Lesson planning and my experiences with it
As an educator, creating a lesson plan is an integral part towards a successful teaching and learning process. A lesson plan is a guide that a teacher uses every day to establish what students will learn, how the lesson will be taught, and how learning will be assessed. Lesson planning is a great aid towards teachers for them to perform more effectively in the classroom. Thus as an aspiring future educators we are strictly taught on how to make an effective lesson plan. There are various kinds of lesson plan that a teacher uses such as a detailed lesson plan, semi-detailed lesson plan, project-based lesson plan and many more. The lesson plan is divided into several important parts which includes objectives, subject matter and its sources, teaching aids and devices, procedure, assessment method and assignment.
The objectives provides the goal, direction and the expected outcome in the teaching and learning process. Based on what we are taught a good lesson objective must include the three domains of learning, which are the cognitive, affective and psychomotor. The cognitive domain aims to develop the students' cognitive ability and knowledge acquisition. Whereas the affective domain focuses on the emotions, feelings and attitude of students. Then the psychomotor domain on the basic motor and physical skills of the students. The subject matter and its sources involves what is the lesson topic of your lesson plan and it’s cited sources may it be from a textbook, internet and other teaching resources. The teaching aids and devices could be varied or a combination of traditional and modern teaching materials. In my experience before the pandemic happened my teaching aids are often traditional materials such as charts, flash cards, printed comic strips, maps and graphs. But during the pandemic I had switch to using modern teaching materials that are favorable to online learning. Such as PowerPoint and video presentations with the aid of various devices like laptop and smartphone. The procedure may involve practice and drills, questioning, lectures, explanations, demonstrations as well as experiments. For the assessment method, we often use traditional assessment or paper and pencil test. Which includes true or false, matching type, short essays and multiple choices. Aside from the traditional assessment, one could also use authentic assessments such as performance tasks, observations, exhibitions and demonstrations. For the assignment, we often assigned students with follow-up activity in connection with the lesson that was discussed on that day. Such as making a reflection paper, answering a book activity or make an output like a collage or drawing.
I can still vividly remember the first time I made a lesson plan as a pre-requirement before we can proceed to our first teaching demonstration. Even though our professor had given us an outline and a thorough discussion of each part of a lesson plan, but still I struggled in the process especially that I would be the one making my own semi-detailed lesson plan. The first thing that I did was chose a lesson, I considered many things in choosing a lesson. First how knowledgeable/familiar I am with the lesson I will be choosing, second are there any available resources that would help me study the lesson well? And lastly how can I effectively teach it to my class. I considered many lesson topic ranging from world history, geography, economics and Philippine history. But at the end, after a thorough contemplation and consideration I decided to go with a topic which is within the scope of economics, it is entitled “Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”.
The making process was full of frustrations and doubts. Not only because I would be writing it in cursive (yes, my cursive handwriting looks bad and almost unreadable lol), but because this is my first time and the professor expects an excellent outcome from us. Aside from studying my notes about lesson planning, I also searched online for samples as guide. At first the one I made was a so-so, the professor gave me constructive criticism and tips on how I can improve it. Which I took and followed wholeheartedly, thankfully the revised one was a big thumbs up which served as my ticket pass to proceed towards my teaching demonstration. The second one that I made was a detailed lesson plan. In contrast to a semi-detailed lesson plan, which is less extensive than detailed plans, they nevertheless focus on what you want to cover for that day's topic. Whereas a detailed plans focus on student-teacher exchanges, questions and replies. In my detailed lesson plan I still chose a topic which in the scope of economics, and it is entitled “types of consumption”. In the lesson plan I wrote down a detailed content such as the non-verbatim conversation that I and my students would be having, as well as the questions, lesson proper and many more.
After my first and second nerve-wracking lesson plan the following ones gradually became easier. Though there are time I get confuse and somewhat lost in the process, but nonetheless through sheer effort, dedication and studying I am able to get back in track. Lesson planning may seem to be hard, but if one dedicates his/her whole heart, mind and studies his/her notes and sample guides about lesson planning very well surely one would be able to make one. That would be all for today, bye.
✒️ thegirlwholeaptthroughtime || 02142022
