Here is a short list of pros and cons of lesson planning. Do you think it is necessary to have a written lesson plan for every single class we teach? Explain your answer.
Some advantages and disadvantages of lesson planning - HIMANSHU MALLICK
Advantages of Lesson Planning
1. It inspires the teacher to improve the further lessons.
2. It helps the teacher in evaluating his teaching.
3. It develops self confidence in the teacher.
4. Proper care is taken on take into consideration, the level and previous knowledge of students.
5. The teaching matter is organized in a time-frame.
6. It inspires the teacher to ask proper and important questions.
7. It provides guidance to the teacher as to what and home he should teach.
8. It helps in creating the interest of students towards the lesson.
9. It stimulates the teacher to think in an organized manner.
10. It helps the teacher to understand to objectives properly.
Limitations of Lesson-Planning
1. In new or odd situations teacher feels himself helpless.
2. Sometimes simple matters become complicated.
3. More time is required to plan a lesson.
4. Teacher cannot work/teach independently.
5. There is lack of flexibility in lesson-planning.
6. The teaching process becomes more difficult.
Lessons plans are, for me, the best thing to do before you go into a classroom. And the fact that I see more pros than cons to consider, confirm my inclination to like them. If you are prepared and have taken the time to make a plan, you are ready to go in there and work your plan, without forgetting that there are two inevitable truths in life, all of us are going to die and no plan is going to be developed exactly the way you planned it. When you are developing your plan something or someone is going to change it, even a little bit, and every time is going to be an opportunity to learn something, including the teacher.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this statement and, in conjunction with it, would like to emphasise the importance of her point about being aware that your plan may have to change. A great deal of importance must be placed in the teachers' attitude toward their lesson plan. It is the teachers' attachment to their plan, holding onto it as though it was their lifeline, that can ultimately cause some of the disadvantages mentioned above to manifest themselves. In other words, being prepared for your lesson and aware of what you plan to cover with your students and the approaches you will take to achieve your goals in the classroom, while also being unrestrained and flexible when new paths present themselves that could ultimately lead to the further development of your students' skills and abilities, is, I feel, when well-balanced, nothing but beneficial in the classroom. It doesn't matter how emotionally invested you are in your plan as a result of the effort and time you put into it or your strong belief in its brilliance; it is clear that reliance on your lesson plan and an unwillingness to deviate from it will more than likely set you up for some lapses in student progress, lost opportunities and all-round negative teaching situations.
DeleteI strongly agree with this part "When you are developing your plan something or someone is going to change it, even a little bit".
DeleteWe can have a plan but it's not like we've got to follow that plan step by step without checking other ways that in fact can be much better than we expected
Hi Yolanda,
DeleteI do agree with your vision of lesson planning. It is better to undergo a project with a plan than just playing by ear. If we are flexible enough to understand we will have to change, to adapt or to get rid of things on the way lesson planning is a way of making our lives and our students' lives easier.
Thanks for sharing
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ReplyDeleteI believe that lesson planning is a key tool for effective teaching, and that it is important that before entering a classroom the teacher has at least some form of plan. In addition to being equipped with a blueprint for the procession of the class, lesson planning in its more advanced form enables the teacher to think through matters of a higher complexity such as the general progression of the class, the obstacles that exist to its progress and short term and long terms goals, and enables the teacher to create strategies and targets for the smooth operation, functioning and progression of the class. On the other end of the spectrum, I believe that in general cases, no matter how confident a teacher is in his or her own abilities, he or she entering a classroom to teach with no fundamental basis to revert to if circumstance necessitates, leaves too much to chance. I would also like to add to the list of advantages above, which resonates with the idea that lesson planning is meritorious for teaching, that when there is evidence to the students that the teacher is prepared and has a plan for their time, it gives them a sense of security and trust in the teacher, which likely contributes positively to their performance and participation in class.
ReplyDeleteHi Omeed,
DeleteI read your comment several times and I totally share your feelings. I guess you can be "professional" at anything you do if you take the time to prepare and give your 100%. Teaching is not exception and even though there are so many things you cannot plan in a class, the ones that you can plan can help you and your students to achieve goals in an easier and painless way.
