Teachers: Planning a Necessity

Planning and Implementing Effective Small-Group Activities

Planning involves:

• Being Diagnosticians– putting children first– knowing children’s skills

• Being Designers– applying principles of child development

• Being Organizers– analyzing resources & materials– goals & objectives

Effective Planning

• Being Evaluators– Evaluation questions - Bloom’s taxonomy– Written assessments

• Being Writers– tangible records– accountability purposes– know why, what, and how

Planning Basics

• Objectives• Content • Assumptions/

Prerequisite Skills• Materials• Procedures• Strategies

• Extensions• Simplifications• Evaluation• Hints for Success• Closure/Review• Reflection

Teaching Strategies

• Ensuring sensory involvement• Environmental Cues• Task Analysis• Scaffolding• Guided Practice• Modeling• Questions • Effective Praise

More Strategies

• Behavior & Paraphrase Reflections

• Telling/Explaining/Informing

• Do-It Signals

• Challenges

• Silence

• Other strategies???? Ideas??????

Strategies that Promote Learning:

Cooperative Group Activity

• Define Exploratory Activities

• Give an example of Guided Discovery

• What are steps to Problem Solving?

• Characteristics of Good Discussions

• Expectations of Cooperative Learning

• Demonstrate Demonstrations

• How does Direct Instruction work?

Writing a Lesson Plan

• Write plans in different domains: aesthetic, affective, cognitive, language, physical, and social.

• Make objective, activity, and assessment are congruent to one another.

• Tailor your plans to meet the specific needs of students.

• Write as many details down as possible.

Writing Lesson Plans

• As you get more experience, shorten lesson plans.

• Make sure plan is complete, including all components.

• Prepare to carry out your plan. Gather materials in advance.

• ALWAYS reflect on your plan-evaluate the effectiveness of the children’s learning.