Designing the learning experience through lesson planning is an important part of teaching and learning. A well-crafted lesson plan can not only help with classroom management, but can also provide a great organizational structure to day-to-day lessons. When you lesson plan you are essentially breaking down lessons into an agenda of specific activities and learning experiences. This “agenda” of activities can be achieved using a variety of methods and models. Some models (classic to innovative) are listed below:
- Dr. Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan Model
- Backwards Design
- 5-E Model
- Project-based Learning
- Robert Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction
When designing lessons, there are many different methods and techniques. One of the more classic methods of lesson design includes some variation of the following elements: the anticipatory set, objectives, input (instruction), modeling, check for understanding, guided practice, independent practice, and closure. These elements are usually viewed as the basics of designing a lesson plan, with a model such as Backwards Desing being a more innovative approach.
The following resource attached to this article is a “How-to Guide for Lesson Planning” and will take learners through the various elements of a classic lesson plan structure and an example breakdown of possible activities that can be included at each stage of the lesson design (including the time allowances for each activity). Learners can also practice developing their own lesson design by utilizing the worksheets at the end of the inactive document.