We have received several questions regarding how to write a good lesson plan. We went ahead and asked our experts, did some research, and have included some tips and guidelines below.

To begin, ask yourself three basic questions:

Where are your students going?How are they going to get there?How will you know when they've arrived?

Then begin to think about each of the following categories which form the organization of the plan. While planning, use the questions below to guide you during each stage.

Goals

Goals determine purpose, aim, and rationale for what you and your students will engage in during class time.  Use this section to express the intermediate lesson goals that draw upon previous plans and activities and set the stage by preparing students for future activities and further knowledge acquisition.  The goals are typically written as broad educational or unit goals adhering to State or National curriculum standards.

What are the broader objectives, aims, or goals of the unit plan/curriculum? What are your goals for this unit? What do you expect students to be able to do by the end of this unit?

Objectives

This section focuses on what your students will do to acquire further knowledge and skills. The objectives for the daily lesson plan are drawn from the broader aims of the unit plan but are achieved over a well defined time period.

What will students be able to do during this lesson? Under what conditions will students' performance be accomplished? What is the degree or criterion on the basis of which satisfactory attainment of the objectives will be judged? How will students demonstrate that they have learned and understood the objectives of the lesson?

Prerequisites

Prerequisites can be useful when considering the readiness state of your students.  Prerequisites allow you, and other teachers replicating your lesson plan, to factor in necessary prep activities to make sure that students can meet the lesson objectives.

What must students already be able to do before this lesson? What concepts have to be mastered in advance to accomplish the lesson objectives?

Materials

This section has two functions: it helps other teachers quickly determine a) how much preparation time, resources, and management will be involved in carrying out this plan and b) what materials, books, equipment, and resources they will need to have ready.  A complete list of materials, including full citations of textbooks or story books used, worksheets, and any other special considerations are most useful.

What materials will be needed? What textbooks or story books are needed? (please include full bibliographic citations) What needs to be prepared in advance? (typical for science classes and cooking or baking activities)

Lesson Description

This section provides an opportunity for the author of the lesson to share some thoughts, experience, and advice with other teachers. It also provides a general overview of the lesson in terms of topic focus, activities, and purpose.

What is unique about this lesson? How did your students like it? What level of learning is covered by this lesson plan? (Think of Bloom's Taxonomy: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation.)

Lesson Procedure

This section provides a detailed, step-by-step description of how to replicate the lesson and achieve lesson plan objectives.  This is usually intended for the teacher and provides suggestions on how to proceed with implementation of the lesson plan.  It also focuses on what the teacher should have students do during the lesson.  This section is basically divided into several components: an introduction, a main activity, and closure.  There are several elaborations on this. We have linked to some sample lesson plans to guide you through this stage of planning.

         Introduction

How will you introduce the ideas and objectives of this lesson? How will you get students' attention and motivate them in order to hold their attention? How can you tie lesson objectives with student interests and past classroom activities? What will be expected of students?

         Main Activity

What is the focus of the lesson? How would you describe the flow of the lesson to another teacher who will replicate it? What does the teacher do to facilitate learning and manage the various activities? What are some good and bad examples to illustrate what you are presenting to students? How can this material be presented to ensure each student will benefit from the learning experience?

Rule of Thumb # 1:

Take into consideration what students are learning (a new skill, a rule or formula, a concept/fact/idea, an attitude, or a value).

Choose one of the following techniques to plan the lesson content based on what your objectives are:

Demonstration ==> list in detail and sequence of the steps to be performed Explanation      ==> outline the information to be explained Discussion       ==> list of key questions to guide the discussion

         Closure/Conclusion

What will you use to draw the ideas together for students at the end? How will you provide feedback to students to correct their misunderstandings and reinforce their learning?

         Follow up Lessons/Activities

What activities might you suggest for enrichment and remediation? What lessons might follow as a result of this lesson?

Assessment/Evaluation

This section focuses on ensuring that your students have arrived at their intended destination.  You will need to gather some evidence that they did.  This usually is done by gathering students' work and assessing this work using some kind of grading rubric that is based on lesson objectives. You could also replicate some of the activities practiced as part of the lesson, without providing the same level of guidance as during the lesson.  You could always quiz students on various concepts and problems as well.

How will you evaluate the objectives that were identified? Have students practiced what you are asking them to do for evaluation?