Great comment.
i agree with you Omeed, and talking a little bit more about short term and long term goals, i think a lesson plan built based on the necessities of our students, is the most appropriate guide or instruction sheet to lead our students to achieve their goals and make them feel prepared for real life situations being able to face them in a second language
Deletei agree with you Omeed, and talking a little bit more about short term and long term goals, i think a lesson plan built based on the necessities of our students, is the most appropriate guide or instruction sheet to lead our students to achieve their goals and make them feel prepared for real life situations being able to face them in a second language
DeleteIf we take a close look at the question we would realize that it’s asking us if we agree or disagree with having a WRITTEN lesson plan for every single class we teach. Because of that I disagree with it, there would be some occasions where you are just not going to have a written lesson plan. For example if you have to be a substitute teacher for one day and you weren't expecting that, then you wouldn't have a written lesson plan. You are going to have a lesson plan in your mind probably, but not physically.
ReplyDeleteTo have a written lesson plan is very useful but you cannot have it for every single class you teach.
Christian :)
Hi Christian. It is true that sometimes we really can´t write our lesson because of unexpected classes, but that´s something we can´t control and we have to use all our creativity, professionalism and instinct to manage those situations. But when it comes to our own classes, yes, for me it is necessary to write all the lessons. Well, I would do it ;)
DeleteKind regards,
Nelmarie Soto
Like Neyla said in her post lesson plans are most for our own benefit than anything else. And in some cases when you have to fill in for someone that is absent and obviously you don't have a plan, you can look at the syllabus (they should have) and figure something out from there to cover in class, after all you are used to make lesson plans.
DeleteHi Christian, yes I totally agree with you that you can not have a written plan for every single class because most certainly there will be ocassions when you are called up at the last minute to stand in for somebody and so you will definately not have one ready but you would improvise and use your skills and knowledge and come up with loads of good ideas to provide a very good lesson and not leave your students high and dry. Personally for our own classes I feel it will be a very good habit to get into, writing up a lesson plan for all our classes and all though we won't be getting paid extra for dedicating our time and effort to produce them, which I feel is unfair :( it will make us more professional.
DeleteRegards,
Elizabeth
hello christian, how are today?
DeleteI agree with what you are saying, that we cannot always have a lesson plan to hand, but as teachers we should be prepared for almost any situation, because that is what we do is teach.
Hi Chris,
DeleteI think you are right to certain degree. From my personal experience I have to say it is quite a challenge to keep up with lesson plans once you have more than two classes a day but I am all for having a lesson plan as often as possible. Even when I am called for a last minute sub, I try to brainstorm on an outline of what that class could be just to make feel more comfortable when hitting the room.
Thanks for bringing this point to the discussion.
I think it is quite necessary to write all your lessons because it shows that as a teacher you are prepared and committed with your students and you´re not just letting your class in the air. When a teacher comes to the classroom with a clear idea of what he/she will be working on, the aims, the activities to achieve the proposed goals and the specific time to each phase of the class is professional, organized and truly cares. I mean, by experience as a student I can tell you that when a teacher is unprepared you can notice and you start thinking "He/she doesn´t care" and your motivation goes down right away. In the other hand, when a teacher is prepared you can also notice and it influences in your attitude towards the lesson. Let´s take something really important into account, and is the fact that when a teacher is making his/her lesson plan spends many hours maybe creating it and putting all the effort and creativity in it outside the classroom, and those hours are not included in the salary. For me it is really valuable and denotes commitment. However, I also consider that we have to leave a space and time on purpose for unexpected moments that can arise and we are not prepared for relying on ourselves and showing our professionalism.
ReplyDeleteSincerely,
Nelmarie Soto
I do agree with Nelmarie regarding to an unprepared teacher is one of the most wrecking points about teaching. Besides it is disrespectful to appear in front of a class without a plan. Unless, obviously for unexpected circumstances.
DeleteThe lack of lesson planning will diminish student self-esteem, allowing thoughts as indifference. This will end up making them to think that you as a teacher don't have a commitment with their learning. Also this situation will discourage them to interact in class lowering their learning progress which negatively affect the students as well as the teacher.
Hi Nelmarie,
DeleteYou mentioned something that is crucial in a teacher-student relationship and it is the aspect of trust and motivation. Being a professional means many things but one of the most important ones is that of providing trust. Lesson plan, without being the only thing,does help a teacher to build confidence and increase motivation to work in class.
Thanks a lot
In my personal opinion lesson planning is necessary in order to have a record of your work. But this record, rather than be use for academic purposes should be use for your own interest as a personal guidance.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with having lesson plan but not to follow it exactly as it was conceived. It must be an open lesson plan. More important than have a plan (what to do) is to recognize the priorities and the interests of the students in the classroom (know how). As teachers we should be good at catching from the atmosphere what our students want. We can not force them to follow our plan just because we did it to assure progress. Nowadays learning is an interchange of interests from both parts. So that, our flexibility to change in pro of the students benefits is so important.
