is however, one and only one set of connecting roads that represents the shortest and best route. Best means that, for example, getting to Anchorage by using an unreliable car is a different problem than getting there using a brand new car. What process one uses to get to a destination depends on available resources and time.