Rule of Thumb # 2:

Be sure to provide students with the opportunity to practice what you will be assessing them on.  You should never introduce new material during this activity.  Also, avoid asking higher level thinking questions if students have not yet engaged in such practice during the lesson.  For example,  if you expect students to apply knowledge and skills, they should first be provided with the opportunity to practice application. 

General Rule of Thumb:

Your plan should be detailed and complete enough so that another teacher knowledgeable in your subject matter could deliver the lesson without needing to contact you for further clarifications.  Please do not forget to edit and spell check your work before submission to the Educator's Reference Desk Collection.

 

Time -- we only have so much of it. The effective teacher cannot create a single extra second of the day -- any more than anyone can. But the effective teacher certainly controls the way time is used. Effective teachers systematically and carefully plan for productive use of instructional time.

One of the primary roles that you will perform as a teacher is that of designer and implementor of instruction. Teachers at every level prepare plans that aid in the organization and delivery of their daily lessons. These plans vary widely in the style and degree of specificity. Some instructors prefer to construct elaborate detailed and impeccably typed outlines; others rely on the briefest of notes handwritten on scratch pads or on the backs of discarded envelopes. Regardless of the format, all teachers need to make wise decisions about the strategies and methods they will employ to help students move systematically toward learner goals.

Teachers need more that a vague, or even a precise, notion of educational goals and objectives to be able to sequence these objectives or to be proficient in the skills and knowledge of a particular discipline. The effective teacher also needs to develop a plan to provide direction toward the attainment of the selected objectives. The more organized a teacher is, the more effective the teaching, and thus the learning, is. Writing daily lesson plans is a large part of being organized.

Several lesson plan outlines will be presented. You as a teacher will probably begin by choosing a desirable outline and sticking fairly close to it. Planning and classroom delivery innovations usually come once you are in the classroom with your own set of learners, have developed your own instructional resources, and have experimented with various strategies. Although fundamental lesson planning elements tend to remain unchanged, their basic formula is always modified to suit the individual teacher's lesson preparation or style of presentation.

The lesson plan is a dreaded part of instruction that most teachers detest. It nevertheless provides a guide for managing the learning environment and is essential if a substitute teacher is to be effective and efficient. Three stages of lesson planning follow:

Stage 1: Pre-Lesson Preparation

1. Goals 2. Content 3. Student entry level

Stage 2: Lesson Planning and Implementation

1. Unit title 2. Instructional goals 3. Objectives 4. Rationale 5. Content 6. Instructional procedures 7. Evaluation procedures 8. Materials

Stage 3: Post-Lesson Activities

1. Lesson evaluation and revision Lesson planning involves much more than making arbitrary decisions about "what I'm going to teach today." Many activities precede the process of designing and implementing a lesson plan. Similarly, the job of systematic lesson planning is not complete until after the instructor has assessed both the learner's attainment of the anticipated outcomes and effectiveness of the lesson in leading learners to these outcomes.

One final word. Even teachers who develop highly structured and detailed plans rarely adhere to them in lock-step fashion. Such rigidity would probable hinder, rather than help, the teaching-learning process. The elements of your lesson plan should be thought of as guiding principles to be applied as aids, but not blueprints, to systematic instruction. Precise preparation must allow for flexible delivery. During actual classroom interaction, the instructor needs to make adaptations and to add artistry to each lesson plan and classroom delivery.

Planning a Lesson Set Lesson Goals

Lesson goals are most usefully stated in terms of what students will have done or accomplished at the end of the lesson. Stating goals in this way allows both teacher and learners to know when the goals have been reached.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.

Planning a Lesson Structure 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.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. PreparationAs 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/ModelingMove 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. PracticeIn 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. EvaluationWhen 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. ExpansionExpansion 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.

COMPETENCE-BASED APPROACH

(CBA)

Abdul Kadir Mubarak 

INTRODUCTION 

Today’s current issue on curriculum development is competence-based curriculum. Many teachers of secondary

schools were sent to attend in-service training on this new approach. Manuals were published to guide teachers

on how to implement this approach. At tertiary level, CBA should also be adopted as university graduates are

expected to be competent to do their real-life tasks or to pursue their studies.