Having a lesson plan (not just a written one) allow us to be prepared for our class, to share our knowledge in a variety of ways that just the context and the moment will show us how it will fit better.
I'll say that embrace a written lesson plan as a main teaching tool could also become against you at tough moments. We can't lose the perspective of the context.
I completely agree with you, Neyla. It's extremely important to remember that the best classes are not teacher centered, and that teaching is an interchange between the teacher and the students. It's fundamental to understand what the students want and need in order to create a proper plan and to develop the ability to modify it according to what is perceived (affective filter is relevant here). It's true we can't force them to do things our way, especially because they are the ones that are learning new material.
DeleteI believe it is necessary to have a written plan for every single lesson much for your own benefit as for the benefit of your students, it will make you more prepared, organized, confident and actually stress free and you will be able to achieve the goals you had set out for that class. Your students will pick up on that you have dedicated time and effort into planning their class and they will feel more secure and be more motivated and enthusiastic as to what they are being taught and actually learn and that to me is job satisfaction.
ReplyDeleteA lesson plan is where you put down your ideas and thoughts and aims for that class, also what you will be teaching, what methods you will use, what activities you will do, what tools or materials you will need, time frames and any back up plans just in case some problem arises or something does not go to plan, you are prepared for it. It has to be open and flexible to any changes at last minute and you do not have to follow it 100 per cent, but use it as a guide and not be one of the teachers that arrives to class with no plans, no ideas in their head (unless you are a very skilled teacher you could get away with it) or one that just follows a syllabus, demonstrating lack of care and thought and unprofessionalism to your students.
Elizabeth B
for me, it is totally necessary to have a lesson plan ready for each class in order to feel safe and comfortable in the moment we teach, specially because most of us had never taught in a formal classroom full of students.
ReplyDeleteand the thing with lesson-planning is pretty much a matter of likes and dislikes of each one as a teacher according to the methodology o the techniques we choose to teach our students a second language.
Yes! It's great when teachers look safe and comfortable when teaching, that really shows that they have prepared for their job and shows some respect for the audience.
Delete- Daniel
This comment has been removed by the author.
Deletetotally agree, because for me it is comforting to see that my teacher knows what he does and not only is there killing time
DeleteMy is belief is that a lesson plan is a necessary component for teaching. It will show that the teacher has taken time, to create and organise a interesting lesson for his students in a given time frame. the students will also benefit effectively from the lesson plan that as been prepare for them.
ReplyDeleteThe lesson plan is a vital tool for evaluating the teacher's performance over a given period of time and thus improving further lessons for the future, also the students will benefit from the lesson plan as it gives the teacher a guide for the students strengths and weaknesses, this will help the teacher pin point what areas he must pay attention to and improve the students understanding.
A lesson plan is the teacher's guide for a particular lesson,that includes a goal (what students are suppose to learn) how the goal will be reached (method procedure) and a way of measuring how the goal was reached (test,worksheet,homework).
I am all for the lesson plan.
I agree with you, Pat, and I think measuring the 'success'/'failure' of a lesson can only be done by reviewing the steps previously taken, and by that I'm suggesting that if you have your lesson plans and goals in a written from, it'll be easier to be self-critic since we can determine which steps are not contributing to the teaching/learning process and which ones are. If we have a written plan, we can come back to it and analyse it, to find out if there's anything we should stop doing or do more often.
Delete- Daniel
Pat, I like that you have thought in not only the students' progress but the teachers' progress too. I think that it is essencial for teachers to adapt, build & progress in order for teaching & learning to progress too.
