How to Write a Lesson Plan

Guide Note Writing a good lesson plan can be tricky the first few times. However, like anything else, proper preparation is the key to success. Read on to learn how to write a lesson plan that lays out clear learning objectives and meets state curriculum guidelines.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Basic Information
Prerequisites Skills
Objectives, Goals and Standards
Lesson Procedure
Follow-Up Activities
Modifications
Additional Resources
References

Lesson Plan Writing Tips

You may need to modify your lesson plan format to fit the lesson.
A good lesson plan should provide enough information that another teacher could follow it.
Lesson objectives should be specific and measurable.
Objectives should align with state curriculum guidelines.

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Introduction

Writing a good lesson plan is essential for every teacher. Lesson plans are often submitted as part of your annual evaluations. They can also be your lifeline if you have to call in sick suddenly. Although there are many different methods of writing a lesson plan, such as the Herbartean method or Madeline Hunter's method, the only "right" way is the method that works best for you.¹ ² The following guide covers most of the different sections you may want to include on your lesson plans. However, you will find that you rarely need all the following sections on every lesson plan you write.

Basic Information

(Creative Commons photo by Eric James Sarmiento)

At the top of any lesson plan should be an overview of the lesson as well as any basic logistical information or requirements related to it. This section should include the following:

Unit Name: The name of the unit the lesson is a part of.
Lesson Title: The title of this specific lesson.
Grade Level: The grade level for which the lesson is designed.
Subject Area: The subject matter the lesson covers.
Lesson Description: The lesson description should be a brief overview of what the lesson is about including the topic focus, activities and purpose.³ However, you can also use this section to provide thoughts, experiences and suggestions for other teachers or future use.⁴
Required Materials: Listing what materials you or your students will need for the lesson will help you when preparing the lesson. Ask yourself, "What materials, resources and technology do I need for the lesson?"³ This includes textbooks, handouts, calculators, computers, printers, Internet connection, etc.
Time Estimates/Time Allotted: How many class meetings or hours do you think will be needed to complete this lesson?³
Safety Precautions: Describe any special concerns for safety or welfare that might arise during this lesson.⁵
Student Products: Are there any things that the students will be creating during the lesson? Examples of products include reports, newsletters, diagrams, drawing, database, media presentation, etc.³

Prerequisites Skills

The prerequisite skills or "present level of performance" section is where you list the skills the students must have in order to succeed with the lesson.³ This should include any technological skills they will need. You should also list what concepts the students should have mastered before beginning this lesson.⁴ For example, a student should master multiplying one-digit numbers before beginning multiplication of two-digit numbers.

Objectives, Goals and Standards

(Creative Commons photo by Jonathan Rees)

Objectives, or goals, are arguably the most important part of any lesson plan. The objectives will help determine the aim and rationale for what your students are doing in class that day.⁴ Typically, these will be guided by your state's curriculum standards.⁴ Your objectives should be broken down into two major types: long-range and short-range. The long-range objective will give the overall goal of the lesson plan while the short-range objective will tell what specifically the students will accomplish that day .⁶

Here are some guidelines for writing good objectives:

Objectives should contain the type of activity or skill, the criteria or standards by which competence will be assessed, conditions required to meet the objective and the competence level students will reach.⁶ ⁷ ⁸
Objectives should be measurable, specific and observable.⁶ ⁷
Ask yourself the following questions when writing your objectives:
1. What is the overall purpose of the unit plan or curriculum goal?⁴
2. What should the students be able to do by the end of the unit?⁴
3. What should the students be able to do by the end of the lesson?³
4. To what degree should the students be able to do the task successfully?⁷
5. How will you know or be able to prove that the students have achieved the objective?⁷

Bloom's Taxonomy

(Creative Commons photo by Liz)

One of the best tools a teacher can use to write goals is Bloom's Taxonomy. Bloom's Taxonomy divides learning into three different domains: cognitive (knowledge or mental skills), affective (feelings, emotions or attitude) and psychomotor (physical skills).⁹ Each category is then broken down into six levels of difficulty. Most teachers will focus on the cognitive section of the taxonomy. For more information on Bloom's Taxonomy, check out one of the following links:

About.com: Use Bloom's Taxonomy to Move Your Students Through The Learning Process
Lee University: Bloom's Taxonomy
CalState TEACH: Verb Wheel Based on Bloom's Taxonomy
Teachers on the Web: Applying Bloom's Taxonomy
Performance, Learning, Leadership, & Knowledge: Learning Domains or Bloom's Taxonomy

State Curriculum Standards

Every state has its own set of curriculum standards. Most of the time, lesson plans will be designed to fit one of those standards. Therefore, it is a good idea to list with which standards the lesson aligns.³ Every state has these standards listed on its official website.

**Curriculum Standards by State**
Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho	Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri	Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania	Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

NETS•S Performance Indicators

The National Education Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S) Performance Indicators are technology standards adopted by every state in the U.S.¹⁰ Anytime your lesson plan integrates technology you should indicate which NETS•S standards it aligns.³ A list of all K-12 standards can be found in the following PDF document: Profiles for Technology Literate Students. ¹¹

Lesson Procedure

The major part of the lesson can be broken down into three major parts: introduction or anticipatory set, instruction and conclusion or closure.

Introduction or Anticipatory Set

The introduction, or anticipatory set, can make or break your lesson. It is the moment where you capture the students' attention and motivate them. ⁶ Some of the best examples of great anticipatory sets are done by Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society. However, you don't need to be a comedian with a great script to provide your students with terrific anticipatory sets. Instead, simply do the following:

Use an attention-getting story or action to help focus the students' attention.⁷
Review what has already been learned to provide scope and structure while connecting previous lessons together.⁴
Inform students of the objective or objectives of the lesson.⁶
Explain what is expected of the students.
Give students any background information they might need to know about a topic.¹²

YouTube: Dead Poets Society (Time: 2:00)

Instructional Methods

(Creative Commons photo by peiqianlong)

Your instructional procedure and methods should be a detailed, step-by-step description of everything that you will do during the lesson. Much of how you write this section will depend on the type of instruction that you plan on using.