 

            The key elements in the curriculum as generally proposed by the curriculum designers are objectives, contents, organization of contents, and evaluation. The latest curriculum model introduced by Stenhouse (1975) is process curriculum. In other words, the approach used in the curriculum design is a process approach, which basically considers the social, political, and educational context. The shift from product approach to process approach has made significant changes in language teaching program and in English language teaching in Indonesian universities in particular due to the changes in the social, political, and educational context. No curriculum is fixed. Any curriculum should be flexible to any change if the weaknesses are found after having been evaluated. The need in changing the objectives with competence-based ones is a proof that there are some weaknesses in the curriculum of ELTS providers throughout Indonesian universities.

 

            CBA is taken into consideration to be an appropriate approach to specifying the objectives of syllabus or curriculum of English language teaching (ELT) in Indonesian universities although it is quite late as this approach has been used long time a go in other countries such as the United States and Australia. Since the emergence of this approach (1970) in the United States and the world wide implementation (1980), the language programs in those countries have still been using this approach now. The question is why do we not use this approach?

 

            Designing the curriculum with competence-based objectives is not the end. The step we are going through is still just a planning. The next step is implementing. While we are implementing the competence-based curriculum, we are observing the implementation. The purpose of this observation is to find out if any problems leading to the weaknesses the teachers encounter in the learning and teaching situation. To gather information about this, direct observation and in-dept interview can be done. The information about the weaknesses obtained will be the valuable input for the future improvement and will be reflected in the new planning. In short, a process curriculum model goes through four major steps: planning, implementing, observing, and reflecting.

 

IMPLEMENTING CBA      

 

Prior to implementing competency-based objectives, a particular procedure should be followed. First of all, the term competence should be clearly defined according to the related literature (Nunan 1990; Richards 2001). Next, competencies should be identified form the real-world tasks the students will do beyond the classroom. In other words, the real-world tasks should be analyzed into components or units of functional competencies. Then as competencies are unobservable, competencies should be specified in terms of performance or behavior. Once observable performance or behavior is identified, assessment is easily done. In other words, it is measurable.

            Competence actually resembles performance in a way of specifying objectives. However, competence is

higher in terms of generality (Nunan, 1990). Both competence and performance-based objectives should consist

of three elements, performance or task, condition, and criterion. The following are examples of a three-element

objective.

        Given an oral request [condition] the learner will say [performance] his/her name, his/her name, address and

telephone number to a native speaker of English as spell his/her name, street and city so that an interviewer may

write down the data with 100 % accuracy [criterion].

        Given oral directions for a 4-step physical action, the learner will follow the directions with 100% accuracy.

The next step is to select contents, which are relevant to the objectives specified. Then the contents are

organized for classroom activities. The last step is evaluation to find out how well the competence-based

objectives have been achieved by the students. In brief, having followed these steps, the implementation of CBA

has been done.

 

METHODOLOGYCompetence-based objectives specify what the learners will be able to do with the English language they have learnt. In order to achieve the objectives specified, there must be a need for a methodology, which specifies how to teach the competence-based materials in the syllabus. In brief, there are at least two things for teachers of English to consider-what to teach (syllabus) and how to teach (methodology).

            Methodology is formulated as that which links theory and practice. Theory statements include theories of

language and theories of language learning (approach). Such theories are linked to various design features of 

language instruction, which might include stated objectives, syllabus specifications, types of activities, roles of

learners, teachers materials and so forth Design features then are linked to actual teaching and learning practice

(Rogers, 2001). The following diagram are the components of language teaching methodology.

Observed

Teaching

Practices

 

 

Instructional Design

Features

 

 

Theories of Language and Learning

 

                                           

 The components as shown in the diagram are the approach that describes theories of language and theories of

language learning, design or syllabus design, content, the role of materials, teachers, and learners, and procedure

or activities used in the classroom. So, the method has three levels: approach, design, and procedure.

            The suggested idea underpinning ELT in Indonesia Universities to foster professionalism is competence-

based approach, to get things done by using the language. In order to get things done, our students are expected

to communicate. In other words, the instructional focus here is on functional competencies and life-coping skills.

It is not what they know about language but what they do with language (Nunan, 1990).

            In addition to competence-based approach to ELT, the principles underlying Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) are relevant  to CBA. They are:

    Learners learn a language through using it to communicate;

    Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities;

    Fluency is an important dimension of communication;

    Communication involves the integration of different language skills.

    Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error.

