Written Assignment: Lesson Plan:
As you have seen throughout this course and others in the MAT program, developing lesson plans is an essential aspect of teaching. As a K-12 ELA teacher, you will need to develop lesson plans on both long-term and short-term levels. These plans must be specific enough to guide daily classroom activities in a clear and organized manner, but yet also be flexible enough to accommodate unique situations as they arise. The development of lesson plans is quite involved, and it may surprise you at first how much needs to be included.
Using the Template
For this assignment, please use the 2015 Teaching and Learning ELA lesson plan Template, attached below.
In addition, use the MAT lesson plan rubric, also attached below, as your guide.
You will teach this lesson, in a shortened version, in a face to face class meeting that will include micro-teaching.
Your lesson plan MUST include NYS Common Core Learning Standards.
Submit your completed lesson plan template here.
Creating a Lesson Plan
Before you begin creating your lesson plan, there are several resources that may be helpful to review. The first is a video that shows a lesson plan being used in a classroom. This example may be helpful in clarifying what the final product will look like. The second is a website with a variety of helpful teacher resources organized by grade.
Next, review the following lesson plan outline. This is the format you will use to guide the development of your lesson plan.
Structure
The following components should be included in every lesson plan:
- Clear, simple objectives grounded in state and district ELA standards
- An essential or guiding question (see Wilhelm, pp. 8, 31-34, 49-58, 100-107, 143-147)
- Materials
- Direct instruction and student engagement (aim for three transitions).
- Often a DIN (Do-It-Now) or bellringer that students work on independently at the beginning of class. This should be consistent and become routine.
- A mini-lesson
- 10 minutes to directly teach a new concept or strategy (you may wish to look up Nanci Atwell and Lucy Calkins).
- Student engagement
- What will the students do to be engaged with the concept taught?
- Try to get away from seat work, or what is sometimes referred to as the teaching being “Sage on the Stage,” or “Talk to the chalk.”
- Closure (Wilhelm, 96-97, 104; you may also wish to look up exit tickets).
- Assessment (formative and summative).
- Homework or follow up.
Content
Within the structure of a lesson plan is the actual lesson content. This includes the presentation of the material, the discourse that occurs between the teacher and the students, and the engagement of students in the activity and assessments. Teachers may veer from a set lesson plan in the service of teachable moments and/or creativity, but teachers cannot successfully “wing it” when teaching. Today, teachers are expected to incorporate more factors than ever before into their lessons. Some important characteristics of a lesson plan’s content include:
- Creativity
- Consideration for students
- Adherence to NYS State Standards
- Differentiated strategies
- Inclusion of culture, gender, class, and other realities in lesson perspectives
This lesson plan needs to be based for a 40 minutes class period. 10th grade level- writing unit. Teaching claims/counter claims and such. Please reach out to me with ANY questions at all. It doesn’t have to be a huge multiple page plan. A 1-2 page document will due. But it needs to include all aspects that are required.