Lesson Planning as a Matter to Self-Organization at The Beginning of Your Teaching Career
Lesson planning is very important for all teachers but is especially useful for a teacher at the beginning of his/her career. A lesson plan is an aid for teaching, a working document, a record, and a guide for what should be included in the lesson or entire subject during the term.
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This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Costas P.
Understanding the goals
Aid to planning will help the teacher decide what he/she wants the students to achieve by the end of the lesson and how the teacher will make that possible. For example, your objective could be that by the end of the lesson students will make sentences using the affirmative form of the present continuous tense. This can be done by having fun activities such as role-playing games, hangman, and so on for students to participate in and provide feedback. The lesson plan is achieved while encouraging the students to learn more, and helping the students with their language learning. Getting the students more involved will make their learning process more enjoyable.
Also Read: 10 Pieces Of Advice Every New TEFL Teacher Needs To Know
A record of work
A lesson plan is also a working document. It allows the teacher to keep on target and to refer to during the lesson. By having this working document, the lesson is achieved and the activity can be extended longer should students enjoy the activity, and any other activities you've planned for in another lesson.
The teacher can sometimes be flexible with their lesson plan, how much time they want to spend on the engage, study and activate phases. The more the students participate the more they learn; therefore it is beneficial as students will learn while having a fun time.
A teacher can also use a lesson plan as a record of what the class has done. The lesson plan will include what materials are utilized for the lesson. Examples of materials include; pictures, drawing paper, pens, markers, and the board. It benefits the teacher in preparing and evaluating how the students are learning in the class.
The lesson plan also serves a great purpose should a teacher call in sick and a substitute is needed to fill in. Having a lesson plan as a backup to teach the class keeps everyone on track and makes both teaching and learning more effective.
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Structure for the lesson
Finally, the components of what is covered in the actual lesson are important. It is essential at the start of teaching career or the beginning of the school year because it is the plan for what is required to teach and how it will be implemented. Some things you can include in your lesson plan are; your objectives, what you want your students to learn by the end of the lesson, and a personal goal. A personal goal can be something the teacher can improve on such as; getting your students to participate more in the class and using teaching aids such as; magazines, gap-fill exercises, colored markers, or the board. The phases you will use are to engage, study, and activate. It's important to start with the engage phase and end with the activate phase and time how long each activity will take and so on. You can always make adjustments to the timing of your activities, especially if the students enjoy playing a certain game. If the activity helps the student to learn, then you may choose to extend the time of that activity. Having the lesson plan ready for your class will make it easier, more straightforward, and serve as a guide to follow for the teacher.
Also Read: Top 10 Places to Take Your TEFL Course in the Fall
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In conclusion, a completed lesson plan is the main foundation for teaching and is essential for successful learning, and effective engagement of students. Planning the lesson is very important in the achievement and completion of student learning milestones. In addition, the lesson plan aids the teacher in keeping on target, serves as a reference and as a way to help the teacher in planning a subject lessons, activities, and timing.
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