 

Based on the principles above, competence-based syllabus can be designed by referring to any syllabus,

which has similar approaches. For example, a skill-based syllabus, a task-based syllabus, and a

national/functional syllabus are syllabuses, which are partly used to support competence-based syllabus. In other

words, competence-based ELT should not stick to a certain syllabus. The convenient term for this is eclecticism.

            Classroom activities for CBA should reflect competencies the students will have at the end of the

program. The emphasis here is on the real-world activities relating to the any domain of life or according to the

typical field of work the students will do. Some might argue that classroom activities are artificial. However, we

still believe that the theory of transfer still works in a sense that what the students learn in the classroom can be

transferred to the real world beyond the classroom.

            Assessment of CBA is built in. Once the students are doing the classroom activities, we can assess the

students’ performance. This is due to the nature of competencies, which refer to observable behaviors. How well

the performance is depends on the standard or criteria specified.

 

STANDARDIZING CBA.

            Standard of competence-based ELT in Indonesia universities may cover a wide range of areas. There are

at least two areas that should be standardized. First of all, the existing curriculum should be revised or shifted to

competence-based curriculum-competence-based syllabus. The competence-based objectives for various study

programs should be identified. Each study program should have a competence-based syllabus. The other one is

teacher professionalism. Teacher standards describe the skills that teachers should be able to demonstrate within

certain define study programs.

            On the part of the students, before they learn competence-based syllabus, they should be taught General

English. Their proficiency on General English will definitely facilitate competence-based syllabus.

            Most teachers of English in our universities are the teachers who are not specialized with competence-

based syllabus. Most of the time, they teach general English. The problem may arise when they teach English

related to a specific field of work. Take for example, the specified objective, ‘a students should be able to

explain the process of growing a certain plant correctly, ’Indeed, the teacher does not teach the content, but the

language. The Conference on Competence-Based ELT to Foster Professionalism will answer this.

 

CONCLUSIONCompetence-based approach on ELT to foster professionalism to very urgent in this globalization era. The fact

shows that many of our graduates fail to competence in the job market because of their insufficient proficiency

of English. In order to foster professionalism, two things should be developed. First, the curriculum or syllabus

with competence-based approach should be developed. The other one is the teaching staff.

One of the best and most highly recommended books on classroom management is available from Amazon.com. Click HERE to read about it and order it.

Updated August 29, 2008

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Surveys of graduates of education schools and colleges indicate that the #1 area of concern of new teachers is their feelings of inadequacy in managing classrooms. Despite clinical experiences, student teaching, and other observations in classroom settings, this problem has persisted for decades. There is no magic elixir that will confer skill in this area of professional responsibility. We only wish there were.

Classroom management and management of student conduct are skills that teachers acquire and hone over time. These skills almost never "jell" until after a minimum of few years of teaching experience. To be sure, effective teaching requires considerable skill in managing the myriad of tasks and situations that occur in the classroom each day. Skills such as effective classroom management are central to teaching and require "common sense," consistency, a sense of fairness, and courage. These skills also require that teachers understand in more than one way the psychological and developmental levels of their students. The skills associated with effective classroom management are only acquired with practice, feedback, and a willingness to learn from mistakes. Sadly, this is often easier said than done. Certainly, a part of this problem is that there is no practical way for education students to "practice" their nascent skills outside of actually going into a classroom setting. The learning curve is steep, indeed.

As previously mentioned, personal experience and research indicate that many beginning teachers have difficulty effectively managing their classrooms. While there is no one best solution for every problem or classroom setting, the following principles, drawn from a number of sources, might help. Classroom teachers with many years of experience have contributed to an understanding of what works and what doesn't work in managing classrooms and the behavior of students. The following information represents some of the things that good classroom teachers do to maintain an atmosphere that enhances learning. It is written in straightforward, non-preachy language, and will not drive you to distraction with its length. I think most students appreciate that. With that in mind, I truly hope this information is useful to you.

Please send any comments, suggestions, or questions to Dr. Robert Kizlik

An Effective Classroom Management Context(these four things are fundamental)

1. Know what you want and what you don't want.2. Show and tell your students what you want.3. When you get what you want, acknowledge (not praise) it.4. When you get something else, act quickly and appropriately.

ROOM ARRANGEMENT

While good room arrangement is not a guarantee of good behavior, poor planning in this area can create conditions that lead to problems.

  The teacher must be able to observe all students at all times and to monitor work and behavior. The teacher should also be able to see the door from his or her desk.