DeleteI think lesson planning is vital in teaching, since it provides an order easy to follow that allows the teacher to decide with time what methodologies, assignments and excercises are to be used in a specific lesson. This, in turn, results in a clear and successful class that doesn't requiere improvisation and is perceived as organized and relevant by students. However, I don't believe it is strictly necessary to plan every single lesson. It may be useful and sometimes fun to leave room to some unplanned classes on which students decide what they want to do in order to improve and practice their knowledge. Didactic clasess may not need that much planning and students seem to enjoy them, so that is a good example of the possibility of a loose plan. I think each teacher should make a plan according to his/her abilities, preferences and his/her students. Some may prefer a more relaxed plan and other may prefer a meticulous one, which is important at the moment of taking it to practice, since it would be awkward and messy to not consider one's ideas of teaching and learning. Beyond that, I firmly believe every good teacher should have his/her own prospect and schedule of teaching.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe it is really necessary to write a plan for every single class in order to have a successful and interconnected chain of lessons with a real feeling of goal or achievement, but I do think you, as a teacher, need to be clear and very confident about every subject, stage and transition method (between levels) involved in every week instead of every day (read it as a weekly schedule). This in order to provide flexibility and a kind of "surprise element" to the students since I believe in an interactive and student-based methodology which implies specially, but not only, lots of tolerance and constant feedback, wide expansion in topics and anticipated reading exercises for students. Nevertheless, I do not deny the importance of specific daily plan sheets, specially in long term classes (such as semestral ones) that could involve learning subjects different to language lessons.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many things that could potentially go wrong during class, or just during the course of a teacher's day, that to have a written plan for class seems most necessary if they wish to minimize the chances of things getting out of control.
ReplyDeleteThe main reason I believe in the importance of a well-prepared written lesson is that it “stimulates the teacher to think in an organized manner,” and helps them “understand objectives properly.” With a written plan, or at least a very good mental plan, teachers get to make the most with the time they have to convey their message to students and to achieve the goals set for the class. Sometimes time management can be a challenge for teachers, but that should not stop them from achieving the goals they had set for the class. Even if there is not enough time to develop all the activities prepared for class, it is important for students to –at least– grasp the general idea/topic that the teacher’s lesson tried to convey before they leave. Topics might be broad and might take more than just a one-sitting lesson, but each lesson must in itself satisfy a specific goal set by the teacher (if not set by the needs of the student’s learning process)
Also, I agree with stating that written lesson plans “develop self confidence in the teacher," in the sense that I think it is important for teachers to address students confidently, coherently and convincingly, in order for their message to build trust. It is very unsettling when an educator seems unsure and hesitating about the direction they’re heading with their class. Although human after all, an educator is really there to guide an audience through the rivers of his/her own knowledge.
- Daniel
I totally agree when Daniel said : " Has a written lesson plan stimulates the teacher to think in an organized manner" because using this organized way to teach it helps to reduce mistakes to the minimum. helping to develop classes in success way. Anyela.
Deleteit is always important to have a class prepared and organized because for us as teachers it is vital to know what to do in a classroom have a guide ,anticipate,so that students feel confident that their teacher has knowledge of the topic and knows what he does and not only improvising,because improvise sometimes works but sometimes not and can be disastrous.
ReplyDeletebut for many people it is not necessary to have written, but I do, because we know that memory sometimes fails.
Well, it depends on what kind of teacher you want to be, do you want to be a teacher well-prepared that has an easier success or do you want to be a teacher that uses the improvisation and creativity to accomplish the objectives? I think both works, but the first one it shows compromise, interest and respect not just for your students also for your carreer ,too. In the other hand as teacher we have to keep in mind that you have to be able to use creativity and improvisation anytime 'cause not all the time it's going to be possible to use the written lesson plan.
ReplyDeleteSo it would be great if you could be a mix between a well-prepared teacher and the improviser teacher, because we need to have the capacity to be flexible, that if we can not use the written lesson plan at least you can develop an good plan by using the improvisation skills.anyela.
I could not agree more with you, Anyela. Organisation is vital, and as I say in my statement, it is really important to have a clear structure of what you and your students are doing, but also there should always be space for improvisation and free development at the classroom so both students and teacher get to feel comfortable.
DeleteI think that in 95% of the cases it is essential to have a lesson plan, simply because it ensures both students & teachers that a prepared lesson has been devised, It also helps the teacher to keep a structured teaching process and allows the teacher easy manipulation of topics to be used in an order which best suits the learner. However, there are some cases in which a lesson plan may not be needed, such as, evaluations or conversation clubs.
ReplyDeleteLuis Velasquez
A lesson plan is very helpful, but it is also important to prepare for any situation.
ReplyDeletethere are teachers who makes lesson plans but they don't teach them. someone will get inside the classroom just sit down and play the cellphone games knowing that he have the proof to show to his or her supervisor that he or she has taught the students. this type of teachers are promoted every time.
ReplyDeletepotso madiabaso
botswana
It is a needful meaning I agreed this all points for that lesson planning
ReplyDeleteI agree to say that a lesson plan should be in form of written and planned well as a teacher
ReplyDelete