Types of Instruction
When most people think of instruction, they think "lecture." In a good lesson plan, this will not always be the case. Here are a few of the different instructional methods you can use:

Direct Instruction: Direct instruction is a term used for the majority of teacher-centered instructional approaches.¹³ It is good for teaching basic facts and skills.¹⁴ Almost all methods of direct instruction include four steps: introduction and review, presentation of new information, guided practice and independent practice.¹⁵ Examples of direct instruction include:
1. Lecture: Although it is frequently criticized, lecture is still the most common method of teaching.¹⁵
2. Demonstration: Demonstrations are used most commonly to teach science, computer skills and similar procedures.¹⁵
3. Lecture-Discussions: Lecture-discussions start with a lecture followed by discussion about the topic by the teacher and the students.¹⁵
Case Studies: Case studies are not appropriate for elementary students, but is a great way to help older students develop analytic and problem-solving skills. It involves having students work together in groups to analyze or solve a case presented to them.¹⁴ ¹⁵
Cooperative Learning: Cooperative learning not only helps students learn an academic skill, but promotes social skills.¹⁴ The trick is to make sure that each student in the group actively participates as a member of his or her group.¹⁵
Discussion: Discussions are excellent for use after a lecture or video, but can can be difficult to manage with larger groups.¹⁴
Discovery Learning: Discovery learning requires students to use prior knowledge and experiences to discover new information. It requires the students to have some prior knowledge and needs to be well structured.¹⁵
Inquiry Learning: Inquiry learning requires the students to solve a problem that the teacher has given them. One of the most commonly used examples of inquiry learning are WebQuests.¹⁵ Inquiry learning requires a high amount of participation by the students.¹⁶
Jigsaw: Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy in which each student is a member of two groups: a home group and a learning group. Students meet with their learning group to master a skill or idea. They then report back to their home group where they teach the other members of their group about what they learned.¹⁷
K-W-L: K-W-L stands for a three column chart labled Know, Want to Know and Learned.¹⁵ The students fill out the first column before the lesson begins. Then, they fill in the middle column with things that they would like to learn during the lesson. Once the lesson is over, the fill out the final column with what they learned. This chart can be done individually or by the class as a whole.¹⁸
Learning Centers: Learning centers involve self-contained areas where students work alone or in groups to complete a task.¹⁵
Role Play: Role playing is when students try to solve problems by acting them out.¹⁹ It is usually followed by a discussion where students can explore their feelings and gain insight about their attitudes.¹⁵
Scaffolding: Scaffolding is when a teacher begins the lesson by modeling the skill and then slowly withdraws his or her assistance allowing the students to take responsibility for their own learning.²⁰
Simulations: Simulations are frequently used in social studies and science classrooms. In today's technological society, this usually involves use of the computer.¹⁵ Using simulations promotes the use of critical and evaluative thinking by the students.²¹
Think, Pair, Share: In think, pair, share, students are divided into groups of four. The teacher presents them with an issue or question and gives each student time to think about it. They are then paired up with another member of their group and each shares their answer. Students are then paired up with a different member of the group and shares the answers that the first pair had come up with.²²

Conclusion or Closure

The closure, or conclusion, is the summary of the lesson. It is when you should review key points and summarize the main ideas.⁵ This is also a time when you can preview future lessons and allow students to show off their work.⁶

Follow-Up Activities

(Creative Commons photo by woodley wonderworks)

Once the instruction is completed, you will need to provide ways for students to practice their new skills or use their knowledge either as part of or before assessing how well they have learned the lesson. This falls under one of five categories: guided practice, independent practice, assessment, supplemental activities and remediation.

Guided Practice

Guided practice is done after the lesson, but before students are required to do things independently. It gives the students an opportunity to practice what they have learned while you monitor them. This helps prevent students from practicing errors.⁵ You will need to closely monitor this session and give students feedback on their progress. ⁶

Independent Practice

When you think of independent practice, the word "homework" usually comes to mind, and this will be the case for most of the "independent practices" a student does. Independent practice allows a student to practice and internalize new skills or information.⁵ Some of the different ways you can provide a student with independent practice include:

Assessment and Evaluation

Students love to ask, and teacher hate to hear, the question, "Will there be a test on this?" Testing is not the only method of evaluating if a student has mastered a skill. Sometimes assessment comes by evaluating the independent work that they did. Whatever method for assessment you use, make sure that it aligns with your objectives and instructional method.³ You will also need to state what is needed for you to determine if the student has mastered the lesson's objectives. ⁶

Supplemental Activities

You should list any supplemental work that can be used to extend learning.³ These are often great things to use as extra credit work.

Remediation

Remediation activities are ways you can reteach the learning to students who require additional instruction or practice.³ Remediation is usually done after the assessment.

Modifications

Being able to modify a lesson to accommodate students with disabilities or limited proficiency in English is a skill every teacher needs to have.²⁹ In the beginning, it can be helpful to communicate with a special education teacher or the student's parents to find what methods have worked well in the past. You can find examples of ways to modify lesson plans at any of the sites listed below:

Chicago Public Schools: Curriculum Accommodations/Modifications
Suite101.com : Math | Writing | Reading | Homework | Testing
About.com Accommodations, Modifications & Interventions
SchwabLearning.org: General Education Accommodations
Special Education for Inclusive Classrooms: Accommodation Strategies

Additional Resources