Frequently used areas of the room and traffic lanes should be unobstructed and easily accessible.

Students should be able to see the teacher and presentation area without undue turning or movement.

Commonly used classroom materials, e.g., books, attendance pads, absence permits, and student reference materials should be readily available.

Some degree of decoration will help add to the attractiveness of the room.

SETTING EXPECTATIONS FOR BEHAVIOR

*Teachers should identify expectations for student behavior and communicate those expectations to students periodically.

* Rules and procedures are the most common explicit expectations. A small number of general rules that emphasize appropriate behavior may be helpful. Rules should be posted in the classroom. Compliance with the rules should be monitored constantly.

* Do not develop classroom rules you are unwilling to enforce.

* School-Wide Regulations...particularly safety procedures...should be explained carefully.

* Because desirable student behavior may vary depending on the activity, explicit expectations for the following procedures are helpful in creating a smoothly functioning classroom:

- Beginning and ending the period, including attendance procedures and what students may or may not do during these times.- Use of materials and equipment such as the pencil sharpener, storage areas, supplies, and special equipment.- Teacher-Led Instruction- Seatwork- How students are to answer questions - for example, no student answer will be recognized unless he raises his hand and is called upon to answer by the teacher.- Independent group work such as laboratory activities or smaller group projects.

Remember, good discipline is much more likely to occur if the classroom setting and activities are structured or arranged to enhance cooperative behavior.

MANAGING STUDENT ACADEMIC WORK

* Effective teacher-led instruction is free of:

- Ambiguous and vague terms- Unclear sequencing- Interruptions

* Students must be held accountable for their work.

* The focus is on academic tasks and learning as the central purpose of student effort, rather than on good behavior for its own sake.

MANAGING INAPPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR

* Address instruction and assignments to challenge academic achievement while continuing to assure individual student success.

* Most inappropriate behavior in classrooms that is not seriously disruptive and can be managed by relatively simple procedures that prevent escalation.

* Effective classroom managers practice skills that minimize misbehavior.

* Monitor students carefully and frequently so that misbehavior is detected early before it involves many students or becomes a serious disruption.

* Act to stop inappropriate behavior so as not to interrupt the instructional activity or to call excessive attention to the student by practicing the following unobstructive strategies:

- Moving close to the offending student or students, making eye contact and giving a nonverbal signal to stop the offensive behavior.

- Calling a student's name or giving a short verbal instruction to stop behavior.

- Redirecting the student to appropriate behavior by stating what the student should be doing; citing the applicable procedure or rule.

Example: "Please, look at the overhead projector and read the first line with me, I need to see everyone's eyes looking here."

- More serious, disruptive behaviors such as fighting, continuous interruption of lessons, possession of drugs and stealing require direct action according to school board rule.

Assertive Discipline has been used by many schools, and is an effective way to manage behavior. Find out more by clicking here.

PROMOTING APPROPRIATE USE OF CONSEQUENCES

* In classrooms, the most prevalent positive consequences are intrinsic student satisfaction resulting from success, accomplishment, good grades, social approval and recognition.* Students must be aware of the connection between tasks and grades.* Frequent use of punishment is associated with poor classroom management and generally should be avoided.* When used, negative consequences or punishment should be related logically to the misbehavior.* Milder punishments are often as effective as more intense forms and do not arouse as much negative emotion.* Misbehavior is less likely to recur if a student makes a commitment to avoid the action and to engage

in more desirable alternative behaviors.* Consistency in the application of consequences is the key factor in classroom management.

SOME ESOL PRINCIPLES (A FEW THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT L.E.P. STUDENTS):

* They are not stupid and they can hear what is being said.. They just don't necessarily understand the language or culture, yet.* They come from a variety of backgrounds, even in the same country. For example schooled, unschooled, Americanized, etc.* It is easy to misunderstand body language and certain behaviors. For example, eye contact, spitting, chalk eating, etc.* Don't assume they understand something just because it seems simple to you. Simplify, boil down.* Even when they have lost their accent, they often misunderstand common words and phrases.* Correct repeated patterns or mistakes.* Good E.S.O.L. strategies are good teaching strategies.

GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE PRAISE

(Applies primarily to praise associated with instruction and student performance)

Effective Praise Ineffective Praise

1. Is delivered contingently upon studentperformance of desirable behaviors orgenuine accomplishment

1. Is delivered randomly and indiscriminately without specific attention to genuine accomplishment

2. Specifies the praiseworthy aspects of the student's accomplishments

2. Is general or global, not specifying the success.

3. Is expressed sincerely, showing spontaneity, variety and other non-verbal signs of credibility.

3. Is expressed blandly without feeling or animation, and relying on stock, perfunctory phrases.

4. Is given for genuine effort, progress, or accomplishment which are judged according to standards appropriate to individuals.

4. Is given based on comparisons with others and without regard to the effort expended or significance of the accomplishment of an individual.

5. Provides information to students about their competence or the value of their accomplishments.

5. Provides no meaningful information to the students about their accomplishments.

6. Helps students to better appreciate their thinking, problem-solving and performance.

6. Orients students toward comparing themselves with others.

7. Attributes student success to effort and 7. Attributes student success to ability alone or

ability, implying that similar successes can be expected in the future. to external factors such as luck or easy task.

8. Encourages students to appreciate their accomplishments for the effort they expend and their personal gratification.

8. Encourages students to succeed for external reasons -- to please the teacher, win a competition or reward, etc.

In searching the Internet, I occasionally come upon sites that have very useful information about classroom management. Often, a simple checklist is an invaluable tool. Here are a few links that I think have helpful information:

http://people.clarityconnect.com/webpages/terri/classmanagement.htmlhttp://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/teaching_techniques/class_manage.htmlhttp://www.teachervision.com/lesson-plans/lesson-9154.htmlhttp://www.theteachersguide.com/ClassManagement.htmhttp://www.education-world.com/preservice/learning/management.shtmlhttp://www.teachnet.com/how-to/manage/http://www.proteacher.com/030000.shtmlhttp://www.teachnet.com/how-to/manage/tattling100600.html

For an explanation of how this information relates to lesson planning and implementation, be sure to visit the ADPRIMA Instruction System page by clicking here.

Here is a page devoted to classroom management mistakes often made by new teachers.

There are many other areas on the ADPRIMA site that might interest you, and you are invited to take a look, get what you want, and let us know what you think. Your opinion is important and valued.

Earn one of the most current and relevant degrees offered in the area of Education. Complete your degree in as little as 2 years. Click here for details.

Here are some excellent print resources for classroom management

The Laughing Classroom: Everyone's Guide to Teaching With Humor and Play

Reluctant Disciplinarian: Advice on Classroom Management From a Softy who Became (Eventually) a Successful Teacher

Tribes: A New Way of Learning and Being Together

Iti: The Model Integrated Thematic Instruction

Setting Limits in the Classroom: How to Move Beyond the Classroom Dance of Discipline

Classroom Discipline Problem Solver: Ready-To-Use Techniques & Materials for Managing All Kinds of Behavior Problems

"Anything not understood in more than one way is not understood at all."

Okay, now for something to read that might give you a chill or two....click here for my novel, What Waits Within

Online Education for Teachers - Advance Your Career

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Bob Kizlik

10 Steps To Developing A Quality Lesson Plan:This guide is not meant to be the one and only way to develop a lesson plan. It is a general overview that highlights the key points of creating a lesson plan. Below is a list of the steps involved in developing a lesson plan as well as a description of what each component should be. You may also find this new Lesson Plan Template to be useful for creating your lesson plans!1. The first thing to consider, obviously, is what you want to teach. This should be developed based upon your state (or school) standards. You also need to be aware of what grade level you are developing the lesson plan for (and keep that in mind of course), and also record a time estimate for your lesson plan to help in time budgeting. Once you have your topic, you can begin determining how you want to teach the topic. If you didn't use the state standards to help in developing your topic, refer to them now to see what specific standards your lesson plan can fulfill. Having your lesson plan correctly aligned with state standards helps to prove its worthiness and necessity. It also helps in assuring that your students are being taught what your state requires. If you are able to correlate your lesson plan with standards, record links to those standards in your lesson plan. If writing this lesson plan for a website (The Lesson Plans Page) be sure to include a title that properly reflects your topic.2. To make sure your lesson plan will teach exactly what you want it to; you need to develop clear and specific objectives. Please note that objectives should not be activities that will be used in the lesson plan. They should instead be the learning outcomes of those activities. As an example, if you wanted to teach your class how to add 2 + 3, your objective may be that "the students will know how to add 2 + 3" or more specifically "the students will demonstrate how to add 2 + 3." Objectives should also be directly measurable (we'll get to this in assessment / evaluation). In other words, make sure you will be able to tell whether these objectives were met or not. You can certainly have more than one objective for a lesson plan. To make objectives more meaningful, you may want to include both broad and narrow objectives. The broad objectives would be more like goals and include the overall goal of the lesson plan, i.e. to gain familiarity with adding two numbers together. The specific objectives would be more like the one listed above, i.e. "the students will demonstrate how to add the numbers 2 and 3 together."3. You would probably find out exactly what materials you are going to use later, but they should be shown early in your lesson plan. This way if someone else were going to use your lesson plan, they would know in advance what materials are required. Be specific here to make sure the teacher will have everything they need. For the addition lesson, you should make sure you have 10 or so unifix cubes per student, paper, and pencils.4. You may also want to write an Anticipatory Set, which would be a way to lead into the lesson plan and develop the students' interest in learning what is about to be taught. A good example deals with a lesson on fractions. The teacher could start by

asking the students how they would divide up a pizza to make sure each of their 5 friends got an equal amount of pizza, and tell them that they can do this if they know how to work with fractions.5. Now you need to write the step-by-step procedures that will be performed to reach the objectives. These don't have to involve every little thing the teacher will say and do, but they should list the relevant actions the teacher needs to perform. For the adding 2 + 3 lesson, you may have procedures such as these:     A. The teacher will give each child 2 unifix cubes.     B. The teacher will ask the students to write down how many unifix cubes they have on paper (2).     C. The students should then write a + sign below the number 2, like this:   2 +     D. The teacher will then pass out 3 more unifix cubes to each student.      E. The students will be asked to write down how many unifix cubes they were just given. They should write this number below the number 2 that they just wrote, so that it looks like this:   2 +3     F. Students should now draw a line under their 3.      G. Now the students should count how many unifix cubes they have together and write this number just below the 3, like this:   2 +3 ----   5     H. Ask students how many unifix cubes they had to start, how many they were given to add to that, and how many they had total after the teacher gave them the 3 unifix cubes.6. After the procedures have been completed, you may want to provide time for independent practice. For the example of above, students could be given time to add different numbers of unifix cubes together that a partner would provide them with.7. Just before moving on to the assessment phase you should have some sort of closure for the lesson plan. A good idea for this is to return to your anticipatory set, i.e. ask students how they would divide up that pizza now that they know how to work with fractions (refer to the example in step 4).8. Now you want to write your assessment / evaluation. Many lesson plans don't necessarily need an assessment, but most should have some sort of evaluation of whether or not the objectives were reached. The key in developing your assessment is to make sure that the assessment specifically measures whether the objectives were reached or not. Thus, there should be a direct correlation between the objectives and the assessments. Assuming the objective were to be able to add two single digit numbers together, an example would be to have students approach the teacher and add two single digit numbers (that the teacher provides via unifix cubes) on paper using unifix cubes as a guide.9. Adaptations should also be made for students with learning disabilities and extensions for others. Examples would be adding 1 unifix cube to 1 unifix cube for students with learning disabilities and adding 9 unifix cubes to 13 unifix cubes for gifted students. This is best done with specific adaptations for specific students, to take into account their individual differences.

10. It's also a good idea to include a "Connections" section, which shows how the lesson plan could be integrated with other subjects. An example would be to have students paint 2 apples, then 3 more apples below them, etc. to integrate Art into the lesson plan. A better integration would involve creating 2 or 3 different types of textures on those apples, assuming texture was being studied in art class. Putting a lot of work into this can develop complete thematic units that would integrate related topics into many different subjects. This repetition of topics in different subjects can be extremely helpful in ensuring retention of the material.That's it! If you followed all the instructions above, you've successfully written a very thorough lesson plan that will be useful for any other teachers wanting to teach such a topic. One of the most helpful tips in writing your first lesson plans would be to look at lesson plans that are already fully developed to get a better idea of what needs to be in the lesson plan. You can do this by looking at the lesson plans on this site! Be sure to email comments on this guide to the !Title: Language Arts Lesson Plan Sample

Description: Our Language Arts lesson plans are standards-based. All lesson plans are geared for busy teachers who need quick and concise lesson plans.